Season for a Frankie Valli show

Frankie Valli today announced plans to bring Jersey Boys, the hit Broadway musical about his life, to London next spring.

The legendary US singer flew into Britain to meet the British cast of the show which has already won four Tony awards in New York, including best musical.

The musical tells the rags-to-riches tale of four boys from the wrong side of the tracks in blue-collar New Jersey who became one of America's top-selling bands, the Four Seasons. Their top 10 hits included Sherry, Let's Hang On (To What We've Got) and Working My Way Back to You.

The London cast will fly to America before Christmas to visit New Jersey - now probably best known as the home of TV Mafia man Tony Soprano (Valli guest-starred in the US drama series recently) - and learn how to pick up the accent.

Geordie Ryan Molloy, who studied at the Poor School in London, will play Frankie. He has just returned from New York where he saw the show and met Bob Gaudio, an original member of the Four Seasons.

Molloy, 32, said: "It's very exciting. When you see the show it's just hit after hit. It's just going to capture people's hearts."

Molloy will fly to New York to begin work on the production in early December.

Jersey Boys opened on Broadway in November 2005 and remains one of the top-grossing shows in New York. It is due to open at the Prince Edward Theatre, Old Compton Street, on 18 March.