Boys has been seen by 19 million people worldwide and the London run goes on at the Piccadilly Theatre. Now, inevitably, it is touring too, joining the rising tide of biographical jukebox musicals that has swelled since the original and still the best: Buddy.

Frankie Valli, however, is not on a par with the likes of Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison or Marc Bolan in the affection of British music fans.

Their life paths were better known, and the primary achievement of Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice's Jersey Boys is to spark your interest in these Four Seasons from New Jersey's wrong side of the tracks to complement the mellifluous hits by band member Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe.

Nevertheless, the Mafia shadow hanging over loose-cannon band founder Tommy DeVito (Stephen Webb) and – spoiler alert – the loss of Frankie's daughter at only 22 do not add up to enough points of drama to rival the superior Buddy! in particular.

The songs have a weighty responsibility in carrying the emotional impact and thankfully December, 1963 (Oh What A Night), Big Girls Don’t Cry and Let’s Hang On (To What We’ve Got) do that.

The touring show has been overseen by the Broadway team led by director Des McAnuff and choreographer Sergio Trujillo, and so the production values are high, while Tim Driesen's Frankie, Webb's errant Tommy, Sam Ferriday's strait-laced Bob and, in particular, Lewis Griffiths's deep-voiced Nick Massi are engaging, but Jersey Boys is a Grade B rather than Grade A show.

Jersey Boys, Hull New Theatre, until November 22, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm, today, Thursday and next Saturday. Box office: 01482 300300 or hullcc.gov.uk/hullnewtheatre