One of the hottest tickets going goes down Thursday night in Lawrence…
That’s when the Baby Boom’s answer to boy band One Direction – The Midtown Men – take the stage at the Lied Center of Kansas for a 7:30 p.m. two hour concert.
Never heard of The Midtown Men? Think Franki Valli & The Four Seasons from the Tony Award winning musical-turned-biographical musical movie drama Jersey Boys. A musical that tells the story of the four young men from “the wrong side of the tracks” in New Jersey who went on to record some of the 1960s and 1970s biggest hits with songs like, “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Rag Doll” and “Walk Like a Man.”
The Midtown Men are four stars from the original Broadway cast of Jersey Boys who struck out on their own in 2007 performing a handful of songs from the musical along with a ton of hit songs from the 1960s such as The Turtles “Happy Together,” The Zombies “Time of the Season” and everything from classic Motown to Beatles.
And judging from recent critical reviews, doing all of them quite well.
“These are all top Broadway guys,” says Theater League main man Mark Edelman, who has presented Jersey Boys in three cities with three more on the way next year.
“They’re really good too,” Edelman adds. “I saw them do a half hour of their show two years ago in New York and I thought they were great. And I’ve seen them all on Broadway too.”
Each of The Midtown Men – Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria, Daniel Reichard and J. Robert Spencer – are accomplished, pedigreed Broadway stars, Edelman says.
“Christian Hoff did Pal Joey on Broadway and J. Robert Spencer was nominated for a Tony for his work in the Broadway musical Next to Normal,” Edelman says. “And Michael Longoria replaced John Lloyd Young, who originally played Franki Valli on Broadway and in Clint Eastwood‘s movie adaption of Jersey Boys.
John Lloyd Young
Coffee, tea or me?”
“It’s funny, you know what Young was doing a year before he got the part for the movie? He was like the office guy at one of the Broadway agencies. He’d come in and say, ‘Hey Mark, can I get you some coffee?’ And now he’s a big star, but he’s also a regular Broadway leading man.”
Couldn’t get tix to Jersey Boys when it hit KC last year? Not to worry.
The musical performances by The Midtown Men in their concert are every bit as crowd pleasing as the songs performed in the touring Broadway musical of Jersey Boys, Edelman says.
Speaking of which…
There’s no connection between The Midtown Men and the Jersey Boys musical.
Nuff said?
heard they’re doing a duet with Lawrence welk.
then being accompanied by liberace.
should be a good show. Maybe they’ll do an encore at Mabels!
Andif they need their shoes repaired have them go to BTK..or BRK or
whatever ……
Funny guy!
They’re award winning singers from one of Broadway’s top musicals and are young enough to be your kids – grandkids? – H Man
Wow…that sounds positively awful.
That top pic could be a pictorial for the different stages of orgasm