The Australian to Jersey accent pipeline

Owen McCredie was walking through the parking lot of Hollywood Studios in Orlando when he received a career-altering phone call. 

In those few moments, the Australian born actor would learn that he would be leaving his life as a Walt Disney World cast member to hit the road as “Nick Massi” in the upcoming national tour of Jersey Boys.

“I was floored,“ McCredie said. “ Just incredibly grateful.”

McCredie has been in other musical theater productions such as Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage, Sweeney Todd, and he was part of the Jersey Boys production on Norwegian Cruise Line.

But the chance to play one of the lead roles in the Broadway story of 1960s musical legends The Four Seasons shocked McCredie even more as it would be his first national tour in the United States.

“It’s one of those moments where you’re concerned with how you’re coming across,” McCredie said. “Do I seem like I’m grateful enough for this opportunity?” 

The Landmark Theater is serving as the first stop on the Jersey Boys 20th anniversary tour, and McCredie says he’s already impressed.

“Just being in tech right now, being in the Landmark, it’s like playing to that space is just an incredible feeling,” McCredie said.

For the role as The Four Seasons bass singer and bassist Massi has to utilize a deep singing voice for two dozen songs throughout the show.

“To prepare for that, I actually find that I call it warming down,” he said.

Instead of what many singers would describe as “warming up” when practicing lines and songs for a musical, the actor explained that he scales down in order to prepare for the vocal demands of his character.

McCredie has spent many hours preparing for the role by spending time with the show’s bass guitarist and a dialect coach to replicate the well-known Jersey accent.

“It’s a long, long, long way away from my native accent,” said McCredie who was born in Melbourne, Australia, and graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2017. 

Working alongside other cast members in the cruise line version of Jersey Boys has also helped the actor register not only the accent but the importance of a character based on real-life events.

“I found going to the effort of really digging into this music, not just as a singer and an actor, but as you know, putting myself in it as a musician, is the thing that really got me into it,” McCredie said.

“I hope that it’s (the show) something that they (the audience) can just get lost in for a couple of hours, you know, sit back, enjoy the music.”