Oh What a Night

Get lost in the '60s during Jersey Boys performance at Bass Concert Hall

There are few male voices in music as unmistakable as that of Frankie Valli. “[He] has one the most iconic voices in pop/rock history,” says Miguel Jarquin-Moreland, who plays Valli on the U.S. national tour of Jersey Boys, which stops at Bass Concert Hall March 24-29.

The Tony Award-winning musical has been a crowd pleaser since it debuted on Broadway in 2005. Hits including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Oh What a Night,” and “Walk Like a Man,” still inspire audiences to sing along. “[The songs are] timeless. You can listen to their music and still enjoy those melodies that always get stuck in your head.”

But a band's story is rarely just about the music. Jarquin-Moreland says the musical "is one of the most incredible and interesting stories filled with joy, laughter, struggle, passion, success, pain, explicit Jersey language, ties to the mob and truth. And it's all true."

Their journey from boys living on the wrong side of the tracks to pop sensations is told through the eyes of each of the four members: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. Their rise to fame included its share of power, financial and creative struggles. “The relationships in this story are like a rubber band. There are times when the circle is tight and intact, and there are also times where it stretches so far to a point where it can do nothing else but break,” says Jarquin-Moreland.

Whether you are familiar with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons or not, Jarquin-Moreland says you’ll enjoy the production — and probably walk away humming one of the band’s famously catchy tunes. “It's one of the best-written musicals — or in my opinion plays — in Broadway history. Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice have written one of the greatest masterpieces that deals with real life issues that everyone can relate to.”

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Jersey Boys will perform eight shows during its Austin stop which runs March 24-29. Ticket prices range from $34-$124. For dates, times and to purchase tickets, please visit Texas Performing Arts.

Drew Seeley, Hayden Milanes, Matthew Dailey, Keith Hines and the company of Jersey Boys.

Jeremy Daniel

Drew Seeley, Hayden Milanes, Matthew Dailey, Keith Hines and the company of Jersey Boys.

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Movie Review

Pamela Anderson pursues greater drama in The Last Showgirl

Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions

Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl.

A variety of actors have had the good fortune of having career resurgences thanks to someone giving them a chance after they passed their prime, including John Travolta after Pulp Fiction, Keanu Reeves after John Wick, and Brendan Fraser after The Whale. Pamela Anderson is the latest actor hoping to be reclaimed thanks to her starring role in The Last Showgirl.

In the meta-story, the 57-year-old Anderson plays Shelly, an aging showgirl at a third tier Las Vegas casino. The show itself, called Le Razzle Dazzle, is on its last legs, and Shelly finds herself at a crossroads, with no other skills or financial means on which to fall back.

While younger showgirls like Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) and Mary-Anne (Brenda Song) are willing to move on to more sexually-suggestive shows, Shelly is only comfortable with the tried-and-true showgirl way. Three other people in her life — estranged daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd), best friend Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis), and stage manager Eddie (Dave Bautista) — seem to help and hurt her in equal measure.

The effectiveness of the film, directed by Gia Coppola and written by Kate Gersten, depends heavily on whether the viewer is willing to accept Anderson, who’s still best-known for her role on Baywatch, as a serious actor. If Coppola and Gersten are trying to show a different side of Anderson, they fail; having her play a character with little-to-no makeup and a dramatic arc does not make up for her poor acting skills and a high voice that borders on shrill.

And because the story is so dependent on Anderson — she appears in literally every scene — it never has a chance of becoming interesting or involving. Her character has personal issues that are objectively sad, but any weight that might have resulted from those storylines are lost along the way. She’s not helped by an over-the-top performance by Curtis, who seems to be milking her Oscar from Everything Everywhere All at Oncefor all it’s worth.

Coppola seems to be going for an old-school feel for the film to match the storyline. The film has a weird, unfocused look to it at times, giving the audience visuals that are definitely not high-definition. Whether she’s actually using an old film stock or manipulating the image to make it look like an old film, the effect is the same, with imperfections appearing on the screen often.

Anderson — who earned a nomination for a Golden Globe for Best Female Actor for her role — and Curtis seem to take up most of the oxygen of the film, leaving little to remember from anyone else. Shipka had a breakout movie year thanks to appearances in Twisters and Longlegs, but her role here gives her little to do. The same goes for Bautista, although at least he gets to put on a grey wig and act in a way that doesn’t emphasize his bulky physique.

While actors should never be shunted aside simply because they’ve aged out of an accepted age range, you also have to have the ability to prove you still belong. Anderson can’t get out of her own way in The Last Showgirl, and consequently the film itself never has any dramatic depth, either.

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The Last Showgirl opens in theaters on January 10.

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