Foursome due at Gallo went from ‘Jersey Boys’ to Midtown Men

Consider them the new boys to men.

Members of The Midtown Men, four of the original Broadway cast of “Jersey Boys,” have graduated to being singing sensations in their own right. The performers will bring their show filled with songs of the 1960s to the Gallo Center for the Arts on Thursday, May 7.

The men have been performing together since 2005, when they were all part of the Tony Award-winning cast of “Jersey Boys,” which recounts the formation of The Four Seasons singing group. The Midtown Men formed after Christian Hoff (who played Four Seasons member Tommy DeVito), J. Robert Spencer (who played Four Seasons member Nick Massi), Daniel Reichard (who played Four Seasons member Bob Gaudio) and Michael Longoria (who played friends and actor Joe Pesci) left the show and struck out on their own in 2009.

The men began performing as The Boys in Concert, but a legal dispute ensued with producers of the show and former Four Seasons members. They earned the right to call themselves “four stars from the original cast of ‘Jersey Boys’” but agreed to change their name. So in 2010, The Midtown Men were born.

Hoff, who took home the Tony for best featured actor in a musical for his work in “Jersey Boys” in 2006, said the name change didn’t affect their show or spirit.

“To be honest, we don’t need it anymore. Our association with ‘Jersey Boys’ is a pedigree, but that’s not our brand,” Hoff said in an interview from his San Diego home. “What’s relevant to us was we started on Broadway together. And what’s Broadway? It’s midtown Manhattan. We’ve grown from boys to men. We want to take that passion and make Midtown something that is accessible to everyone.”

The transition into a foursome was natural, Hoff said. The four already sang songs together backstage as a hobby. Their first gig together outside the show was a 50th birthday party for TV journalist Katie Couric.

“We thought it would be a side gig. We didn’t anticipate doing 100 shows a year for five years,” Hoff said. “But we love the challenge, we love singing. The audiences found it refreshing having four guys sing classic ’60s songs in four-part harmonies. Even people who had no idea who we were were still identifying with us. They enjoy our chemistry and the sound we honed on Broadway.”

The quartet has notched more than 1,000 performances together in “Jersey Boys” and more than 400 performances as The Midtown Men. Hoff said the group’s stage chemistry comes from their differences.

“It creates a creative tension. And that kind of has kept us all on our toes,” he said. “If you can imagine, four actors that would have been competing for parts on Broadway, TV and film and now we’re not competing for roles anymore. We’re competing for the spotlight, for who is singing what and when. But we’ve learned how to be partners with each other now that we’re producing the show.”

The show features a hodgepodge of ’60s hits. The group draws on the California sound, Motown, the British Invasion and more, including The Beatles, Buffalo Springfield, the Jackson 5, the Mamas & and the Papas, among others. And, yes, there will be some Four Seasons songs from “Jersey Boys.”

Hoff said he enjoys exploring the music from the era and all its social ramifications.

“Something about the decade of the ’60s was so diverse,” he said. “There’s no better time period than that to be able to tell the American music story. We’re singing protest songs, songs about unrequited love, songs about social change, about independent thinking, about good times.”

And they’re doing it all while singing and dancing in sharp matching suits and slick matching styles.

“It’s become so normal for us to put on suits. They’re almost our pajamas,” he said. “It’s a commitment, a visible commitment to one another on stage and off. We’re different guys, but we come together and that’s visible on stage and palpable to the audience.”

This story was originally published April 29, 2015 at 7:57 PM with the headline "Foursome due at Gallo went from ‘Jersey Boys’ to Midtown Men."