JB Top 5's: Liquid Relief

Incredibly, after a nearly four-year run, Jersey Boys Australia will take its final bow in about two weeks. One of the world's most successful musicals in decades has certainly been a hit Down Under, as it has around the world. And for me, this will mark the third time I will be saying "Bye Bye, Baby" to the show. Will it be for good this time? Who knows.

      Facing another closing night has inspired me to look back and examine my time with this show. And because I think you might find it interesting, I've decided to share some of these thoughts with you. Specifically, my goal is to put into words exactly what it's like to be an actor playing this iconic person in this famous band in this amazing show, in another Country, six nights a week. 

      This is Part 4 of an on-going series of Top 5’s that illuminate what it’s like to play ‘Frankie Valli’ in the long-running show, Jersey Boys. Part 1 is the Top5 moments that make my heart soar, Part 2 is the Top 5 moments that make my heart ache, and Part 3 is my Top 5 daily must-dos.

      You can find Parts 1 and 2 to the right of this page, by clicking on 2013, then clicking on ‘May’. Part 3 is on the right, under ‘June’.

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Today's Subject: The Top 5 Moments of Liquid Relief

For the next couple JB Top 5’s I want to do something a bit cheeky, to use a common Aussie expression. I'm going to lift the curtain for you a bit, and reveal a few of the fun details about how we make the show work.

I mentioned in Part 3 of the JB Top 5’s that in order to keep my vocal chords in the optimal condition for the onslaught of singing and speaking, I drink a bladder-busting 2-3L of water while at the theatre. Well, I lied – sort of. It’s not all water that I drink. And some of it happens right before your eyes, onstage.

Why do I drink so much? First, there's the two and half hours of highly energetic singing, acting and dancing. But on top of that, theatres themselves are super dry places. In every theatre I’ve ever worked in, the backstage area is a massive space which in itself is hard to humidify. Then, they're blasted with Air Conditioning and filled with tonnes of electrical, sound and lighting equipment, zapping the air of what's left of its humidity. Less humidity equals dryer throats. Not good.

Jersey Boys is the fastest-paced show I’ve ever done, by a whole lot. It’s so fast, none of us have time to run to the water jug and pour ourselves a paper cup-full. Most of the cast are too busy running around, whipping off costumes and changing wigs while simultaneously singing background harmonies to boot. (You think I'm kidding? Think again.) This is why we all have a refillable water bottle positioned at our costume rack, so we can grab a quick drink while changing costumes. We also have a team of dressers backstage to help us do our faster costume changes, and they will often ‘travel’ the water bottle to you if there isn’t even enough time to make it to your costume rack, which you have to admit is pretty awesome, right?

“But wait a second,” you might say, “I saw the show and there’s lots of drinks onstage. Isn’t that enough?” Well, smarty-pants, most of the drinks you see onstage in Jersey Boys are not actually real. It's the magic of the theatre, sweetheart. That 'cocktail' you see is actually coloured water in a plastic glass which has been sealed with a plastic lid. I'm particularly fond of the "on the rocks" drinks we use, with the fake plastic ice cubes are sealed in, too. In other scenes, the ‘liquids’ themselves are not even liquid. For example, Crewe's glass of "milk" is a delicious combination of paint and plaster, and the schooners of 'draft beer' are actually molded plastic - unmovable, unspillable, and unbreakable (not to mention undrinkable).

The reality is that using actual liquids onstage can be dangerous in many ways, especially in a fast-moving musical. A drink could easily fall to the floor, which besides signaling an obvious mistake to the audience, it would make the stage dangerously slippery. Or the liquid could simply spill onto the actors, which could stain and possibly ruin someone's costume or shoes. And if a glass fell to the floor and broke into many sharp pieces, that would surely spell disaster. Nobody wants to see that.

But, in spite of these and so many other reasons, we occasionally take the risk and use real liquids in Jersey Boys. Why? Sometimes, when scenes are 'smash-cut' right into other scenes again and again, we’ll get stranded onstage for long periods of time, unable to quench our thirst before singing a big number. Luckily for us, the original creative team figured out a way to get us some liquids onstage just when we need it most. Here are Top 5 places during the show that I get me some liquid relief.

  1. On Crewe’s Couch.

My first onstage drink occurs in Act 1 during Bob’s season, “Spring”. We're enjoying a celebratory ‘shot’ with Bob Crewe, rejoicing in the fact that we’ve got the money together for our first recording session. The ‘shot’, which I assume is meant to be whiskey (Canadian Club, perhaps?) is a delicious room-temperature Iced Tea, and it perfectly whet’s the whistle for the next section leading up to the Big Three, ‘Sherry’, ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ and ‘Walk Like A Man’. Hmm, maybe drinking the Iced Tea is the secret for hitting all those high notes...

