Jersey Boys celebrates four years of success in Las Vegas
By Matt Kelemen
Photographs by Christopher DeVargas
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It’s hard for Graham Fenton to believe that a year has already passed since he and his Jersey Boys co-stars drove up to the porte cochere at Paris Las Vegas in a red 1959 convertible Cadillac as casino employees sang “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night).” After three successful years at The Palazzo, Jersey Boys had moved to the Paris with Fenton as the newest actor to play a member of the Four Seasons. “Things are going great,” says Fenton, who shares the role of Frankie Valli with original Las Vegas cast member Travis Cloer. “The crowds have been fantastic, and we’re happy to be starting another year over there.”
Fenton isn’t new to Jersey Boys or to Las Vegas. The New Jersey native joined the Broadway cast as an understudy for the Tommy DeVito character before becoming an alternate Valli with the touring production. “I was actually part of the original (Las Vegas) cast that came out here five years ago,” says Fenton. “I was an understudy then, so I got to see it start at The Palazzo and move over to the Paris. We’re just so grateful that we’re still here and still playing to big crowds. I don’t think anyone would have thought that we would have the amazing success that the show has had.”
There’s no mystery to Jersey Boys’ success. Besides the wide appeal of the soundtrack and the ease with which the songs lend themselves to the story’s narrative arc—the latest accolade the show picked up was Best Book of a Musical at the 2012 BroadwayWorld Las Vegas Awards—Jersey Boys depicts triumphs and tragedies that are easy for audiences to identify with as well as a nostalgia for more innocent times. “I think the music that the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli created just touched so many people, and I think everyone can get behind that underdog story,” says Fenton. “People like to see redemption, and when you pair that together with these incredible songs … it’s proven itself worldwide. It’s a universal story that anyone can relate to.”
While the four-part structure gives each of the actors playing the Four Seasons equal time, the role of Frankie Valli is the toughest on actors’ voices. Fenton, who joined a band called A Million Pieces before Jersey Boys moved to Paris, fully tested his Valli-vocal capabilities on the road and in Australia before coming back to Las Vegas. He and Cloer alternate performances due to the challenges presented by the year-round desert climate. (Fenton appears in white in the group shot above; Cloer appears in the striped cardigan at left.) So far he’s been up to the task, and with the help of specialists that helped Frank Sinatra fight “desert throat,” he’s been able to hit those falsetto notes without fear, so much so that BroadwayWorld.com described him as “pitch perfect.”
“It’s a huge role to take on, and you do have to carry the show when Frankie gets his section,” says Fenton of the part that depicts Valli’s relationship with his daughter. “I feel so honored to be able to go on and do it every night. It’s one of those roles where you go, ‘Where do you go from here?’ I sincerely believe it’s the best role a guy can have in musical theater.”
