There is a generation that grew up with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, that thrilled to their clean-cut, pitch-perfect harmonies and gently rocking love songs.

There are several that didn't. For us, the four guys from New Jersey are the sound that came out of Abby Gordon's dad's 8-track in the car on the way to Sunday School. Or maybe that was just me.

The point is, by the end of Jersey Boys, I still wasn't converted to the band - but I loved the show. This beautifully produced band bio is more than a jukebox musical, less than a book musical and thoroughly entertaining throughout.

Clean-cut onstage, they came from a rougher background, most entering adulthood as two-bit hoods on the street corners of New Jersey. When he wasn't knocking over mom-and-pop jewelry stores, Tommy DeVito was putting together guys to sing four-part harmony under corner street lamps. It was he who brought in the young Francis Castelluccio, soon to become Frankie Valli, with his uncanny falsetto making him a natural for lead singer. He brought in Bob Gaudio, the teenage songwriter who crafted the band's eventual hits. And it is DeVito who comes off worst in this production, falling into gambling debts that bring about the band's demise.

With a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, the show takes a modified Rashomon approach, allowing the four band members to tell their tale sequentially, each reflecting his own point of view. Much of the show's success, both on Broadway and on tour, goes to the perfect casting by director Des McAnuff, who has found actors not only with voice but also with personality.

Erik Bates comes to the show after actually singing backup for Frankie Valli. His portrayal of DeVito has a spot-on Mark Wahlberg quality, a blend of street tough and talent. As Valli, Joseph Leo Bwarie brings both the stature and the voice. He also has the show's most chilling moment, and it's one of rare silence. Colorado Springs native Josh Franklin plays the boy called "genius," Gaudio, with quiet rectitude, and former Broadway cast member Steve Gouveia, after nearly disappearing for most of the evening, has the show's funniest monologue as the fourth Season, Nick Massi.

The first 30 minutes of the show, dealing with the band's early years, are made up almost entirely of other people's hits. The result is that by the time the band reaches its first hit, Sherry, the audience, teased for most of the first act with doo-wop foreplay, explodes.

The energy level is perfectly manipulated, reaching massive rock star proportions by the show's conclusion.

Unlike the worst of jukebox musicals, Jersey Boys doesn't try to jam already written songs into plot openings to move the story along - most of the time. Instead, we get terrifically staged studio, television and onstage scenes.

The ones that work the worst do follow the formula of extracting new meaning from old songs, as in Bye Bye Baby.

You may not end up downloading a raft of Four Seasons hits after Jersey Boys - but don't be too surprised if your head and feet bop along for a solid two-plus hours during it.

Jersey Boys

* Grade: B+

* When and where: Through Jan. 3 in the Buell Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, Speer Boulevard and Arapahoe Street

* Cost: $40 and up; limited tickets remain

* Information: 303-893-4100