Larsen has performed on Broadway in "Good Vibrations" and "Billy Elliot." Theatre Mania raves, Jones has the audience swooning until the final curtain. Songs include Dream Lover, Mack the Knife, "Splish Splash," and Beyond the Sea., October 23, 2019. Jones won hearts nationwide starring as Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys (San Francisco, Los Angeles, First National Tour). UNDER THE STREETLAMP is a group Chris founded with his friends in 2012. Kidding. Did you consider any other names before deciding on Under The Streetlamp?. The blue lights are active whenever a traffic light is red. And no, I dont think Ill explain that one any further. When I was young Id listen to the radio, as Karen Carpenter so wistfully sang, and when I was young we didnt ask each other, Are you into rock and roll? or Do you like pop music? We would say, Do you listen to the radio? It was all about the radio. Just last year, I saw him in a dramatic lead role as the real-life Ned Massey in Blood Ties! Chris: And that is the truest thing you will hear in this whole interview. And were seeing that now in our fans. Michael probably can, still displaying the elocution of the Shakesperean actor that he was before there was a Jersey Boys. Artists Lounge Live. The members of Under the Streetlamp include Shonn Wiley, Michael Cunio, Michael Ingersoll, and Christopher Kale Jones. Chris: They were so excited they were shouting and screaming, and the crowd of people who were maybe 50-plus were excited to see kids who were excited about it, and they got really excited. So the more fun we can invite the audience to have, be it through the way we sing the songs, or the goofiness of some of the choreography, or just how we interact with each other thats really the experience were trying to create. Christopher Kale Jones is from Hawaii, where he grew up listing to oldies radio and singing in award-winning choirs. So youll want to write about that one, Im sure. Hundreds of years ago, the language had words for four basic colours black, white, red, and blue so anything green was described using the word for blue, ao.. Thats kind of my biggest goal right now. Cunio: It opens the second act. The idea of traveling from venue to venue, and playing top theaters in large markets this is the first time that weve ever had that opportunity. Shonn Wiley portrayed Bob Gaudio in the production of "Jersey Boys," the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, at the Bank of America Theatre in Chicago, for more than a year. Cunio: Yeah, its one that I came up with. Stubbs: If I can interject for a moment, Michael, Chris is responsible for my becoming a big JB fan. It began with people blending their voices together trying to make some music, and then explode out from there. Were not just a doo-wop band, were not just an oldies band. , One day about seven years ago, stubbletwo came home from school all excited. I look forward to following this wonderful group of guys and hopefully catching a concert. Youre about to embark on a six week, twenty-six concert tour. Cunio: We had intended, when this thing started, for it to just be a side gig, until we found our next job, whether that was in the theater, on television, or whatever it may have been. Its incredibly important to us to thank them, and the powers that be. "We call the song catalog the 'American Radio Songbook,'" Wiley said. Like, this is what its been like for us, this is what you can expect, these are the things everyone tells you are really important, these are the things that are actually really important, and its been great. Were proud of their success and we hope to have some of our own as well, of course. They sound like something youd pick up in the plumbing department at Home Depot. We didnt have any expectation, or there was no design in place to try target a younger audience, but we found that theyre showing up, and its a really exciting thing to be witness to as we have the chance to perform again and again. The greater Chicagoland area did not want the show to close. Stubbs: So Im going to be surprised with a new tune at the beginning of the second act at your concert? While his current pursuits keep him in Chicago, the group continues to tour around the US. Under the Streetlamp, from left, Christopher Kale Jones, Michael Cunio, Shonn Wiley and Michael Ingersoll. How do you feel about the increasing interest in the sort of music that you do, and the concomitant (I love that word, concomitant, and I hardly ever get to use it. I see a great future for UTSL and cant wait to see them in person. PBS is a huge national platform and very few people make it on PBS much less make it through a full pledge drive and are invited back for a next one, as we have been invited to do. We have been graced with an entire team of people who have felt that this project a good idea and that it made people happy. #FlashbackFriday: BC/EFA Jersey Boys/Four Seasons Fan Cocktail PartyOctober 21, 2007! Stubbs: It accomplishes perfectly what you wanted it to. Shonn does stuff from the 30s and 40s, and we did get our feet wet in the 70s and the 80s , but its all stuff that you found on the radio during a certain time period. Despite his looks on the website Reckless Place (someone an aging accountant wouldnt want to run across in a dark alley at night), Cunio is enormously talented. VARIETY says "His Soulful delivery resembles Bobby Darin"& SF Examiner says "His knockout voicebrings down the house.". Who are the members of under the streetlamp? Ingersoll left Under the Streelamp in March 2017 to pursue producing opportunities, according to Wiley. I couldnt do this interview for the Jersey Boys Blog without mentioning the Midtown Men, and other groups too, like Straight No Chaser and Human Nature. UNDER THE STREETLAMP is a group Chris founded with his friends in 2012. Stubbletwo took one look at you on TV (on the PBS concert) and said Boy, that guy looks young., Shonn: Im actually