Boys Town

Jeremy Kushnier has spent many months touring the country as Tommy DeVito in the Tony Award-winning musical Jersey Boys, which tells the true story behind the legendary musical group The Four Seasons. But even he admits the audience in Las Vegas, where a somewhat revised version of the show is playing the new Palazzo Theatre in the Venetian, has been among the most vocal. “The problem isn’t that they’re not liking the show, it’s that they’re liking it too much,” he says.

Kushnier isn’t the only member of the show’s cast to find performing on the Strip a new experience. “Every night’s an adventure when there are cup holders in the seats,” laughs Erich Bergen, who plays Four Seasons co-founder Bob Gaudio.

The biggest adventure of them all was the show’s official opening night last month, which included a huge party where an enormous projection surface dropped away to reveal two-dozen go-go dancers. The performance was held on the 74th birthday of the group’s lead singer Frankie Valli, and it allowed the chance for the Boys cast — including Rick Faugno who plays Valli, and Jeff Leibow, who plays Nick Massi — to meet some of the show’s real-life counterparts. “The party was pretty impressive,” says Leibow, “but bowing with those guys was really amazing.”