The article in the New York Times, Trying to be Stars, Like the ‘Jersey Boys’ they Portrayed, features the Midtown Men, a quartet that performs the hit songs of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and plays the part from their vocals to their demeanors and down to tiny details of their appearance. The piece features a scene lead, evoking not only the visual appearance of the group, but the atmosphere in which they are performing and the reaction of the crowd. “Two middle-aged women giggled, then shouted, “Those are Temptations moves!” The quotes from the audience were a nice touch that reminded me that these were, in fact, performers.

The article has a fairly businesslike tone to it, which was a little surprising to me in a feature story. The author did a good job of balancing anecdotes about the group’s background and past performances with quotes from the stars and scenes from their shows. It also included some updates of what the group is doing now, as well as struggles they’d faced, including a lawsuit. The article did a nice job of giving a lot of information in a small space. The main thing I would have liked to change would be to give it more of an informal, conversational feel.