The show has been produced in London's West End, Las Vegas, Chicago, Toronto, Melbourne and other Australian cities, Singapore, South Africa, the Netherlands, Japan, Dubai, and China.

In the early 2000s, Bob Gaudio, an original Four Seasons member, sought to make a musical from the band's discography; he noted in a 2008 interview that he was inspired by the success of Smokey Joe's Cafe and Mamma Mia!

[1] Frankie Valli, in 2024, recalled that he and Gaudio had conceived the idea of a Four Seasons life story production as early as the mid-1990s but that the only offers they received were for television movies that they felt would not do the band justice.

[2] Gaudio hired book writers Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman, who had difficulty finding a willing director until Michael David of Dodger Theatricals recommended them to Des McAnuff.

Nick Massi was aware of Gaudio's plans to make a musical in the last months of his life and enthusiastically approved of the project, but died in December 2000 before he could contribute any interviews.

[12] He, Valli, and DeVito decided to step back from the show's creative process because they lacked objectivity, leaving it to Brickman, Elice, and McAnuff to take the story to the stage.

[9] Jersey Boys premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse at University of California, San Diego, in an out-of-town tryout on October 5, 2004, and ran through January 16, 2005.

Jersey Boys played at the Forrest Theatre in Philadelphia, where it broke the box office record eight times before moving on to a return engagement in Boston.

[25] In May 2007, while the first national tour continued (with Steve Gouveia from the original Broadway cast as Massi), a second company debuted at the Curran and ended as an open-ended run at Chicago's Bank of America Theatre, beginning on October 5, 2007.

[27] A special holiday return engagement played at the Curran Theatre from November 20 to December 30, 2007, starring Rick Faugno as Valli, Andrew Rannells as Gaudio, Bryan McElroy as DeVito, and Jeff Leibow as Massi.

The cast featured Joey Barreiro and Jared Chinnock alternating the role of Frankie Valli, Kit Treece as Bob Gaudio, Tyler Matthew Burk as Tommy DeVito and Jonathan Cable as Nick Massi.

Principal cast were Ryan Molloy as Frankie Valli, Stephen Ashfield as Bob Gaudio, Glenn Carter as Tommy DeVito, Philip Bulcock as Nick Massi, Stuart Milligan as DeCarlo and Tom Lorcan as Donnie/Knuckles.

[45] The cast includes Tim Driesen reprising his role from the Dutch production as Frankie Valli, with Stephen Webb as Tommy DeVito, Sam Ferriday as Bob Gaudio and Lewis Griffiths as Nick Massi.

Principal cast members were Bobby Fox as Frankie Valli, Stephen Mahy as Bob Gaudio, Scott Johnson as Tommy DeVito and Glaston Toft as Nick Massi.

Jeff Madden from Canada starred as Frankie Valli, with Declan Egan as Bob, Ant Harkin as Tommy, and Glaston Toft continuing on as Nick.

The initial cast announcement had Bernard Angel as Frankie Valli, Cameron MacDonald as Tommy DeVito, Thomas McGuane as Bob Gaudio and Glaston Toft as Nick Massi.

[63] This cast includes Grant Almiral as Frankie Valli, Daniel Buys as Tommy DeVito, Kenneth Meyer as Bob Gaudio and Emmanuel Castis as Nick Massi.

Tommy constantly changes the group's name, lineup and style in an effort to keep up with fads, playing in small clubs to almost no success; one particular incident has the trio adding comedian Hank Majewski, whose monkey act ("I Go Ape") ends in disaster.

One day, while running a pin-setting scam at a bowling alley, Tommy's co-conspirator Joe Pesci introduces the group to a singer-songwriter from Bergenfield who he thinks will be a great fit: Bob Gaudio.

Crewe schedules the group's first true recording session, and minutes before it begins, Bob writes their breakthrough hit: "Sherry", which explodes in popularity after a disc jockey plays the song repeatedly.

Bob's fears of again being relegated to one-hit wonder status are eased when "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Walk Like a Man" follow "Sherry" to the top and establish their audience as the young American working class.

Nick, who had earlier expressed private dismay when finding out about Frankie and Bob's side deal, makes his frustrations known to the remaining duo and abruptly quits ("Stay"), explaining that fame had taken a severe toll on his family life and that he needed to return home.

Each band member closes with a monologue explaining their lives at the time Jersey Boys was written: Tommy works for Joe Pesci; Bob has retired to Nashville, Tennessee; Nick stayed in New Jersey with his children until he died on Christmas Eve in 2000; and Frankie continues to tour, reflecting that the band's streetcorner days were his favorite and that he continues "chasing the music, trying to get home" ("Who Loves You").

The ensemble—portrayed by various actors from the supporting cast, depending on the production—includes group members Nick DeVito, "Handsome Hank" Majewski, Charles Calello and Joe Long; various police officers, an unnamed "French rap star," the three members of The Angels, the woman who helps Bob lose his virginity (based on Judy Parker[69] but billed only as "Bob's Christmas Present"), one of Nick's girlfriends, a goon, a judge, priest, accountant, nurse, Albert Finney (a record label executive), a radio program director named Davis (based on CKLW's Paul Drew),[70] and singers Hal Miller, Miss Frankie Nolan, and Billy Dixon, among various unnamed onlookers.

The Royal Variety Performance is a gala event held annually at a major British theatre, to raise money for the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund.

[83] Four actors of the original Broadway production, Christian Hoff, Michael Longoria, Daniel Reichard and J. Robert Spencer, launched a tribute act called The Boys in Concert in 2010.

Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice sued the production, claiming that it "steals songs, stage elements and copyrighted logo" that imply that it is an authorized spin-off of Jersey Boys.

[84] The production was rebranded as The 4 Hitmen, and Hoff, Longoria, Reichard and Spencer counter-sued, claiming that the accusations were false, and alleging the use of "bully tactics" in an "effort to injure the livelihood and the reputations" of the actors.

Michael Ingersoll, who played Nick Massi in the tour, originally served as lead vocalist for the group, with Christopher Kale Jones, Brandon Wardell and Shonn Riley as the other members.

For example: In the 2010 comedy The Other Guys, NYPD detectives Hoitz and Gamble, played by Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell accept two Jersey Boys tickets as a bribe and attend the show.