Devonport, Wrest Point, Country Club: Oh What a Night

‘Oh what a night’ the tribute show to Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons (with such hits as ‘Walk like a man’, ‘Oh what a night’, ‘Can’t take my eyes off you’ and many others) will be making its way to Tassie next week. I had the opportunity to talk to the lead Rick Morgan from Los Angeles recently.

Rick is high in his praise for the promoters who took a gamble to bring the show to Australia, a show which is happily going as Rick says ‘gangbusters’ in attracting packed audiences around Australia. Rick empathises with Tasmania in the difficulty of attracting the big shows because Rick too, lived in a small town that would be bypassed by the big show tour bus. He encourages Tasmanians to make their feelings known on social media to effect change and encourage national tours to make a bus stop here.

Rich is a delightful person, before we even get into the interview he has a question for me about the origin of my (Maltese) surname. He is enthused by its uniqueness. We find common ground as he shares with me his non-stage name which has spelling complexities to rival my own surname!

Now that we are on a familiar first and last name basis Rick tells me he also has built up (he did once want to be a carpenter) a comfortable familiarity too, with Tasmania and mentions Devonport’s Mersey Bluff Lighthouse and Tassie’s beautiful natural foods as attractions.

Rick may not have followed through with those ambitions to be a carpenter but he is a builder, providing a sturdy foundation as the lead performer, actor, dancer, singer and choreographer for the production. If those are not enough talents, there is even more, he can also do comedy as evidenced in his comment that his hectic schedule of performance preparation involves six days in the gym and doing laundry on the seventh day!. Even further Rick tells me his initial aim was to be the ‘quinn’-sential threat and be a presenter, in fact the next Johnny Carson, before Jimmy Fallon snapped the job up!

Rick loves the eight part harmonies of the show and shares with me a coincidence about performing the song ‘Can’t take my eyes off of you’. Ironically, this song was he and his elementary school sweetheart’s signature song. Rick often wonders if this girl will one day attend a concert and turn up at a meet and greet. That coincidence hasn’t come full circle yet as try as he might he’s been unable to contact the lady on Facebook!

Coincidences and those otherworldly moments cannot be better illustrated than in the ‘you can hear a pin drop’ atmosphere backstage pre-show. Rick tells me that what really energises the guys before a performance is harnessing the microphones to capture the ‘in house noise’ in the theatre of the building enthusiasm of the audience.

Rick and his colleagues are looking forward to sharing the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons with Tasmanian audiences.

You can see ‘Oh, What a Night’ in Tasmania at the following venues and dates …

Wednesday 1st March, 2017 – Devonport Entertainment Centre
Thursday 2nd March, 2017 – Wrest Point Entertainment Centre, Hobart
Friday 3rd March, 2017 – Country Club Casino, Launceston
Paula Xiberras