Seasoned to perfection.

Jersey Boys * Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice * Music by Bob Gaudio * Lyrics by Bob Crewe * Directed by Des McAnuff * August Wilson Theater, New York City (open-ended run)

The smash hit of the Broadway musical season isn't the well-meaning but unmoving adaptation of The Color Purple or Andrew Lloyd Webber's leaden The Woman in White--it's Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The show took Broadway by surprise: Nobody expected much more than another jukebox musical, driven by a bunch of crowdpleasing hit songs from the '60s for undiscriminating baby boomers. But it turns out to be several leagues better than all the other Mamma Mia wannabes. It's actually got a smart book by Marshall Brickman (who cowrote two of Woody Allen's best movies) and Rick Elice, and the cast is excellent--especially John Lloyd Young, who eerily replicates Frankie Valli's endearingly freaky falsetto, and Christian Heft, a star in the making who narrates the show as Tommy DeVito, the group's founder and resident bad boy. What's extra cool is that the show acknowledges the gay guy who was instrumental to the Four Seasons' success, producer and lyricist Bob Crewe (played by Peter Gregus), without needing to camp him up or put him down. Both the script and the actors have been whipped into shape by director Des McAnuff, who's always great at staging both male bonding and authentic rock music. His best work since The Who's Tommy, Jersey Boys is also the most exciting backstage musical since Dreamgirls.