the oldest, but I tend to have the . Shonn Wiley. Ingersoll was elbow to elbow with Chris when the first JB national tour began, so theres some irony that they now are embarking on their own first national tour. Its like, okay I need to have a plan, I need to know exactly what Im shooting for, if Im not on Broadway in five years I will have failed, and I need to go do something else that Im good at. Another great thing about the concert, as it aired on PBS, is the reaction of the audience. I just want all the money and all the ladies in the world. In addition, Christopher Kale Jones, a member of Under the Streetlamp since 2010, left the group at the end of last year. While his current pursuits keep him in Chicago, the group continues to tour around the US. But what they did was bring to us what they heard our voices doing. They had heard what was going on, and I said to them, you know, we as an organization owe a lot to you, because at any given time, you thought of one of us, and its because you brought us in front of these creative people who brought us into this show, which gave us the opportunity to meet and thats when we talk about the whole universe just acting in whatever way its supposed to act, in order to kind of throw us all in the same pot. Pink porch lights are generally associated with Breast Cancer. (More laughter). Eric Gutman joined the ensemble in March 2017. I have to tell you how much I like the opening you start with what most would agree are the Big Three of doo-wop, but before that, Michael is onstage alone, singing a slow solo, and then the other voices come out and join in one at a time. I saw Chris with JB in SF and the others in Chicago. Michael: One thing that I will say about that, and you were kind of alluding to this earlier, Stubbs. And aside from that, you know, theres room for everybody. Chris: I think it just bears noting that we have nothing but gratitude for our time and our experience in that show, and we are fully aware that it has allowed us a certain platform for where we currently are, and were incredibly grateful to the creators of that show, as well as the individual producers and stage managers, and everyone that we worked with. With irresistible rapport, Under the Streetlamp offers audiences the opportunity to get to know the former lead cast members of Jersey Boys, and critically acclaimed stars of stage and screen, Eric Gutman, Christopher Kale Jones, Brandon Wardell and Shonn Wiley. Shes an incredible musician and helped arrange a couple of things, and you can also tell from the credits that Steve Orich, who orchestrated JB, worked on a couple of our charts as well, so weve been lucky to work with some of our former JB colleagues, and then also a whole host of new folks. Chris: And Ive changed, by the way. I spend a lot of time looking at footage on youtube. Top Deals Under $100 This Week. Stubbs: That opening the slow intro is that something you yourselves created? Cunio: My very brief thing and this sort of piggy backs on What Shonn said it was JB that was the experience that allowed the four of us to meet and become friends. Movies. And thats how everybody referred to it. Michael: So anyway, when Chris came in, he clearly completed the quartet, where all the pieces were just right. Edit Close And its really the audiences enthusiasm for what weve done here thats made this the main gig, and given us the opportunity for us to really take a shot at it. Where: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora, Information: 630-896-6666; www.paramountaurora.com. Why is this set of gigs being called your first tour? Truly a cultural phenomenon,this show allowed me to appear on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and eventually led to my co-creating the PBS vocal group, Under The Streetlamp. We do it for them. FINAL THOUGHTS We choreographed Sh-Boom. Never thought of that ourselves, actually. Chris: The only thing I would add to that, is you know, I made a mistake when I graduated . Dead GIs and Germanshe expected thatbut why did cows have to . Michael Ingersoll, who played Nick Massi of the Four Seasons for three years in "Jersey Boys," started a solo act and had some of the guys from "Jersey Boys" (including Wiley) with him on stage in the second act of his show. . While his current pursuits keep him in Chicago, the group continues to tour around the US. The Four Cunios. A street light, light pole, lamppost, street lamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or path. Turns out its the covering that has worn off and needs to be replaced. Expand. Under the Streetlamp will perform on March 24 at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora. We have choreography and staging and four-part harmony. Cunio: This is something we like to say too one of the fun things for us about these shows is, the people who grew up with this music, they come to see our show, and they dont know the words to just a few songs they know the words to all of them, and thats why. Thanks to JB, The Four Seasons Music Is Celebrated! Stubbs: What about longer term? I thought Id open with a question or two about their name. Latest News See All. He was in the second grade. And as I continued to do this show over the next year, there were different people with me at different times, and so other cast members would go out, and new ones would come in, and Id say, Hey, I do this thing on Sundays and Mondays; do you want to do it? But when the show closed, Shonn and Cunio and I had been doing that consistently for almost a year, and thats when the camaraderie really started to build, and the consistency allowed that. Is under the streetlamp still performing? Chris Jones and I, we started out the first national JB tour together, and when the show closed, I called Chris and I said, are you available to come in and do some of these dates that we have, even after JB has closed, and he said yeah. 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