The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Ohio boy An original ‘Jersey Boys’ Broadway star, Rocky River native Daniel Reichard will perform in Elyria with The Midtown Men
Rocky River native Daniel Reichard made it to Broadway in 2005 as an original cast member of the Tony Award-winning “Jersey Boys.” It was quite the achievement for the 1996 St. Ignatius High School graduate, who spent his youth performing in area productions, including the Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood.
These days Reichard is keeping busy with national touring group The Midtown Men, which makes their Northeast Ohio debut Nov. 18 at Lorain County Community College’s Hoke Theatre at Stocker Arts Center.
“The Midtown Men formed in 2010, but really our story began on 52nd Street in New York City when we appeared together in the original cast of ‘Jersey Boys,’” said Reichard, calling from New York City. “We were on the rocket ride of being on the biggest Broadway show at the time. We continuously were asked to sing outside of the theater on our off nights.
“Even after we left ‘Jersey Boys,’ after performing over 1,300 performances, we kept getting asked to sing together. So sort of accidentally we created our own show with the idea was that we would get up and not only sing the music of The Four Seasons we portrayed on Broadway, but all of our favorite groups of the ‘60s – The Rascals, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Drifters and so on.”
The Midtown Men, which marks the first time a group of original cast members of a Broadway show created their own separate group, has performed more than 850 concerts, released two albums and appeared in two PBS specials.
“It’s been a great success and life experience,” Reichard said. “What’s funny is we’ve sung in hundreds of cities, and Cleveland is the one we haven’t played yet. It’s been kind of a frustrating thing for me because you always want to come and sing in your hometown. So this is a nice treat to be so close to where I grew up.”
Joining Reichard in The Midtown Men will be fellow former “Jersey Boys” cast members Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria and J. Robert Spencer.
“The thing with our show that we’re proud of is it’s an extremely positive atmosphere,” Reichard said. “We really want our audiences to feel very comfortable, to escape the stress from the news cycle and everyday life.”
Escaping the stress of the day while in the theater hasn’t always been the case with “Jersey Boys,” which famously during a Playhouse Square performance included a fight between audience members.
Perhaps there’s something about the music of The Four Seasons that gets the blood and testosterone moving because, in theory, that story should be a stand-alone event, and telling Reichard about it should catch him off guard. Instead, well, some audience members apparently misconstrue what it means to “Walk Like a Man.”
“That happened with us in New York City, too,” Reichard laughed. “We’d watch these fights from the stage. Some people singing along with the songs, and others were saying, ‘Shut up, we didn’t come here to hear you sing. We came to hear them sing.’ It was so funny. Emotions would run high.”
While Reichard hopes there won’t be any fisticuffs at the upcoming Midtown Men show, he does want the audience to show off its vocal talents.
“We ask our audiences to sing along sometimes,” Reichard said. “We think everybody ought to get involved.”