The photo below is of the original Chicago cast - that's Dominic Scaglioni as Frankie and fellow Canadian Jeremy Kushnier as Tommy. A good friend of mine, Jeremy was also the original Tommy in Toronto. In the moment captured below, you can tell he's very upset that he didn't get any Iced Tea, too.

                                                                                                            (Photo by Craig Laurie )

         2. In Gyp’s Basement.

In the dramatic ‘Sitdown’ scene early in Act 2, the four of us head into Gyp’s basement with loan-shark Norm Waxman to broker a deal to settle Tommy’s debt. In a stroke of luck, Gyp has thoughtfully provided us with some nice Italian Red Wine on the table. Unluckily for us, it’s not actually wine, but a very sweet grape juice. Welch's, I think. Whatever it is, it’s a welcome way for me to keep my voice hydrated in the middle of what’s probably a 30-minute stretch of singing and acting without exiting the stage. Hmm, maybe drinking Welches makes me belt better ...

In this tense photo below of the 2nd US National Tour, Nick is asking Gyp for some more Welch's, but no one moves a muscle.

                                                                                                               (Photo by Joan Marcus)

         3. In The Diner.

About 15 minutes later, there’s an awesome scene in a Diner where Bob tells Frankie that he’s also leaving the group, and tries to convince Frankie that things will work better this way. I love that scene for so many reasons. First, it really shows the depth of their relationship and highlights not only Bob’s intelligence but also his understanding of Frankie. Secondly, it shows Frankie having a rare moment of vulnerability, briefly opening up a softer side by confiding in Bob his fears and distressed feelings. And the scene manages all this in a believable way, with a nice dose of humour to boot. One other touch I love (although I only know it exists because I’ve seen it as an audience member – it literally happens silently behind my back) is when the waitress and bus boy overhear us talking and realize that they are actually in the presence of ‘celebrities’. Major kudos go to writers Marshall Brickman, Rick Elice and director Des McAnuff for this scene. 

Oh – and there’s one last great thing I love about this scene - I get to drink some more of that delicious room-temperature Iced Tea, just enough to keep the chords moist for the next ten minutes or so. Much to Bob's surprise, it makes me so happy that I get up and do a Happy Dance, which is captured in this rare archival photo below.

         4. On The Spiral Staircase.

Later on in Act 2 during the "Winter-of-my-discontent" section, in a 90-second burst of energy I sing ‘Mary-Ann’, blast out a monologue setting up a scene between Bob and the record company executives, and finally head up the spiral staircase to catch my breath, out of the light. Luckily for me, there is a little ledge hidden near the top of the staircase with a tiny Frankie-sized water bottle just waiting to be used. 

In those few seconds before the light comes back up, I enjoy a nice drink of water and empty my pockets - I place onto the ledge the (fake) microphone that I’ve been singing into and the pack of (fake) smokes in my jacket pocket. The drink is just what the doctor ordered before launching into ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You’ and ‘Workin’ My Way Back To You’, two of the most challenging songs in the show.

Despite what you may think, this is not a photo of me. It is, however, fellow Canadian Kara Tremel of the Vegas company, playing Mary. Although I couldn't find a photo of a Frankie up there, I thought you might enjoy seeing Kara sitting on the spiral staircase, holding a plastic glass filled with coloured water and plastic ice cubes, complete with a sealed plastic lid. Awesome.

                                                                                                             (Photo by Joan Marcus)

         5. On The Hospital Bench.

After singing those two huge songs and delivering another monologue, we segue into the section preceding ‘Fallen Angel’. I haven't been offstage for about 30 minutes, and at this point of the show – 2 hours in and 21 songs down - my voice is very tired. I finish the monologue, sit on the bench, and a nurse comes out and gives me a nice white box. Although that was very kind of her, I kinda appreciate the Priest a bit more because when he comes out, he hands me a Styrofoam cup holding a few sips of water. Although, I gotta be honest with you, sometimes I wish it was scotch. (Ok, most times I wish it was scotch, but what are you gonna do.) 

Funny thing about this moment - sometimes when I bring the cup to my mouth, it smells ever so faintly of hand sanitizer. This makes me smile on the inside, because it tells me that the actor playing the Priest, Enrico Mammarella, probably just sanitized his hands backstage, and is trying not to transfer any germs on to me. Personally, I’d rather not get a whiff hand sanitizer up my nose before singing, but at this moment, it’s still worth it for that lovely sip of germ-free water.

    

This is Rebecca Jayne Davies as Francine and Ryan Molloy as Frankie of the London company. Here, she's saying to Ryan, "It's OK, the show's almost over. You'll get offstage soon. Then you can drink whatever you want." (Photo by Brinkhoff/Mögenburg)