Musical ‘Jersey Boys’ coming to Palazzo

"Jersey Boys," the hit Broadway musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, will open early next year in the Palazzo, casino executives announced today.

The production tells the band's story through its music and "appeals to a wide range of audiences, beyond the traditional theater-goer," Rob Goldstein, president of The Venetian and the Palazzo, its under-construction sister resort, said in a statement.

"It's a score everyone knows and loves," said Scott Zeiger of Base Entertainment, which will stage the local production in partnership with New York-based Dodger Theatricals. "People are surprised when they see the show, how many of the hits are part of the pop vernacular.

"It's a compelling story, too," he added. "We even think the themes of the show, the story itself, is a good one for Vegas. Rags to riches, and a little bit of tough-guy stuff going on."

"Jersey Boys" debuted on Broadway in November 2005 and went on to win four Tony Awards, including best musical. The show grossed $1.2 million on Broadway last year. A national tour cast is currently in San Francisco, booked through September. Another company opens in Los Angeles on May 25.

Base also produces "Phantom -- The Las Vegas Spectacular" in a custom-built theater at The Venetian. The theater for "Jersey Boys" will not be so specifically themed, but the musical's Broadway director, Des McAnuff, has "already influenced the architecture," Zeiger said.

"What was important to Des was that he create a more intimate environment ... so the story is told in a tighter room," he added of the theater that probably will seat about 1,600 people.

No decisions have been made on whether to cut the show to 90 minutes, as most Broadway-to-Vegas titles have been. "There is no 90-minute restriction in the contract," Zeiger said.

The musical is co-written by screenwriter Marshall Brickman ("Manhattan," "Annie Hall") and is the first "jukebox musical" that focuses on its musical source rather than pasting the songs into an unrelated story. McAnuff ("The Who's Tommy") stages it in a fluid, cinematic style that critics have compared as much to VH1's "Behind the Music" as a traditional Broadway musical.

"We've had a lot of hits. We've never had a hit like this," producer Michael David of Dodger Theatricals said soon after the musical opened on Broadway in 2005. "It's not behaving normally and that's great. In our business, which is so inherently ephemeral, you're just waiting for it to disappear. Instead, this just gets hotter and hotter."

Though the title was still new on Broadway, David said "there seems to be a natural marriage between this show" and Las Vegas.

Tommy DeVito, one of the original Four Seasons, has been a Las Vegas resident since 1970. He is portrayed in the musical as the bad boy whose gambling debts get the group into trouble.