Legendary performer Frankie Valli will be back on Broadway with the Four Seasons for seven performances only, beginning tonight at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street). A return engagement following his sold-out Broadway run in 2012, Valli is also helping warm fans up for the holidays with a new Christmas album, “’Tis the Season,” which was released last week.
“We're very excited about going back to Broadway,” Valli tells me. “You play right in the heart of New York City in Manhattan and it's theater style... There are very few acts that get to play in theaters anymore,” he added. “Everyone's playing Madison Square Garden or places larger than that. Being on Broadway is really very special.”
“The difference between playing at Madison Square Garden and playing on Broadway is [with Broadway, it’s] like your visiting someone in their home... It's a closer contact with the audience.”
The concert will celebrate Valli’s award-winning, critically acclaimed, and record-breaking career as a solo artist, as well as his time with the Four Seasons. It’ll feature some of their biggest hits, including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” and more, as well as feature musical surprises throughout the show.
“There is so much music that was done in the period of time when we were having great success in the record business. That will live on forever,” Valli shared. “It's a big thrill for me to see people like Carole King—who had hits long before I did—having a play on Broadway (Beautiful)… or Gloria Estefan (On Your Feet). We need more of that… I hope that we had something to do with igniting a situation where people say, ‘Hey, yeah, let's do Broadway. Let's do New York City.’"
FOR MORE FROM THIS INTERVIEW WITH FRANKIE VALLI, VISIT SHOW-SCORE.
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Steve Schonberg is the editor-in-chief of www.centerontheaisle.com and the talent ambassador for www.show-score.com. He can be seen regularly on NBC’s “Weekend Today in New York.”