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‘Totally fresh and weird’: Marshall Brickman on Jersey Boys, Dylan and Woody Allen

He wrote gags for The Tonight Show, won an Oscar for Annie Hall – and had a near-miss with the Manson family. As his musical Jersey Boys returns, the writer looks back on 82 years of sex, drugs and jokes

“When you describe it like that,” says Marshall Brickman, “it sounds like I’ve never been able to stick with anything I like!” I had given Brickman a quick run-through of his career highs, from scoring hits with folk band the Tarriers in the 60s, moving into comedy to become head writer on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, then winning an Oscar as co-writer of Annie Hall in the 70s, followed by a Tony in 2006 for co-writing the musical Jersey Boys. “My life,” he says, “is no example of how to plan a creative life whatsoever. My only philosophy is that I pick projects where I don’t mind having lunch with the people.”

When he was first approached to write Jersey Boys, based on the life of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Brickman turned it down. He only changed his mind when he met founding member Bob Gaudio, who told him about their colourful lives, which featured petty crime and encounters with the m afia. “They regaled me with all these stories, many of which were included in the libretto – and then I listened to their music.”

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from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/3rEkd0D
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