Conquering the falsetto voice required for the Jersey Boys has put Darlington's Matt Corner into prime position to launch the show at Sunderland, reports Steve Pratt

MATT Corner has always been ambitious and aimed pretty high. “I remember saying to my mum, ‘That’s who I want to be – that guy up there in front of all those people’,” he recalls. Still only 24, he’s achieved that standing on stage as legendary singer Frankie Valli in the award-winning musical Jersey Boys.

When we meet he’s just come off stage at Edinburgh Playhouse, in front of a packed house of 3,000 people. Corner, who grew up in Darlington, is the alternate Valli contracted to do two shows a week on tour, but the other actor playing Frankie, Tim Driesen, was ill so Corner performed. Much the same thing happened on press night in Manchester a few months ago. Again Driesen couldn’t perform and Corner stepped in.

“Because I’m the alternate Frankie they had me ready for the opening night. I’d done my first show on the third preview. But everyone was there on press night – the producers from America, the Broadway director who won the Tony nomination, the bigwigs were there and that was an added pressure, but I relished every second of it. There’s not one time I go on as Frankie and don’t enjoy it,” he says.

Born in Middlesex, he moved with his family to Darlington when he was nine. “My family are from South Shields, so we’re a North-East family. I spent my teenage years and my young adult life in the North-East. I class it as home,” he says.

Corner will be playing Valli on opening night when Jersey Boys comes to Sunderland Empire later this month. So, he’s expecting lots of family in the audience. “I’m sure my mother is bus-loading them in. Going back to the North-East and being able to go back where I’m from and do press night is a massive honour really.”

His first performing work when the family moved to the North-East was playing a workhouse boy in Oliver! for Bishop Auckland Amateur Operatic Society. He attended Stagecoach Darlington (“with the wonderful Trudy Hindmarsh who runs it and she’s fantastic”) and the Gala Theatre Stage School, in Durham, which was a big part of his life from the age of 14.

He played Marius in the musical Les Miserables for that company and that was the moment he really knew he wanted to make acting his career. Coincidentally, his first job after training at the Arts Educational School, in London, was in the film of Les Mis. You can spot him as one of the singing revolutionaries. “For me it was full circle to do Les Mis as an amateur and then professionally,” he says.

“I knew from 11 or 12 that I wanted to act and remember saying to my mum, ‘I think you can actually make a career out of this, people will pay you’. She sort of laughed and said, ‘Yes, if you work hard enough’. It’s just amazing to think I’m at the point where it’s a total dream world and I’m doing it,” he says.

When his agent put him forward to audition for Jersey Boys, he didn’t know that much about Valli and the Four Seasons, whose story is told in the show. “I went to see Jersey Boys while I was training and it never occurred to me that perhaps I can do this part. I didn’t think it was in my skillset until I went to the auditions.

“I’d seen the musical and knew some of the numbers, but didn’t really know the story. When I got the audition then, of course, I dived into the research and tried to find out as much as I possibly could. I listened to him sing again and again and again.

“We’re not emulating them, this show isn’t like a tribute act ,but you do have to honour the sound. Frankie has that completely distinct sound. I listened to a lot of him singing. I did my research that way.”

“His voice is very specific. The falsetto is a massive part of it. My style, I would say, would be rock tenor. I did We Will Rock You before this and that was really my niche role I thought. I did the audition for Jersey Boys, then phoned my mum and said I’ve been in, but I’ll never get this part. And here I am playing it.”

It wasn’t just a case of one audition, but seven or eight of them with chosen performers finally put on tape which is sent off to Bob Gaudio, the Four Seasons songwriter and keyboard player, and Valli for approval. “It’s a long road. You go back, and back again. You have to constantly prove that you have what it takes. As you can see from the show it’s a huge role and a huge sing. Very, very tough. And you know what, for good reason because Frankie is tough on himself. He’s 83 years old and still touring. He has a real professionalism, so wants anyone who’s portraying him to be the same,” explains Corner.

He’s a couple of months into a 12-month contract for the tour. “It’s already going so quickly when you’re enjoying yourself,” he says. After that, more acting. “If I’m being paid to act that’s my ambition. Working on something new maybe or on camera, TV or film. Who knows? But you know, what I’m very happy at the moment.”

  • Jersey Boys: Sunderland Empire, Nov 25-Dec 6. Box Office: 0844-8713022 and atgtickets.com/sunderland