Jersey Boys

A Note from Bill

My relationship with Des McAnuff began when I was a graduate student at UCSD. Des had heard about my production of Brecht’s Edward II and invited me to do my MFA directing residency with him. I assisted him on the world premiere of a new play, Tom Donaghy’s Eden Lane. The following year, Des invited me to join him on a then-untitled musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. I declined at first because I was trying to move away from assisting, but he persisted, and I eventually accepted.

I remember calling my mom during the first week of rehearsals in La Jolla and saying, “I think this is what it feels like to work on a big hit.”

Being by Des’s side was thrilling, and I learned so much from him.

I was Des’s First Assistant Director on the creation of Jersey Boys at La Jolla Playhouse, and then became its first resident director through the La Jolla run before leaving for the Killian Fellowship at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I then directed Frankie Valli and the new Four Seasons in a bayside San Diego concert to raise money for the Broadway transfer, and I supported the team as they prepared to move into rehearsal on Broadway before I left to become the resident director for The Lion King. I returned briefly to launch the first national tour before leaving again to become Producing Artistic Director at Actors Express.

Through all of this wild ride and my comings and goings, Des was enormously supportive of a young director trying to find his own voice in the field, and he understood that I needed to follow my own path.

Jersey Boys was many things, but at its core it is a profoundly good American Dream myth, with some of the greatest tunes ever written—and a masterclass in musical theatre craft and structure.

Oh, what a time!