Broadway World Review by Jeffrey Ellis
While seated at TPAC’s James K. Polk Theatre Thursday night, I was struck by a sudden realization: If Matthew Weiner, the creator/executive producer/grand poobah of Mad Men, needs some inspiration, or if perhaps he needs a special musical guest for his particular period-piece of a television juggernaut, he need look no further than the four men who make up Under the Streetlamp, the singing group that is currently taking the USA by storm in their first national tour. With exceptional style and remarkable confidence, their act goes down as smoothly as a perfectly dry martini served up in the glamorous nightclub of your nostalgia-fueled dreams.
Oozing charm and brimming over with sex appeal and an overabundance of stage presence, Under the Streetlamp—the quartet (Michael Ingersoll, Michael Cunio, Shonn Wiley and Christopher Kale Jones) that somehow manages to capture the sounds of multiple generations in their polished act, one that has delighted PBS pledge drive supporters for some time now—took to the stage of the Polk Theatre for a concert of pop music standards, a tuneful blend they quite appropriately call “The American Radio Songbook.”
Clad in impeccably tailored suits, the four men look for all the world as if they have just stepped off a Mad Men soundstage, calling to mind the final scenes of the television series’ season five finale (which aired only four nights earlier). Much like Don Draper striding purposefully off a soundstage, the men of Under the Streetlamp strode onto the Polk Theatre stage, proceeding to give a performance that resulted in multiple standing ovations—a tricky, if altogether deserved, trifecta of appreciation—and the kind of respect Nashville audiences give only to the extremely talented. With smooth sophistication, an easy wit and the kind of rapport some performers can only dream about, Under the Streetlamp delivered the musical goods and then some.
“Jersey Boys, you’re just too good to be true. Can’t take our eyes off of you… Jersey Boys, which opened its national tour Sunday at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre, is every bit as good as you’ve heard it is… Much praise has been heaped on the award-winning Four Seasons on Broadway, but it’s hard to imagine anyone better than the guys in the touring cast. Michael Ingersoll is Nick Massi, the quieter, classier one; Deven May is Tommy DeVito, the gambler and de facto older brother; Erich Bergen is Bob Gaudio, the musical mastermind; and Christopher Kale Jones is Frankie Valli, the voice. The guys sound great and look sharp… I can’t say enough about the fab four at the story’s center… These guys are stars in the making. Who needs Broadway when the tour is this good?”
-Inside Bay Area
“Night after night, the audience in San Francisco’s Curran Theatre doesn’t even ask permission to applaud… they just do! In the middle of songs no less, they’re on their feet, swimming in the ubiquitous sound of The Four Seasons during the first tour engagement of the Tony Award-winning musical, Jersey Boys. This act hits all the right notes… (and) features four knock-out leading men backed by an explosive band… Rounding out the quartet is Michael Ingersoll as the late-Nick Massi. Ingersoll’s controlled, open voice is the perfect piece to the rich and flawless harmonies. His second-act tirade atop an unrelenting bass line is eminent and biting.”
-Broadway World
