RIDGEFIELD — So you really LOVE the vintage Rock and Roll tones of Tommy James & The Shondells, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, or The Critters. What about the silky smooth sounds of Carly Simon or Barry Manilow? Or the plaintive folk stylings of Jim Croce and Cat Stevens?

Well after decades behind the scenes, some of the greatest musicians instrumental in the success of those and numerous other pop, rock and folk artists have united to form The Hit Men. And they will be recreating those songs in a veritable smorgasbord of every song you can sing along to on November 13, when The Hit Men arrive at The Ridgefield Playhouse.

Founder singer and keyboard player Lee Shapiro checked in with The Newtown Bee recently, talking about the exciting sets he and his musical posse — drummer Gerry Polci, guitarist Jimmy Ryan, bassist Larry Gates, and multi-instrumentalist Russ Velazquez — have in store.

Shapiro said his first taste of Frankie Valli was dished up on The Ed Sullivan Show, so about years later, it was beyond surreal that he found himself behind the keyboards in a rehearsal studio auditioning to fill an opening in Valli's band.

He got the job, subsequently meeting Polci before putting their own stamp on Rock & Roll history and transitioning Valli's sound to a new generation of fans by contributing to the '70s era hits "Who Loves You" and the title song from the blockbuster film "Grease."

"Gerry had basically just gotten the job about a month before me," Shapiro recalled. "And basically the other guys were 20 years older, so me and Gerry struck up a friendship right away, because at 19 and 20 years old, we were each other's ally."

You can't talk to Shapiro about his experience backing an artist he once idolized as a fan, without hearing about his cool but kind of awkward first introduction to Valli.

"When Frankie walks in, he kind of validates the entire situation for me. I was one of the Four Seasons, a band I first heard sitting next to my mom watching Ed Sullivan," Shapiro said. "So Frankie looks over at me and asks me if I can play "Dawn." And I have the music in front of me and tell him, sure. So Frankie starts singing, and I stopped. And he turns around to me and says, what's the matter? And all I could do was say, 'Wow, that was just like the radio.' I was a little naive to say the least."

Shapiro said he learned everything about performing from Valli, but he also worked with crack producer Bob Gaudio, who penned the pop hit "Short Shorts," and was a veteran Four Seasons member. And what he learned about arranging from Charlie Collello, who's luminary list of collaborators includes Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Roberto Carlos, Neil Diamond, Al Kooper, Bruce Springsteen, Laura Nyro, Engelbert Humperdinck, Ray Charles and Manilow, who eventually went on to hire Shapiro to co-produce his musical Copacabana.

"They flew Barry out to my studio in New York to work with me on the musical," Shapiro said. "It was a really, really fantastic three months. You know Barry has the ability to do everybody's job, and he's better at it.

"He's a great producer, he's a great singer, a great pianist, orchestrator and arranger. So when you work with Barry, and he tells you that you did something good, or he loves it, it's particularly sweet because you know the guy can do the whole thing himself," Shapiro said.

The fact that Ryan worked with Elton John, Carly Simon, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, Jim Croce and Cat Stevens, makes it easy to pack The Hit Men's live set with a massive catalog of recognizable chart toppers.

While Shapiro met Polci at 19, he attended childhood day camp with Larry Gates, who has shared the stage or studio with the likes of Carole King and Jon Bon Jovi.

"He actually recorded Bon Jovi's first few demos for 'You Give Love A Bad Name,' in a studio in his mother's basement in Fair Lawn, New Jersey," Shapiro said of his musical cohort of some 54 years.

A more recent colleague, Velazquez has a highly diverse musical background - including stints with acts on polar opposites of the musical spectrum, Luther Vandross and the Ramones. Velazquez is also a four-time Emmy nominee for material he created for Sesame Street, and his voice can be heard on countless commercial jingles and commercials for global brands like McDonald's.

"When it come time to do this band, I had an amazing stable of talent to call on," Shapiro said. "And Russ was one of my newest friends - I had know him 30 years."

Not only do The Hit Men draw their material from a massive catalog, they share impromptu stories from concerts and sessions where they worked side-by-side with their more famous collaborators.

And Shapiro said that Ridgefield ticket holders will be among the last to see the current set of material being performed by The Hit Men. He said that in 2016, the group will toss out the titles of other songs they contributed to, to create a brand new show Shapiro says will be billed as "The Hit Men 2.0."

Anyone interested in witnessing the old and the new can see the current set in Ridgefield on November 13, and then plan to catch the "2.0" set at Mohegan Sun's Wolf Den later next year.

"During the course of the year, we'd slip in a few substitute songs, but next year we'll be doing substitute tunes for every song in the show," Shapiro said. "So now we open the show with 'Dawn,' and next year we'll open with Frankie Valli's 'Opus 17.' We're doing Carly Simon's 'Your So Vain,' and we're going to switch to 'Anticipation,' so things are as just entertaining."

Check out a Four Seasons medley by The Hit Men here.

Meet The Hit Men in this video bio.

Get tickets to The Hit Men's Ridgefield Playhouse show by visiting the playhouse box office at 80 E Ridge Rd, Ridgefield, or on line at ridgefieldplayhouse.org.