Jersey Boys: stage vs screen

Jersey Boys came first as a stage musical. It opened on Broadway in 2005, with a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and songs by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe, and told the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Clint Eastwood directed the film version, released in 2014, with the same writers adapting their own script. Here is how the movie and the stage show differ.

Stage

Broadway musical (2005)

Screen

Jersey Boys (2014), directed by Clint Eastwood

1. The musical's writers wrote the film

Brickman and Elice adapted their own stage book for the screen. Bob Gaudio composed the film's music, and he and Frankie Valli served as executive producers. Eastwood, who directed, asked for a script rewrite. So the film is not a stranger's take on the show: it is the same story retold by the same writers, shaped for a film of just over two hours.

2. Stage actors lead the cast

Eastwood chose stage performers over more marketable film stars. John Lloyd Young, who won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical as Frankie, played him again. Erich Bergen (Bob Gaudio) and Michael Lomenda (Nick Massi) also came from stage productions. Vincent Piazza played Tommy DeVito, the role that won Christian Hoff a Tony, and Christopher Walken played Gyp DeCarlo.

3. The stage show has more music

The musical is built around the group's hits, including "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Walk Like a Man," "Dawn (Go Away)," and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You." The film keeps those hits but has fewer full numbers and spends more time on the story. Valli himself said the movie took the music out, and that it bothered him. The film still builds to "Rag Doll" at the Hall of Fame.

4. Four narrators, on stage and on screen

The stage show divides the story into four seasons. Tommy DeVito narrates Spring, Bob Gaudio Summer, Nick Massi Fall, and Frankie Valli Winter, so the audience sees the group from each man's point of view. The film keeps the idea of the men talking straight to the audience: they turn to the camera at points, with Tommy doing most of it, though some reviewers felt the device came and went.

5. Tommy's debt drives both stories

Both versions center on Tommy's debts, which push the group apart. On stage, the loan shark first wants $150,000, and the total grows to $662,000 once interest and unpaid taxes are added. In the film, Tommy is sent to work for mob associates in Las Vegas until it is paid, and Nick leaves the group. Both understate the real debt, which was closer to $2 million.

6. The film bends real events

The film places the overdose death of Frankie's daughter Francine before he records "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," though that song was recorded in 1967 and Francine died in 1980. It shows the group's 1965 arrest in Ohio happening in Cleveland, when it really took place at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus. It also suggests Nick Massi stayed about ten years, when he was with the group for about five.

7. Both end at the Hall of Fame

The stage finale is set at the group's 1990 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Bob Crewe introduces the reunited group, and each member steps forward for a closing monologue. The film ends there too. The men perform "Rag Doll," then take turns addressing the audience, and Frankie remembers the best time as four guys under a streetlamp, with everything still ahead of them.

8. The film was shot in Los Angeles

Eastwood shot the movie in Los Angeles. Valli later said he wished more of it had been filmed in New Jersey. The film opened in the United States on June 20, 2014, grossed about $67.6 million worldwide, and got mixed reviews, with a Metacritic score of 54. The stage version ran 4,642 performances on Broadway.

Jersey Boys movie vs musical: FAQs