Christopher Kale Jones gets more sleep in one night than most people. The actor, who plays Frankie Valli in the musical “Jersey Boys,” said that he has to sleep eight to nine hours each night and stay hydrated to keep his vocal stamina going.
“My vocal muscles are tight after singing 27 songs in the show,” he said.
The Tony Award-winning show began its stint at the Fabulous Fox Theatre (527 N. Grand Blvd.) Wednesday, April 23, and will retire Sunday, May 18.
Jones was cast just two weeks before rehearsals began, though he was already a fan of the show. Dance and vocal rehearsals wore on Jones’ body, he said.
“I’d seen the show on Broadway in, I think, Feb-ruary of 2006, and I thought [Valli] was an amazing part,” Jones said. “If I ever had a chance to audition for it, there was no question in my mind that I’d want to play this really great role.
“I was singing through the CD for months before I had to audition so I could build up the vocal stamina for the part.”
The musical, which tells the story of Valli and the Four Seasons-from Belleville, NJ, to the pop-music limelight-is rigorous for the cast. They must portray and pay homage to real people, though the fame of the singing group differed from the intense scrutiny of today’s celebs.
“These guys are not like the pop celebrities of this day and age,” Jones said. “They didn’t have their lives drawn out in front of you like [in] People magazine.”
Jones said that Director Des McAnuff, a two-time Tony Award-winning director, wanted the story to be told realistically, instructing the cast to play the material like a Martin Scorsese movie.
Before joining “Jersey Boys,” the current New Yorker was in a production of “Grease” at Stages St. Louis. There, he met his wife, Jenna Coker-Jones; the two were married Oct. 6, 2007.
“I certainly started my love for theater with musical theater,” he said. He called “Jersey Boys” a “fun, rollicking experience” for both the actors and the audience. Now, if only our jobs mandated nine hours of sleep a night.
Tickets start at $28, according to MetroTix.com.
More information can be found at www.fabulousfox.com.
