Latest / The BSB Podcast / Exclusive Interview: Ryan Hurley of 'Jersey Boys'

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Exclusive Interview: Ryan Hurley of 'Jersey Boys' · The BSB Podcast

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  The music is legendary, the harmonies are unforgettable,
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  and the story behind the four seasons is anything but ordinary.
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  Jersey Boys brings the rise, fall,
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  and remarkable legacy of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons to life with plenty
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  of heart, humor, and a few bumps along the way.
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  Today we're talking with Ryan Hurley,
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  who takes on the role of Norman Waxman and several other colorful characters
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  in this touring production. Thank you so much for being here,
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  Ryan.
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  Yeah, thanks so much for having me.
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  The four seasons is you know, their music is so iconic,
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  they're recognizable audiences often have their own memories attached
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  to these songs. What's it like to be a part of a production where
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  the audience's emotional connection is already established before even
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  the curtain rises?
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  Yeah, it is awesome. I ~ I have always loved this show and going into
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  it with no ~ real understanding of who these guys were.
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  You know, I remember seeing it for
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  Sure.
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  the first time when I was ~ in high school and feeling like okay,
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  I have no idea what I'm in for.
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  And then you sit there and you realize,
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  like, ~ I know this song and I know this song,
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  and I know these five songs too.
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  Yeah.
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  And
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  ~ and and
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  Hearing from people on the road,
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  I mean, this is everyone's experience,
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  people who have grown up with this music,
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  people who have never heard of Frankie Valley or any of the other seasons.
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  yeah, it is it is really cool to hear from people all over the country
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  ~ how this music ~ has come in and out of their lives because it really
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  is it's really part of the fabric,
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  I guess, of like ~ our our culture as Americans a little bit,
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  right?
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  Yeah. I feel like this is definitely one of those
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  Yeah.
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  ones that both like my grandma would listen to,
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  my mom would listen to. Like, I mean,
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  the four seasons were ones that I knew.
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  Like you, like you said, I could probably name most of these songs
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  as they're playing, but
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  Absolutely.
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  the story of of the Jersey Boys,
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  I'll be honest, I've never seen it before.
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  I've never even seen the movie.
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  So like,
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  Really?
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  so to be able to see that kind of behind the scenes look,
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  that has to be so cool for a lot of people who maybe know that music
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  but don't know the story that's behind it.
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  Yeah, absolutely. And that's what's so cool too,
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  is it's like they have this great,
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  great story be behind their music.
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  Like, ~ you know, yes, like kids that are even younger than than than I am,
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  you know, ten, eleven years old know their songs from TikTok all the way
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  up to my grandparents who grew up with this music.
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  But yeah, I I think the story goes as ~ they were writing this show ~ back
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  in the day, like a like a sort of Mamma Mia type musical where they're gonna take
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  Sure.
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  these songs
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  and sort of fit them in and and
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  to a story that they've come up with.
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  And as they're interviewing these guys,
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  they're like, wait a minute, like this is the story here.
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  And they, you know, so ~ yeah,
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  it's a really remarkable story and it's and it's true.
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  You're gonna you're not even gonna believe some of the things that have actually
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  happened to these guys.
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  I love this type of like jukebox musical.
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  You know, again, like the like the Neil Diamond story or like A Beautiful Noise
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  or ~ Ain't Too Proud, like those stories where it's actually telling
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  the story of the individuals who are in there because a lot of the times
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  we do know the people on stage,
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  but we don't know the story behind it and what's kind of bringing it all to life.
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  ~
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  Yeah.
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  especially, you know, in a world w you need to fill everybody out.
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  You need to fill the music industry of the show and make it feel big.
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  Sure.
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  So how do you approach ~
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  Well, first off, you're playing Norm Waxman,
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  ~ who
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  Yeah.
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  isn't maybe necessarily a name that a lot of people know when they think
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  of the four seasons, but he's such an important part of the surrounding world,
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  ~ in their rise to fame. How do you approach making a character like Norm memorable
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  while audiences are also maybe naturally focused on the four guys at
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  the center of the story?
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  Yeah, absolutely. ~ I think it's important that ~ I I think doing some research
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  on on the piece and and these guys that ~ the the real characters that
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  are from the show, you know. My character Norm is is is not a is not
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  a real person per se. He is a real person in the sense that ~ this this story
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  actually happened, but ~
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  His name and maybe some of the specifics ~ details are are changed sort of
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  for ~ for the
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  Sure.
