Quite a few months back, my pal Mark Evanier wrote a piece here about the music group The Four Seasons and mentioned, beyond Frankie Valli, a bit about one of the members, Bob Gaudio. It got me to thinking about something I wanted to mention – and, well, about eight months later I’m finally getting around to it. Some things just take time, I guess… Bob Gaudio’s name isn’t well-known compared to Frankie Vallie’s – but then, no one in the groups is as well-known. But Gadio stands our for writing so many of The Four Season’s huge hits. He wrote such songs as "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Walk Like a Man", "Rag Doll", "Bye Bye Baby", and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". And he also co-wrote “Sherry", "Who Loves You" and "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" among many others. That’s a good resume. Gaudio has another wonderful credit – an extensive one, in fact – but it’s almost unknown. And it shouldn’t be. He wrote the music to the score of a stage musical based on the movie, Peggy Sue Got Married. And therein lies the tale. The musical of Peggy Sue Got Married was written by the co-writers of the movie, my friends Jerry Leitchling and Arlene Sarner (who are married). They wrote the musical’s book, Jerry wrote the lyrics and Bob Gaudio wrote the music. I first became aware of the show probably in 2000 when Jerry told me about it in their living room and played me a demo tape of about six of the songs. They were very good, and sounded like they fit the story wonderfully. The show was, in fact, in good enough shape at that point where they were closing in on a pre-Broadway run in London and even had a star. And quite a star it was – Ruthie Henshall. Ruthie Henshall was not only a major British stage star (and is still), but she was one of my dad’s favorite stage actresses from my folks yearly trips to London – and she was perfect casting. She’d played ‘Nancy’ in a West End revival of Oliver! Was in Les Miserables as ‘Fantine.” Was in Cats for three years. And starred in the London production of Chicago. And much more (and even more since.) She had three Olivier nominations at the time (five now) and won as Best Actress for the musical She Loves Me. And she’s played on Broadway, as well, among other things joining the New York cast of Side by Side by Sondheim, Miss Saigon and Chicago. The point here is that it was a big coup to get Ruthie Henshall to star in their stage musical version of Peggy Sue Got Married. And it meant this would be a major production. Before going to London, they had some tryouts, and the world premiere, as it happened was schedule to be just outside of Chicago – when I had a trip planned home. So, I made sure to get a ticket for the first performance, which was at the Marriott Theater in Lincolnshire, about 30 minutes north of the city. What I remember about the production is that it was done in-the-round – and it was very good. Not perfect, this was not only the first version of the show, but the very first performance, after all. So, there were things to tweak, cut, add and deal with. But I remember that for this early in the show’s life (and you can’t get earlier than the first performance), I was impressed by how good it was and what good shape it was in already. And finally getting a chance to hear the full score by Bob Gaudio and Jerry, it was indeed very good overall – and some of it quite wonderful. And here’s proof I was there – as were the authors. (I even still have the tickets. Hey, I wanted -- and still want -- evidence that I was there the very opening night.)