What a night, what a show! The streets were full of happy revellers celebrating England's victory over Trinidad and Tobago, but I'm talking about The Rat Pack Live From Las Vegas. Any ideas I had that the football might have impacted on the size of the audience were quickly dispelled. The theatre was full of people of all ages, but all united by one thing, their love of the laidback singing style of the three superstar crooners who made up the famous Rat Pack of the late 1950s Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.
"It don't mean a thing if you ain't got that swing" crooned the three gorgeous girlies in The Rat Pack's backing group, The Burelli Sisters, and that was certainly true. The three guys emulating the superstar trio were, I thought, quite staggeringly good. All the vocal intonations were there, shut your eyes and it could have been the original threesome belting out all those hit songs, including I've Got You Under My Skin, That's Amore, My Kinda Town, New York New York, My Way, and many more.
The Rat Pack singers were Louis Hoover as Sinatra, Michael Neilson as Martin, and Allie Lawrence as Davis. In a polished performance they emulated the style of the three hippest, coolest cats around, perfectly recreating the ambience of their sellout shows at the legendary Sands nightclub in Las Vegas. Back in 1959, when The Rat Pack were gods, tickets were like gold dust, and stars queueing for a piece of the action included Gregory Peck, Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe, as well as JFK.
All three members of the pack died in the 1990s, but they live again in this superb show, with Frank crooning and wisecracking, Dino drunkenly slurring and flirting, and little Sammy dancing and charming. The audience loved it and many gave a standing ovation.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article