By Richard Ouzounian of Theatre Critic

The Jonas Brothers are continuing to prove this year, just like they have since 2007, that they’re as much a part of summertime as barbecues, beach parties and warm weather romances.

Those musical brothers from New Jersey are continuing the warm-weather fling. Their Disney Channel series, Jonas L.A., just started a successful second season (and was recently nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Children’s Program), they’re in the middle of another giant North American tour (they play the Molson Amphitheatre on Sept. 2 and 3) and, perhaps most importantly, Camp Rock 2, the sequel to their hit 2008 TV movie, debuts Sept. 3.

On the surface, it would seem like the brothers will be a viable commodity for some time yet. The problem is, that as each year goes by, they look and act more like three individuals than a homogenous boy band.

There’s no dissension, no strife; the guys get along well onstage and off. “We’re brothers, dude, what else did you expect?” asks Kevin, the oldest.

They’re staying together but, bit by bit, they’re also going their separate ways. Nick, the youngest, not only went out as a solo act earlier this year, he is appearing in London’s West End as Marius in Les Misérables, a return to his early days as a professional stage actor.

Kevin was the first to get married, while Joe — sporting a new pair of Clark Kent-styled glasses — is being seen at more and more L.A. social events and has announced plans to record a solo album. It was possible to see the seeds of all this last summer, when the brothers were in Toronto filming Camp Rock 2.

On a rainy night in August, I went to the set in Earl Bales Park to spend face time with each Jonas Brother, one on one. (While I connected with Kevin and Joe that night, Nick was busy with other projects, so I had to catch up with him later in New York.)

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Kevin Jonas (b. Nov. 5, 1987)

It was interesting to talk to Kevin first, because he’s the one most people think of last. That’s not because he’s unimportant or uninteresting, but he’s just not as easily labelled as his brothers.

Joe is hot, Nick is cute. But Kevin? He’s the oldest and he’s probably the best musician, but he’s he one who makes the softest impression.

That is, until you meet him. He’s got an engagingly shy smile, but he’s outgoing when the subject turns to music. “There’s a lot of old-school rock ’n’ roll in my blood,” he admits with a grin, “and I guess I convinced the other guys to put a lot of it in the (2009) tour. It’s just such great music and once it gets inside your blood, you’ve got no choice but to share it and make everybody feel good.

“And I feel that feeling is growing. I think we’re the generation that’s going to bring back the music of yesterday and pay it the respect it deserves.”

It was the music that convinced Kevin to join up with Nick and Joe to form the Jonas Brothers, and he admits “that wasn’t the direction I ever thought my life would go at all.”

“I think when the whole success thing came along, I was the one it caught most off guard. Nick’s been performing since he was a kid and Joe’s always been good with people, but it took me a while to come into my own, I know that.

“It wasn’t always easy for me, but I’m happy with the way I fit in now.”

The most low-key in terms of his personal life, he was nevertheless the first one to get hitched. On Dec. 19, he married Danielle Deleasa, a former hairdresser from New Jersey whom he’d been dating since he met her on a Bahamas vacation in 2007.

The marriage attracted a stream of attention on the Internet and in the media.

“It’s funny,” muses Kevin, “but once people see you perform, they think they know who you are and that’s not always the case. And of course, the more places you get seen, the more places you can be criticized, so me, I try not to read any of the bad stuff that’s being said about us.

“Who are the Jonas Brothers? We’re just three guys who play the music we love.” He looks off in the distance.

“Man, I want this to last for a very long time.”

Joe Jonas (b. Aug. 15, 1989)

First things first. Yes, Joe Jonas is as good-looking in person as he is on the screen. Maybe better, in fact, because when he’s relaxed, he seems more casually engaging then as a high-voltage performer. The dark hair and smouldering eyes that make him stand out also mark him as the brother bearing the strongest influence of his one-quarter Cherokee heritage.

When the band broke big, he was the man at the front, power-housing the numbers and making the teen girls swoon. As the years have passed, younger brother Nick has earned his share of fans as well, but Joe is still usually the man in the spotlight.

“Hey, there’s nothing with the fact that me and my brothers have different performance styles,” he says when asked about the changing dynamics. “We’re all at different stages of our lives, we’re all still growing.