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  context of telling this story.
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  But ~ yeah, knowing what went went on ~ at that time when the seasons were
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  ~ were going through these things,
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  especially I won't give too much away,
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  but like where my character is ~ is concerned.
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  And so I just think knowing as much about the play,
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  we do a sit-down where
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  We work with our creative team and they walk us through some of the history
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  of these guys and ~ the real life things they went through and and doing your
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  own research on ~ on on my end as well.
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  It's just it just informs everything,
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  right?
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  And when you're doing kind of that research,
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  you know, and you're also trying to build a character that is you you know,
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  your own as well, where's where do you
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  Yeah.
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  kind of strike a balance between like trying to make norm who you kind
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  of find the research on or like with the situations,
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  but also kind of putting your own mark on that?
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  Yeah, absolutely. There is such a ~ a legacy ~ behind behind me.
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  20 years of people. I'm probably the seven hundred and fortieth person
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  to play this part. But yeah,
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  I don't know. You know, the the the best thing about this this show is that
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  we are working with such a great script in a lot of ways.
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  Like, you know, I I do my research about the the seasons and what they were going
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  through and ~
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  And then it sounds kind of silly,
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  but you just sort of let the the dialogue work for itself.
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  It does all the work for
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  Sure.
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  you in a in a lot of ways, right?
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  You just you're sort of just living living truthfully,
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  I guess you could say, in ~ in this script.
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  You Yeah, you don't have to be funny,
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  you don't have to be anything.
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  It it just it just jumps off the page and I'm just the the the vehicle,
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  I guess, for it. So yeah.
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  And with the also taking on maybe multiple characters,
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  is there a character you play that allows you to have either like a little more
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  fun or maybe even take like a bigger creative swing than some of the others?
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  Absolutely. ~ so in addition to playing Norm Waxman,
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  ~ I play probably six, seven, eight other characters.
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  I play Nick DeVito, who is Tommy's brother,
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  ~ at the beginning of the show.
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  ~ let's see, I play Charlie Callelo,
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  who ~ comes into the band a little bit later in the show.
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  But one of the really fun ones I get to play,
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  we do this scene scene called Donnie and Stosh,
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  ~ where it is a it is one of the great
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  comedic scenes in ~ in in musical theater.
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  It is a really, really funny and ~ very,
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  very jersey ~ scene. we come out in a in a car and ~ again I don't want
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  to spoil too much, but big some hidden surprises in that scene.
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  It's it's very fun. Very fun.
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  It sounds like you have to valley between a lot of different extremes
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  of characters there.
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  Yeah, totally. Yeah. I'm playing ~ I I'm playing ~ Norm Waxman,
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  the Lone Shark. We're we're playing Tommy's brother who ends up ~ in jail
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  at one point. We're playing Donnie and Stosh,
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  these two sort of scammers from the old neighborhood.
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  Like ~ it is it is a wide variety of ~ New Jersey,
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  New Jersey folks that we ~ the girls I think play something like
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  60 characters between the three of them too.
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  my gosh.
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  I mean, we are
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  all all night backstage.
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  Changing, coming on, doing our little scenes,
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  running off, changing, coming back.
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  It's it's pretty impressive.
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  What is kind of your secret then like switching between characters?
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  'Cause it sounds like there's a lot of times where you're jumping from
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  one to another rather quickly.
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  Yeah, totally.
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  Yeah. You know what? Rehearsal,
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  rehearsal, rehearsal. That
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  Mm-hmm.
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  is the big thing. I mean, we do a ton of ~ we we we had three weeks in
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  New York City of just ~ of just rehearsing this show and ~ getting to
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  try out some beats. Again, th this long legacy with this show is nice because there
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  is a little bit of like ~ sort of a framework maybe in place,
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  but getting to fill that out. We have three weeks of that.
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  We got another week of
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  Of tech rehearsals, getting to see the show in the light and the costumes.
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  Sometimes what you're wearing ~ does all the acting for you,
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  right? You know, you come out with ~ a mustache or a hat or something like that,
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  and you're like, my gosh, there's who this guy is.
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  You know what I mean? It it is very funny how like these things can sort
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  of ~ can sort of inform. It's it's awesome.
