De Jesus gets into swing of things as Valli
Think of Frankie Valli, and you immediately think of the voice — but you may not think of much else. The world really doesn’t know Valli as a threedimensional character, and that was the challenge faced by Aaron De Jesus, who plays Valli in the current production of “Jersey Boys” at the Boston Opera House starting Tuesday.
“To me, Frankie is obviously talented, but also very driven. His job, his singing is his life — that’s why he’s still out there performing at age 82,” said De Jesus, who will make his Boston debut with the show. Before moving into the Valli role, he was in the Las Vegas company playing Joe Pesci, the actor who has a hometown connection with the Four Seasons.
In the show, Valli’s transformative moment is the drug-related death of his daughter.
“That’s really the message of the show, the importance of family. That’s something these guys had to learn the hard way, as is often the case in life. They said it with their lips, but it wasn’t until things fell apart that they really learned what it meant to sacrifice for your family. So it’s really about the journey they all went through. The times I’ve met Frankie Valli, his son was there with him — not because he wanted to break into musical theater or anything, but he’s just a part of Frankie’s world.”
Of course, playing Valli also poses some vocal challenges.
“For me, the hard part isn’t even the falsetto, but the bridges that come inbetween, where he drops back to his regular voice. He did those transitions pretty seamlessly, and that’s not easy to do. I think most people would say that this is one of the two or three hardest roles to sing in musical theater history, and I just happen to be blessed with a voice that kind of works.”
Though De Jesus is younger than many Four Seasons fans, he knew most of the songs before joining the show.
“The songs are really everywhere. I even remember seeing a Nair commercial when I was young, and the song was ‘Short Shorts’ — I didn’t know that (Four Seasons member) Bob Gaudio wrote that. So did I grow up with the Four Seasons? Absolutely. I just didn’t know it, and that’s been the fun part.”
“Jersey Boys,” at the Boston Opera House, Tuesday through Oct. 16. Tickets: $20-$125; ticketmaster.com.