“We also all have different kinds of music we’re into. Kevin loves country and rock ’n’ roll, Nick is into his own music a lot and I bounce back and forth. Sometimes it’s Michael Bublé, sometimes it’s indie rock.”

Joe is also the one the paparazzi follow most closely; whenever he’d go out running in Toronto, they were on his tail. He finally took refuge inside the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre on Spadina Ave., which graciously offered him its fitness area as a photo-free haven.

“I’ve got to do some kind of workout,” he says. “It’s not about looks, it’s about energy. The only way I can put out the kind of voltage I have to provide in the evening onstage is to prepare myself for it during the day.”

And after work is through, he enjoys the most varied social life of the group, although — in line with the family’s strict Christian Fundamentalist upbringing — there’s no liquor, drugs or premarital sex. The purity ring is still on Joe’s finger.

That’s not to imply he’s been sitting at home alone. He’s been publicly linked in ongoing relationships with AJ Michalka, Camilla Belle, Demi Lovato and, most memorably, Taylor Swift, who announced to the world that Joe broke up with her during a 27-second phone call.

He shakes his head before responding. “I know there’s people out there who say I’ve been breaking hearts, but listen to our songs. They speak the truth. If hearts have been broken, they’re usually ours. What happens in our relationships winds up in our songs and haters will be haters.”

Joe has also been making appearances apart from his brothers, judging on American Idol, appearing in other groups’ music videos and composing songs with Lovato.

He’s recently opened the door to his own solo career, but he doesn’t feel that goes against the Jonas Brothers entity.

“We’re staying true to who we are, man. We’re a band of brothers and you can’t break that apart, no matter what you try to do.”

Nick Jonas (b. Sept. 16, 1992)

No question that Nick is the most fascinating of the Jonases, not just because of his early years in Broadway musicals or the fact that he’s been openly living with Type 1 diabetes since he was 13.

There’s something different about him, a sense that he connects with his fans on a deeper level than the average boy-band member, or the feeling that he wants to be an artist instead of just an entertainer.

When asked why he was going back into the world of theatre, performing in Les Misérables in London this summer, he had a surprisingly mature answer.

“I feel I need to respond to the challenge to portray feelings and emotions. I want to learn how to know a character better and dig more deeply inside them. This is a really interesting process to me and the fans will tell me how I’m doing.”

He came to the world of performing long before his older brothers even thought of it. “My parents went to see Les Miz when I was 5 and brought the program back home. I saw a picture of the boy playing Gavroche and I ran to my mother saying, ‘Who is this kid?’

“She must have seen something in my eyes, because she asked, ‘Is this something you could see yourself doing?’ and I told her yes.”

He started on Broadway in A Christmas Carol at 7, moving on to Beauty and the Beast and Annie Get Your Gun before finally landing in Les Misérables. But soon after all that came the diabetes diagnosis.

“I knew I had something wrong with me,” he recalls, “but I didn’t know what it is, so when the doctor told me, I first felt relief. But that was soon replaced by confusion, shock and disappointment. I thought my career was over.”

It wasn’t, however, and even though a solo musical theatre career was a bit too strenuous in those early years, when Nick was learning how to live with his condition, singing with his brothers proved something he could handle.

“I think once I realized I could use it as an opportunity to share my story and encourage people, it all began to make sense. There are still moments of coping with my condition that are harder than others, but I feel I’ve got a good grip on it.”

Of all the brothers, he’s the one who’s been making the biggest impact in his own so far, with a solo tour, his own album and his current theatrical engagement.

But he insists he’s not breaking up the team. “I want the Jonas Brothers to be together for a long, long time. I’m committed to the group.”

What he’s had trouble being committed to is a romantic relationship, already having broken up with Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Nicole Anderson.

When we spoke, he took pains to point out that, “I’m not necessarily a loner, but being alone is not such a terrible thing. I enjoy being single right now, being on my own.”

In the past weeks, however, the British tabloids have been linking him with not one, but two of his leading ladies in Les Miz, Lucie Jones and Samantha Barks.

Like all the Jonas Brothers, he’s a going concern.

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