Everyone Remembers It How They Need To
Written by Artistic Director, Ethan Nienaber
Upon accepting the position and realizing that JERSEY BOYS would be my first show as Artistic Director of QCT, my first thought was, “That is a tall order right out of the gate!” because of the seemingly endless challenges in this show. In the first act alone, there are 33 scenes and over 50 characters. During which, our actors playing the Four Seasons rarely leave the stage, but we must somehow still show the passage of 40+ years of their lives and honor each song within each time period and the list goes on and on. But overcoming those challenges is completely worth the effort it takes.
When I took a trip down my own memory lane and asked myself what this show meant to me, I realized my anticipation for this production was rooted in one simple fact: JERSEY BOYS was the show that I saw as a teenager and thought to myself, “I want to do that.” So, with the weight of my own young ambitions on my shoulders, the idea of directing this show as my first production in this new role seemed daunting. Not just because of what the show means to me and the challenge it presents for our team, but because I realized how much this story and The Four Seasons music must also mean to others.
That “ah-ha” moment led me to an important question that has helped shape this entire production from the beginning: “How do we do justice to this group of musicians that have shaped generations?” Well, as you might imagine, the answer to that is not so simple…
While venturing through my memory of first seeing JERSEY BOYS as an aspirational teenager, I can remember the experience like it was yesterday. During a typical freezing January in Minneapolis, the 1st National Touring Company was in town for a few weeks and playing full houses in the legendary Orpheum Theatre. I was lucky enough to have a close family friend ask whether I had seen a Broadway musical before and if I wanted to go see the show since they had a rare spare ticket during the sold-out run. My response was something along the lines of, “Only LION KING but if JERSEY BOYS is half the show that was, then I’ll be there!”
Sitting in the theater and thumbing through the Playbill, I’ll admit that I knew nothing about the show or the songs of The Four Seasons. But, as the first notes of the show sprang from the band, I was captivated. Then, when the actor playing Frankie Valli finally entered for the first time with his soaring vocals during “Silhouettes”, the emotions of the moment swelled to a point where I couldn’t help but quietly shed a few tears. Not because the story was particularly sad or tragic at that moment, but because it was so clear how much hard work and talent had to come together to craft it.
As I reflect on my initial impression of this story, I can’t help but fondly remember all the tiny miracles that came together to give me that magical and formative experience. Yet as my career has journeyed onward, I am consistently reminded that making theatre usually calls for many of those tiny miracles. Although JERSEY BOYS doesn’t kindly ask for them as some shows might; it emphatically demands them. And who must answer the bulk of those demands in our production? Our immensely talented, passionate, and hard-working volunteers, of course!
Normally, those types of expectations also feel daunting to the cast and crew, not just their aspirational director. But it can feel particularly daunting for our volunteers when coming together to mount a show at QCT is done in the few spare evening hours between the rest of life’s demands. Yet this team has answered the call, day in and day out, for the last two months, without hesitation. I have witnessed every person who has given their time to this production rise to the occasion and grasp each tiny miracle moment they are presented with. Which has only shifted my once fearful anxieties into excited anticipation to share all the hard work and talent that has come together to create JERSEY BOYS.
I like to think that it took countless tiny miracles to bring me to Quincy in this new role, each of which I will be forever grateful for. From seeing JERSEY BOYS the first time and finding my purpose, to serendipitously stepping in as the director for NEWSIES last season, to now directing JERSEY BOYS this summer as Artistic Director, every experience has been a part of my unique journey to this moment. So, I invite you to reflect on the tiny miracles in your own life, and hopefully you are left with the same satisfaction as The Four Seasons at the end of the show and their career together. As Tommy DeVito says in JERSEY BOYS, “Everyone remembers it how they need to” and I cannot wait to continue making memories with our community, with every show, for years to come.