Jersey Boys: Carlo Boumouglbay on Tommy DeVito and the 20th Anniversary Tour

Carlo Boumouglbay on Tommy DeVito, debt, and why Jersey Boys is still irresistible twenty years on

Most people of a certain age know the songs before they know the story. Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You: the Four Seasons were inescapable in the 1960s and their music has never quite gone away. What fewer people knew, before Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice put it on stage, was the story behind the sound: four working-class boys from New Jersey, navigating organised crime, crippling debt, and the slow unravelling of a group held together by something close to genius and something close to chaos.

Jersey Boys opened on Broadway in November 2005, won the Tony for Best Musical, and ran for over a decade. London got it in 2008 and kept it for nine years. It returned to the West End at the Trafalgar Theatre in 2021 and has been touring the UK and Ireland, in various incarnations, for the best part of a decade. This 20th Anniversary tour opens at New Wimbledon Theatre on 17 June, staged by the original Broadway creative team of director Des McAnuff and choreographer Sergio Trujillo.

Carlo Boumouglbay, who plays Tommy DeVito, the man who arguably made the Four Seasons and then nearly broke them, spoke to Red Bus Londinium ahead of opening night.

Red Bus: Jersey Boys has been running in some form for twenty years. What is it about this particular story that keeps audiences coming back?

Carlo Boumouglbay: Well, first of all, it’s the music- talk about timeless; their music has stood the test for over 50 years and is still being listened to, danced to and sampled by other artists. Secondly, it’s a story of resilience, a few guys from a tough background breaking through and achieving greatness. The third reason is because it’s a bloody brilliant show, the writers and creative team have constructed a perfect piece of theatre to showcase this story and that’s why it’s still so popular 20 years later.

Red Bus: Before Jersey Boys, most people knew the songs but not the story behind them. Twenty years on, has the musical changed how the Four Seasons themselves are understood or does it risk replacing the reality with a more theatrical version of it?

Carlo Boumouglbay: I like to believe that it’s elevated everything they did: the highs, the lows, the music, everything! Even though the musical bends reality a little from the truth, it still honours their story of defying the odds and the inner workings of success. However, unless you’re interested in researching their story, people could take this musical as the exact fact of their story, and it would still be okay. After all, the band did have their fingers in the pie of creating this show, so if they said it’s okay, then it’s okay.

Red Bus: Tommy DeVito left the band in significant debt. Is he the villain of this story, or is it more complicated than that?

Carlo Boumouglbay: The story doesn’t really have a villain in the traditional sense, but he might be the closest thing to it. He definitely is the cause for most of the problems that the band faced, but this came as a result of Tommy having all the responsibility of running the band. There would be no Four Seasons without him; however, he is also human and made a few mistakes. I think it’s a little more complicated than that, but you’ll have to come see the show (again, if you’ve already seen it) and decide for yourself!

Red Bus: The songs are euphoric but the lives falling apart behind them are anything but. Does knowing the personal cost change the way an audience hears “Sherry” or “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You“?

Carlo Boumouglbay: Absolutely, for me it did when I first saw this show. There is something so satisfying and deeply interesting about hearing a song you’ve heard 100 times in a new way, with context and stakes behind it. Especially Sherry, when we perform this number, it’s the first time the band are introduced to the world, so our stakes are very high! We have something to prove!

Red Bus: Each member gets to narrate his own version of events and they don’t always agree. When the lights go up, do you want the audience walking out with a definitive version of the Four Seasons story, or still arguing about whose version they believe?

Carlo Boumouglbay: That’s the beauty of this show: there is no definitive version. In a band of 4 and many more respective “chefs in the kitchen”, like producers/musicians/partners/friends – there’s always going to be variations, and in this you get 4 different versions of the same story. The best part is you get to take away what resonates with you and hopefully understand what it meant to each of them along the way.

Jersey Boys opens at New Wimbledon Theatre on 17 June 2026 and tours the UK and Ireland through to August 2027.

Photo credits: Matt Crockett

TOUR DATES

June 2026

Wed 17 – Sat 27 Jun: New Wimbledon Theatre
Tue 30 Jun – Sat 4 Jul: Nottingham Concert Hall

July 2026

Mon 6 – Sat 11 Jul: Bristol Hippodrome
Mon 20 Jul – Sat 1 Aug: Bradford Alhambra

August 2026

Mon 3 – Sat 8 Aug: Venue Cymru, Llandudno
Tue 11 – Sat 22 Aug: Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
Mon 24 – Sat 29 Aug: Wycombe Swan

September – October 2026

Mon 7 – Sat 19 Sep: Palace Theatre, Manchester
Mon 28 Sep – Sat 3 Oct: Hull New Theatre
Tue 6 – Sat 10 Oct: His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen
Mon 12 – Sat 17 Oct: Edinburgh Playhouse
Mon 26 – Sat 31 Oct: Regent Theatre, Stoke

November – December 2026

Mon 2 – Sat 21 Nov: The Alexandra, Birmingham
Mon 23 – Sat 28 Nov: Mayflower Theatre, Southampton
Mon 30 Nov – Sat 5 Dec: Congress Theatre, Eastbourne

2027 dates also confirmed across Oxford, Belfast, Glasgow, Wolverhampton, Norwich, Canterbury, Leicester, Woking, Truro, Southend, Blackpool, Sunderland, Leeds, Sheffield, Milton Keynes, Liverpool, and Dartford. Full details at jerseyboysmusical.co.uk.

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