Is Jersey Boys a musical?

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 12:06am

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I just saw the show in Chicago and I can't find anything else about it. After seeing the show, the thing that stuck with me is that technically, I don't think it's a musical.

Almost every moment in the show is diegetic. The only moments that could be construed as non-diegetic are the dual-soliloquies of Frankie and his wife at the end of the first act, and Frankie's song directed towards his daughter towards the end of the show. Everything else is done as if it is occurring within the story. It was closer to legitimate theater than a "musical," by technical terms, yet is widely considered as such because it has music in it.

In all honesty, I'd consider it a "special theatrical event" (as a docu-concert) before I considered it a "musical" for Tony purposes. Maybe that's a bit exaggerated, but am I alone in this thinking?

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 12:08am

To be honest, I think Jersey Boys has been such a hit because it really ISN'T a musical but has all the flashiness of one. You're absolutely right, it's a docu-concert.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 12:27am

I don't even give it that credit. It's a Vegas novelty act on the Broadway stage. Lame.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 12:38am

It's more a play with music than a musical -- but for the "masses," it's easier to call it and market it as a musical.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 12:43am

It is amazing such a LAME show is still running after all these years here and all over the world.

[TheatreFreak05]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 1:11am

I actually really enjoyed Jersey Boys

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 8:14am

I get what you're saying, but isn't a musical a play with music. Like Jersey Boys is.

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 8:19am

What he's saying is, it isn't a show where the characters burst into random song and dance. Every time their is music it is because they are performing a concert of recording a song (in the 'play'). In a way, one can say the Chicago film isn't a musical because the singing and dancing isn't spontanious (sp?), it's her having a fantasy of her vaudville (sp?) act.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 8:24am

He's referring to the narration: telling vs showing.

I suspect the op is also referring to the music not coming from the story/characters; just being historic.

[Jersey Girl2]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 8:48am

It's a musical.
It tells a story through song and dance.
>>>Every time their is music it is because they are performing a concert of recording a song
But the songs were written about events- which tell the story.
~Whatever you want to call it- I liked it & saw it twice.
I guess the people dancing in the aisles didn't know it was lame either.

Updated On: 5/31/09 at 08:48 AM

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 10:05am

I did not find the show "lame' at all. In fact, if all jukebox musicals were as well constructed - and had such solid books - there might be some hope for this genre. But to be a full-fledged musical the songs advance the plot or develop the characters and not be there as "decoration." Even the actors consider it play with music rather than a "musical." Using THAT logic, should the show have been nominated as Bet play of 2005/06?

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 10:29am

musical (noun) - "a play or movie in which singing and dancing play an essential part."

So yes, it's a musical.

[Weez]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 10:58am

It's a musical if you decide that everything that appears onstage is a play or a musical. If you want to be as cut and dried as that, then fine, that's your choice. Personally, I like to be a little more specific than that; I separate book musicals from sung-through musicals, I separate jukebox musicals from original musicals, and I separate plays-with-songs from plain-ol'-musicals. Just as it's nice to know if your play is a comedy or a drama, or classic or new, or absurdist or realist. For people who just don't care, it's enough to say "play" or "musical". But I'd like to imagine that anyone who has time to register and post to a site like BroadwayWorld.com is someone who cares at least a little about what they're going to see.

tl;dr - definitely a play with songs, and that's okay. Unless you're a non-theatre-going idiot who wants to know "HUN, IS THERE SOME O' THAT SINGIN' IN THIS 'ERE PLAY?", in which case we'll stick with the simplest possible terms and call it a musical. :P

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 11:57am

musical (noun) - "a play or movie in which singing and dancing play an essential part."

So yes, it's a musical.

From the wikipedia entry on legitimate theater:

"Diegetic elements are internal, or related to the imaginary world the characters of the play are depicting. Musical accompaniment that is done for effect on the audience, but not supposed to be part of the experience of the characters in the play, is a non-diegetic element;[1] dancing by characters who are actually portrayed as attending a dance is diegetic; while dancing for the benefit of the audience, as in a revue or musical, is non-diegetic.

Opera, musicals, dance shows and concerts all depend on non-diegetic elements."

Jersey boys does not depend on non-diegetic elements. So by that definition, it is NOT a musical.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 11:59am

Why are you citing Wikipedia?!

[Jersey Girl2]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 12:01pm

>>But I'd like to imagine that anyone who has time to register and post to a site like BroadwayWorld.com is someone who cares at least a little about what they're going to see.

I care if it will be entertaining.
Will it be fun, moving, thought provoking?
I don't care what it's called.

[Weez]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 12:16pm

The Wikipedia doesn't necessarily have to be any less reliable a source than a book. Sure, if it says "THERE'S GOING TO BE A WICKED MOVIE IN 2010 AND IDINA AND KRISTIN ARE IN IT!" then it's probably lying, but who's going to muck about with the article on thumbs, for example? Treat it like any other source - bearing in mind that someone has got up, thought about it, decided their opinion, gathered a certain amount of evidence to back it up, written it down, and published it somewhere the public can get hold of it (in other words, as coming from human hand as opposed to being gospel truth) - and there's no reason to treat it like a warren of nothing but lies.

Granted, we've got a way to go before people who disagree with books go around adding their own thoughts in biro, or having arguments with people by shouting "CITATION NEEDED!", but I don't always disbelieve the Wiki. There's no reason to *always* disbelieve the Wiki. :P

Jersey Girl2 - that's wonderful for you. I too prefer to go see anything that's good rather than limiting myself by saying "oh, well, I won't see any new musicals, or any plays that have been based on books, and puppet shows are out, and I want my leading lady to be a soprano". But it's still nice to know if Hamlet is a tragedy, Angels in America is a contemporary classic, and Jersey Boys is a play with songs. I see no reason to sit under a blanket of ignorance and shout "OMG IT DOESN'T MATTER YOU GUYS". Sure, what something *is* doesn't automatically make it good or not, but it's still helpful to know what it is.

Like judging a book by its cover. Please, don't look at the cover of a book and say "yep, that's awful, I can tell just by looking". You can't tell *quality* just by looking. But if you weren't meant to make "hey, that's the sort of thing that appeals to me, therefore I'm totally going to read that book" judgements, then books wouldn't have covers in the first place.

We're not judging the Jersey Boys book by its cover. We're just asking what sort of book it is. Because people *do* like to know these things.

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 4:49pm

I'm not arguing whether it's legit theater or not, I'm arguing whether or not it is a musical. And it is.

[sundayclothes2]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 4:51pm

Every time their is music it is because they are performing a concert of recording a song (in the 'play').

I am pretty sure that the characters just randomly burst into song and sang December 1963 (Oh What A Night).

[Jersey Girl2]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 6:05pm

>>> Because people *do* like to know these things.

Yes, some people do.
Some like to analyze things more than others. Some research all they can before going to a show. They check out the cast, listen to the music and know the story before they enter the theater. Some walk up to the TKTS booth and just choose a show- some without knowing a thing about it.
It was your line~
>>>I'd like to imagine that anyone who has time to register and post to a site like BroadwayWorld.com is someone who cares at least a little about what they're going to see.
that I found a bit condescending.