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  It's such a fun, like it's such a fun.
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  I have the best job in the world.
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  Yeah.
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  That's
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  awesome. And again, like you said,
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  such an incredible show, too. Like with such a legacy,
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  ~ not even just
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  Mm-hmm.
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  for the the four seasons, but also just with this show who is it's lived on and on,
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  and people love this one.
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  you know, audiences are often arriving expecting maybe a celebration
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  of the four seasons music, but there's also a much more complicated story
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  underneath. What do you kind of hope that they take away from the show besides just
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  the songs?
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  Yeah. What I love so much about this show is ~ you know,
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  there are a lot of shows like this.
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  ~ and we are they they are trying to get us to stray away from jukebox musical
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  because it it is ~ it really is so much more than that.
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  But there's a lot of these stories about,
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  you know, these guys that sort of they have a tough time in the music biz,
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  which is not not maybe s necessarily the most relatable story for ~ people
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  ~ from Michigan where I'm from,
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  or people across the country that we're still visiting.
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  But the the story of heartbreak and the story of ~ incredible success from
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  nothing, the story of really kind of pulling yourself up and and and going
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  out and making a life ~ for yourself,
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  which is what these guys did and and in some ways continue to do,
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  because a few of them are still around with us.
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  Like that is really, really relatable.
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  And I think that's why people keep coming back to this show because it's like
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  They can see themselves in parts.
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  I mean, we've all been through heartbreak.
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  We've all been through you know,
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  ~ we've all come from from smaller places and and and go on to do,
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  you know, great things in our in our lives.
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  I mean, it's it's a really, really,
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  really relatable story, which is is so awesome.
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  I mean, that that's why people keep coming back.
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  These were real guys from ~ you know,
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  sort of a blue collar neighborhood.
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  Like they're just guys off the old block.
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  I mean, seriously.
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  You know, you had mentioned ~ having roots in Michigan,
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  which we are also a Michigan ~ based entertainment
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  Proudly.
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  website. So we love that. We love seeing Michigan represented.
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  But was
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  Yeah.
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  there a particular moment in your career when you realized that performing wasn't
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  just something maybe you like loved doing,
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  but was like genuine something you wanted to pursue pursue professionally?
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  Yeah, absolutely. ~ I am,
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  I mean, I can I'm looking directly in here.
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  I am so proud, like really to be from Michigan.
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  ~ I have had some of the like best arts
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  ~ teachers and education that you could you you could possibly have.
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  you know what? It's funny, like I always grew up doing doing theater,
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  ~ and I was an opera singer at one time.
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  Like I I I was doing all kinds of,
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  you know, I just always like
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  lived in in the arts. ~ I kind of come from like a sort of sports family
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  and my sister is into sports and you know what I mean?
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  but my parents were awesome. They really in encouraged me to,
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  you know, pursue this thing. They're like,
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  we don't know where this comes from.
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  But like ~ and so yeah,
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  I think I just always done it.
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  It was it was the it was it was what got me out of bed in the morning my whole life.
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  Sure.
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  I mean
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  seriously it's it's like what I lived for.
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  And I think ~ there came a moment in high school maybe ~ where
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  was like, ~ I ~ I we started getting asked like what we were gonna do with
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  our life and I just I just didn't really ever think it was always like,
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  of course I'm gonna, you know,
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  be in ~ be in the arts and ~ yeah,
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  I mean lots of ups and downs, but I I'm I'm really grateful to to be here.
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  It is like I said, it is the best life in the world to to get to,
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  you know, do this for for a living.
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  I'm so grateful, really I am.
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  So you knew at a very young age that this was this was it.
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  I think so. It was in in a way that I really didn't even Yeah,
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  I don't know. I always knew. I just I knew this is where I wanted to be.
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  It's what my it's it's the only th it's in my heart.
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  Like it's what I ~
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  Sure.
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  Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
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  Awesome. So every
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  night on stage when you go into Jersey Boys,
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  you're having so many incredible iconic songs on stage.
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  Is there a specific
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  Mm-hmm.
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  song either like performing or singing being performed?
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  Are you just like being a part of every night?
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  Yeah, absolutely. You know, these like these like big,
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  we call them the big three, like Sherry,
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  Big Girl, Big Girls Don't Cry,
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  Walk Like a Man. Those are some of the like classic ones,
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  you know, Can't Take My Eyes Off You.
