Rocking 60s at the Lutcher this week

Dust off your penny loafers, put your hair in a ponytail and head to the Lutcher Theater, Thursday and Friday. Rock out to your favorite hits from the 60s with the Midtown Men. They will perform all your favorite tunes from days gone by including “Let’s Hang On,” “Working My Way Back to You,” “Breaking Up Is Hard To, “ “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Happy Together,” “Candy Girl,” “Time of the Season,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Sherry.”

“We’re very excited coming to visit your town,” said Michael Longoria of the Midtown Men. “We always get a great reception in that part of the country.” They have played dates all over Texas including Galveston, Tyler, College Station and most recently, Houston with a symphonic presentation of their music. “That was an amazing experiencing for all those folks out there. We just had so much fun.”

The four members of Midtown Men first met as members of the original cast of “Jersey Boys,” the Broadway documentary-style musical chronicling the career of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

“We basically did a stage version of their lives and all their music. That’s when we started falling in love with the music of the 60s,” said Longoria.

“Playing this iconic 60s pop group gave us the emphasis to do this show we do with the Midtown Men, basically, which is to take on all the contemporaries of that group we played.”

He said it started off backstage on Broadway. “Why don’t you sing that Temptation song, or why don’t we take on “California Dreamin’” by the Mommas and Pappas. Then we started taking on other groups that lived in the same era that we were portraying on Broadway. Before you knew it we had this huge show of all these great 60s hits that everybody knows the words to. They were arranged special for our voices. We’ve been singing for the past seven years together so we have a tight blend.”

They do everyone from the Beatles, to Smokey Robinson putting their own signature on each of the songs.

He said what was really cool was that people come up after the shows and tell them what memories their music brought back. Longoria said it was a good thing they weren’t videoed or recorded because some of it is quite scandalous, but fun.”

“I look out into the audience and I see somebody aged 9 singing the words to “Sherry” and “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and they are on the lap of someone in their 40s, next to somebody in their 60s. It’s an amazing testament to that time period and that music that was written. The music of the 60s will live on forever. There is something about it that speaks to every generation.”

They just released a Christmas single called “All Alone for Christmas” written by Steven Van Zandt that is available for download from Itunes. Van Zandt and members of the E Street Band perform on the track.

All proceeds from downloads of “All Alone for Christmas” will go to the Red Cross to help victims of Super storm Sandy in New Jersey and New York.

They also have their first album available for download on Itunes called “The Midtown Men 60s Hits.”

Like them on their Facebook page to keep up to date or check out midtownmen.com.

The Lutcher Theater is offering a “Girls Night Out” special for Thursday’s show. Get four tickets in the orchestra for $200 ($60 savings when purchased together) Ladies can attend the performance together, and then meet the cast after the show.

Tickets range from $35-65 and can be purchased at http://www.lutcher.org or by calling the box office at 409-886-5535. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. both nights. The Lutcher Theater is located at 707 Main, Orange.