Another Season, another reason…

Who’s gonna be in Jersey Boys when it trucks to Hartford for a return engagement Oct. 19-Nov. 6? The same Frankie Valli who’s been with the touring company since it first hit the road four years ago, Joseph Leo Bwarie. John Gardiner, who was in the ensemble when Jersey Boys last visited Hartford in 2009, has been bumped up to a lead role in the company, as the new Tommy DeVito (replacing Matt Bailey, who’d done the part for a couple of years).
Also on board: Preston Truman Boyd (Bob Gaudio), Joseph Leo Bwarie (Frankie Valli), John Gardiner (Tommy DeVito) and Michael Lomenda (Nick Massi) and as The Four Se, Candi Boyd, Christopher DeAngelis, Lauren Dicierdo, John Michael Dias, Buck Hujabre, Denise Payne, Mauricio Pérez, Timothy Quinlan, Brian Silverman, Courter Simmons, Kara Tremel, Mark Verdino, Donald Webber, Jr., Kevin Worley and Adam Zelasko.sons, with Jonathan Hadley and Joseph Siravo.
Connecticut has crossed paths regularly with the show—not enough to rename it Connecticut Boys, but… the first national tour was built and rehearsed, and even performed a few public dress rehearsals for paying customers before its “official” opening, across the country in California in December of 2007. The tour’s “official” Connecticut premiere was at the Bushnell 14 months later. Last summer, the four original Jersey Boys cast members who now song together as the concert act The Midtown Men headlined the annual Long Wharf Theatre gala and serenaded nonagenarian guest of honor Louise Endel.