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  I am ~ I am on stage in the background for.
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  I think though my favorite one is ~ maybe a slightly less known.
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  ~ we get to do a song right after Can't Take My Eyes Off of You called Working
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  My Way Back to You, which I think people do know.
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  Working My Way Back to You, babe.
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  Yes.
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  God, that is so fun. We are like
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  I mean I get to come down front.
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  I got my little ~ my little ~ solo and we're we're backing up Frankie.
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  It is it is awesome. It is such like a high energy,
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  just like ~ you know, one of the final pushes of the night.
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  It's great.
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  That's such a great that I mean,
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  that's such a great moment to be able a gr
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  Yeah.
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  an iconic song, absolutely, but also just a great moment ~ all around
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  for the energy and the audience
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  Yeah.
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  and and for the people on stage.
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  Yeah, I get to feel like I mean,
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  I feel like a like a rock star when I'm out there doing that.
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  You know what I mean? It is so fun,
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  man.
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  I mean, but you are a rock star for you know,
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  you're part of the show and you're bringing joy to people.
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  So that is I mean, that already makes you a rock star in every single way.
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  Yeah. thanks. And I will say this production in particular,
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  ~ I've done a ~ a couple different versions of this show.
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  I I I did it first for Norwegian Cruise Line,
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  which was awesome. And I we opened a a revival of the show in Las Vegas
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  for a couple months
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  Okay.
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  in 2024. But this one is just so special.
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  I mean, we are going to I mean this this art center in in Midland that I've never
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  I've never been to, but I I'm looking at pictures and my whole family's coming like
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  We're going to these big, awesome venues,
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  and I mean the show is loud and it really is rock and roll.
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  I mean, this show, more than any version of the show I've done before,
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  it feels
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  Mm-hmm.
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  like a rock concert. I mean, it is like awesome.
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  It is just like booming and loud and and really,
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  really fun. I mean, ~ good luck getting out of this one without having a good time.
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  I mean, seriously. Yeah.
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  I mean, absolutely.
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  It seems like from what I've just seen and from what I've heard that this is a show.
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  I mean, this is a show again that while I've never seen it,
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  everybody talks about it. When this was announced
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  Yeah.
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  that it was coming back on tour,
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  people were were going crazy for it.
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  I know here in Detroit people are waiting for it to arrive.
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  I think so. Man,
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  So
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  me too, right? Like I can't wait.
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  I'm so excited. And you know what?
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  The 20th anniversary too, I mean,
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  we got to work with the original team,
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  which I have I have never worked
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  It's incredible.
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  with Des Makanoff and Sergio before,
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  our director and choreographer,
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  original director and choreographer.
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  So we got to reunite with them,
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  which is awesome. I mean, they are really pulling out kind of all
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  the stops for this, for this 20th anniversary tour,
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  and it's awesome. It feels like this is the way this show has.
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  you know, is is supposed to be done.
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  It's big. It's rock and roll. It's it's it's just we've got a great group.
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  I I feel very lucky to be part of it,
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  seriously.
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  I there's no better way to celebrate the twentieth anniversary.
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  And also I just want to note too,
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  getting to return to a show again that you love as well,
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  like but like this, you know, multiple times now.
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  There's there's something,
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  Yeah.
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  you know, universal about that.
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  I'm talking about why audiences keep coming back.
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  I should talk about why I keep coming back.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  I mean, seriously,
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  like I love it just as much as as our audiences do.
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  Serious it's it's just it is awesome.
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  I mean, this show, what am I gonna do?
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  What am I ever gonna do after this that's gonna top how awesome this show is?
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  I mean, it is just it's just fun and awesome and in moving in places.
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  I mean, just from top to bottom.
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  It is to me the perfect musical.
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  Well, thank you so much for being here,
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  Ryan, and chatting about Jersey
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  Yeah.
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  Boys. It's been such a pleasure talking with you.
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  thanks so much. I really appreciate you having me.
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  Come see Jersey Boys. Yeah.
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  So Jersey Absolutely.
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  Jersey Boys arrives at the Midland Center for the Arts on October thirtieth
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  and runs through November first.
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  So get your tickets now and we'll see you at the show.
• 15:34
  Thank you so much.