‘We put Jersey on the map’: ‘Jersey Boys,’ at Paper Mill Playhouse, tell story of four of our local heroes

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From left, Robert Lenzi, Daniel Quadrino, Jake Bentley Young and Ben Diamond co-star in “Jersey Boys” at The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn.

You may have noticed that The Paper Mill Playhouse is quite fond of jukebox musicals. Since 2016, the Millburn theater has presented “Million Dollar Quartet” (devoted to the music of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and others), “My Very Own British Invasion” (Herman’s Hermits), “The Wanderer” (Dion), “On Your Feet!” (Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine) and “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.” And its 2024-2025 season is beginning, now, with arguably the greatest jukebox musical of them all: “Jersey Boys,” which features the music of Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons. It is running through Nov. 3.

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Daniel Quadrino, right, with Robert Lenzi in “Jersey Boys.”

“Jersey Boys” is a rare example of a jukebox musical named Best Musical at The Tonys (in 2006). It also was made into a film in 2014, and has helped to make younger pop fans aware of ’60s and ’70s gems such as “Sherry,” “Dawn (Go Away),” “Rag Doll,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night).” But it has had such a big impact because it is more than just a vehicle for those songs. It sets itself apart from most jukebox musicals by creating three-dimensional characters, and telling a compelling story.

Book writers Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice interviewed band members and found that there was a lot of little-known drama in their history. They also came up with a clever way to frame the action, dividing the musical into four sections — representing the four seasons themselves! — and giving each group member a section to narrate.

“Spring” covers the band’s formation and early days; “Summer,” the time of its greatest success. After an intermission comes “Fall,” when things go dramatically wrong; and “Winter,” when the original quartet dissolves but Valli keeps the group going with replacement musicians, while also emerging as a successful solo artist, and suffering personal loss.

Although they don’t call it that, there is a final, hopeful burst of “Spring” at the end — bringing everything full circle, in a way — with some of the evening’s most upbeat music, and reassuring glimpses of the four bandmates, later in life, older and maybe a little wiser.

Director Michael Bello has a solid cast to work with here. Daniel Quadrino, as Valli, sings with the supernaturally strong falsetto that the role requires. Jake Bentley Young oozes confidence as the hot-headed, charismatic Tommy DeVito. Ben Diamond is sweetly unassuming as songwriting genius Bob Gaudio. And Robert Lenzi shows good deadpan comedic instincts as the quirky bassist and vocal arranger Nick Massi.

In a nice touch, Brickman and Elice make the somewhat in-the-shadows figure of Massi the central figure in show’s funniest scene, when his simmering rage over DeVito’s sloppiness, as his roommate in hotel rooms on the road, explodes. “The man cannot be in a hotel without using all the towels! … You need a towel, you know where it is? In a wet pile on the floor!”

Another amusing moment comes when Valli takes on a big debt, and is warned, “You’ll be on the road till you’re 90.” The real Valli is now, of course, still touring at 90, though the play makes it clear that he did get out from under that debt, years ago.

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Daniel Quadrino and Amber Ardolino in “Jersey Boys.”

The cast’s nine other actors keep very busy throughout the evening, with each one appearing as three or more characters, including producer and songwriter Bob Crewe (Jeremy Gaston); Frankie’s tough, street-smart wife Mary (Amber Ardolino); mob boss Gyp DeCarlo (Nick Duckart); and friend-of-the-band Joey (Reagan Pender), who is destined for a different kind of fame. Latter-day Four Seasons members Joe Long and Charlie Calello are portrayed by Jarran Muse and Tyler Okunski, respectively.

Another strength of the musical’s book — and something that makes the Paper Mill Playhouse a particularly good place to present it — is that it has a strong sense of place. The group’s early days — singing on Essex County street corners and in small nightclubs and, in three of the four members’ cases, engaging in petty crime — is vividly depicted, and the Jersey references continue throughout the play.

“Our stuff is all over: Radio, movies. Commercials, even,” DeVito says, at the start of the musical, addressing the audience directly, before the story begins. “Look, I don’t mean to seem, you know” — he pauses, as if searching for the right word — “ubiquitous. But let’s face it: We put Jersey on the map.”

The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn will present “Jersey Boys” through Nov. 3. Visit papermill.org.