Corey Greenan Interview by Christine Thompson
JERSEY BOYS is the behind-the-music story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. They were just four guys from Jersey, until they sang their very first note. They had a sound nobody had ever heard… and the radio just couldn’t get enough of. But while their harmonies were perfect on stage, off stage it was a very different story – a story that has made them an international sensation all over again. The show features all their hits including “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Oh What A Night,” “Walk Like A Man,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” and “Working My Way Back To You.”
They were just four guys from Jersey, until they sang their very first note. They had a sound nobody had ever heard… and the radio just couldn’t get enough of. But while their harmonies were perfect on stage, off stage it was a very different story – a story that has made them an international sensation all over again.
In the early 2000s, Bob Gaudio, an original Four Seasons member, sought to make a musical from the discography of the band. Little was known to the public about the group’s history prior to the premiere of the musical, because the magazines of the era did not write much about them. In their research, Brickman and Elice were surprised to find that the members had prison records, which might have prevented their music from being played if it had been publicized when they were active.According to Gaudio, “Back then, things were a little clean-cut, don’t forget, so the idea of our story getting out was horrifying to us.Other bands of the time projected street-tough images, but The Four Seasons cleaned themselves up in order to be palatable for mainstream listeners.
In this interview with Corey Greenan, who plays Tommy DeVito in the touring Broadway show, we find out why the music sounds so authentic and true to the original Four Seasons hits.
AMFM: What Makes this Broadway show relevant for today’s audiences?
Corey Greenan: What I love about the show is that these are songs that everyone knows, but they may not know that it is Franki Valli and The Four Seasons. What makes this show so relevant is that this is the story of how they came up, how they came to be. You get all the information in this show.
AMFM: And you play the guy who was the catalyst for all of this, Tommy DeVito.
Corey Greenan: Yes, he was hustler who never really left the streets. He ends up getting them in trouble money-wise, and in other ways too. He was the one who really got it started and put it together.
AMFM: The music business doesn’t seem to be that much different today, it’s still full of hustlers who get things started, except there are different mediums like youtube and the internet. It draws young people in search of a dream. There seems to be certain personalities drawn to that business. People who want to make a difference, or make a difference in their own lives.
Corey Greenan: That’s exactly who Tommy was, he wanted to make a name for himself. Unfortunately he had some other bad habits. When they finish up the show and they are at the Rock-n-Roll Hall Of Fame, Tommy is at the top of his game, he thought it was the greatest award in the world, because it’s from the people. You can buy the other awards, but this is from the people.
AMFM: Bob Gaudio has been involved in this from the beginning, what kinds of notes has he given you about the Broadway performance, and those times?
Corey Greenan: Bob Gaudio (Songwriter: Sherry, Walk Like A Man, Rag Doll among many other hits) is one of the original Four Seasons, he wrote a lot of the songs, really talented man. He was a part of putting this show together with Franki in the early stages, is still a part of it. He’ll come in an coach some of the “Frankies,” but he’s just so supportive of the show. It’s so cool that you literally have one of the Four Seasons to come in and make sure it’s still the product that started on Broadway in 2005.
