Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, those blue-collar bad boys, are the subjects of Jersey Boys, a spectacular musical now on the boards at the La Jolla Playhouse. It is, in fact, the best musical this theater has ever presented.

This show has everything — terrific acting and singing, sensational stagecraft, great direction — and of course those classic songs: “Sherry,” “Silhouettes,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” “Walk Like a Man,” and the one that brought the show to a standstill with a standing ovation on opening night, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You.”

Director Des McAnuff has assembled a spot-on cast anchored by David Noroña as Valli and Daniel Reichard as the songwriting Bob Gaudio. Noroña has one of those incredible voices, equally effective in the lower register or up in the falsetto stratosphere — and an uncanny vocal resemblance to Valli.

Christian Hoff (remembered from Tommy) is terrific as Tommy DeVito, who spearheaded the oft-renamed group that took in Valli as a member. J. Robert Spencer, as Tommy’s original partner Nick Massi, is fine as well. Peter Gregus, Donnie Kehr and especially Steve Gouveia (as Joe Pesci; yes, that Joe Pesci; he introduced Gaudio to the group) are excellent as well.

Jersey Boys is one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken at the playhouse. This show has stagecraft that won’t quit — sets that fly or have to be pushed into place, three screens and their images that need coordination, many guitars from the different periods (all belonging to McAnuff’s collection) that need TLC, someone to handle the moving spots, someone to deal with mic levels ... in all there are some 25 techies involved in this show.

It all worked without a hitch on opening night. But best of all are the brilliant script by Marshall Brickman (who co-wrote Annie Hall) and Rick Elice, and a cast as close to perfection as any I’ve seen. Though women get short shrift, there are three — Sarah Avery, Marisa Echeverria and Jennifer Naimo — playing and singing a variety of parts, and very well indeed.

Not exactly a no-holds-barred script, it nonetheless does not shrink from showing warts, such as stretches of time done by Nick and Tommy in the local hoosegow, and a huge debt run up by Tommy that threatened the group’s, er, health.

Once called the poets laureate of Newark, these guys grew up in a rough neighborhood and might have been expected to have correspondingly rough lives (as did many of their friends) were it not for that fateful day when they stood under a street lamp and made The Four Seasons sound for the first time.

Co-writer Rick Elice said it well, “A good musical can make you thank God for the day you were born.”

Jersey Boys is one of those musicals. Look out, Broadway. (No, not set yet, but it surely will be soon.) And wouldn’t it be fun to have dueling local productions on the Great White Way? The Old Globe’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels opens on Broadway in March.

Beg, borrow or steal, whatever it takes to get yourself a ticket for this show.

Jersey Boys has been extended through Dec. 5 at La Jolla Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre. Shows Tues.-Sat. at 8:00 p.m.; Sat. and Sun. at 2:00 p.m.; Sun. at 7:00 p.m. For tickets call (858) 550-1010 or visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to the theater’s website.

There’s nothing quite as satisfying as a well-constructed mystery. Lamb’s Players Theatre goes back to the 1950s for Frederick Knott’s classic Dial M for Murder, now playing at their Coronado house.

Dial M is an elaborate murder plot hatched by former pro tennis player Tony Wendice (Rick D. Meads) against his wife Margot (Jennifer Austin) for the money she’s left him in her will. The fact that Tony has sniffed out an affair between Margot and American crime writer Max Halliday (Matt Scott) may or may not have anything to do with it. But that he’s found an old Cambridge classmate of murky background is central to Tony’s plan.

Dial M belongs to the Agatha Christie school of setting out clues, but structurally stands between those old whodunit mysteries and today’s TV procedurals and their emphasis on how evidence is gathered and interpreted. In fact, Dial M could well have been the model for the 1970s “Columbo” television series in which week after week only the detective is in the dark about the murderer’s identity, and the question is how he will be found out.

The detective in this case is Inspector Hubbard, wonderfully played with a Columbo-like gesture by David Cochran Heath: Every time he hangs his coat and hat, they fall off the rack. But Hubbard knows how to put the clues together.

Meads plays Tony not as evil or twisted, but as an average Joe who, despite the fact that Austin’s Margot looks like Grace Kelly, would rather have money than a wife. Scott’s Max and Nick Cordileone as Lesgate round out the excellent cast.

The 1954 Hitchcock film made the proceedings darker and more menacing, partly by forcing the viewer to focus on certain aspects or items: scissors, a stocking. But this production, well directed by Kerry Meads, entertains in its own way thanks to the well-written script and fine performances all around. Kudos also to set designer Mike Buckley and especially to Jeanne Reith for Margot’s fab ‘50s dresses

Lamb’s Players Theatre continues its tradition of fine theater with this old classic. Dust off your gumshoes and take it in.

Dial M For Murder plays through Nov. 14 at the Lamb’s Players Theatre. Shows Tues.-Thurs. at 7:30 p.m.; Fri. at 8:00 p.m. Sat. at 4:30 p.m.; Sun. at 2:30 p.m. For tickets call (619) 437-0600; or visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to the theater’s website.