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‘Rat Pack Now’ brings a swinging good time to Stage Door Canteen
Published: Monday, August 22, 2011
By Theodore P. Mahne, New Orleans Times-Picayune
In a setting such as the National World War II Museum, hearing “Come Fly With Me” might conjure images of bomber planes and blitzkrieg. At the museum’s entertainment venue, however, the focus is on getting blitzed.
As part of its summer season, the Stage Door Canteen is jumping ahead a decade or so from its usual World War II-era inspired fare to present “The Rat Pack Now,” a tribute show to the golden days of Las Vegas and its Olympian trio of performers – Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and, of course, Frank Sinatra.
Less a theater performance than a night on the town, “The Rat Pack Now” is a sort of “Beatlemania” for cooler cats. These were the guys those original Mad Men aspired to be.
The three performers capture the look and sound of their inspirations to varying degrees of success, but they especially succeed in nailing the culture of the time, a period when lounge music still comprised a Big Band and the Great American Songbook. It was also a time when the fourth character on stage, named Jack Daniels, was a cause for celebration, not concern.
The enthusiasm and fun the three bring to the stage is infectious for the audience. All the expected Rat Pack standards associated with Martin, Davis and Sinatra are performed, along with those old jokes and a lot of upstaging shtick that were a riot in the ’60s, but come off as slightly corny today.
As Dean Martin, Art Poco, who originated the act, does a fine job sounding like the legendary tipsy Lothario. “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head,” “That’s Amore,” and Martin’s signature song, “Everybody Loves Somebody” are handled with panache. Vocally, Poco is at his absolute best with “You Belong to Me.” I don’t recall Martin being so bouncy on the stage, especially for one pretending to be drunk, but Poco does exude the spirit and humor of the original trio most effectively.
Dezhon Fields most fully and believably embodies the character of Sammy Davis Jr. With slicked-back, pomaded hair and a jaunty air, he inhabits Davis fully, in sound and manner, bursting out such numbers as “The Candy Man,” “I Gotta Be Me,” and “That Old Black Magic” with an appropriate blend of showmanship and just a touch of camp. For all the Vegas glitz, Fields also shows that “Mr. Bojangles” remains a deeply touching number when done right.
As the Chairman of the Board, Robert Hoose Jr. takes on the toughest assignment – impersonating the best-known voice of the 20th century. While he doesn’t always sound like Sinatra, except in that sing-speak range that Old Blue Eyes began to affect later in his career, Hoose does capture the spirit and cocky attitude of the leader of this Pack. Fine renditions of “Come Fly With Me” and “You Make Me Feel So Young” swing with the right dose of ring-a ding; and as cheesy as it is, you have to admit you expect to hear “My Way.”
In the day, the Rat Pack was known for doing an adults-only act. Today, some of the jokes are quaintly bawdy but it’s a show to bring everyone from the kids to your maiden aunt to see. So grab a highball, kick back and just enjoy.
Maltz season opener a Rat Pack reunion
BY HAP ERSTEIN , Correspondent
Thursday, October 2, 2008
The Maltz Jupiter Theatre is busy looking to the future, but occasionally it goes into nostalgia mode. That is the theme of its season opener today, when it hosts the reunion of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., in “The Rat Pack Now.”
OK, those three stars of stage, screen and saloons are not actually available any longer, but the Maltz does have a reasonable facsimile, a celebrity tribute show geared to bringing back the ring-a-ding sounds and schtick of the 1960s.
According to Fort Lauderdale-based Art Poco, who does an uncanny impersonation of Martin, an evening with the Rat Pack is an ideal tonic for today’s woes.
“The Rat Pack, I think, brings back a time when things were easier,” said Poco. “I think folks really need and want that right now. When these guys were onstage, they weren’t even really asking you to love them all that much. They were just there to have a good time and if the audience enjoyed the party, that was fine too.”
The “Now” of the show’s title refers to its contemporary setting. “It’s the closest thing you’re going to get to those boys being here in today’s world,” said Poco. “We don’t try and take you back to the Sands hotel in the 1960s. We are here, in whatever place that is. If it’s the Maltz Jupiter Theatre, that’s where we are.”
The Maltz Jupiter Theatre will step back in time tonight with “The Rat Pack Now,” featuring a “reunion” of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.
Art Poco, who performs as Martin, said the songs are timeless. “You’re going to hear all the songs that you expect to hear. Frank’s going to do ‘Summer Wind,’ ‘Fly Me to the Moon,’ ‘New York, New York,’ ‘That’s Life.’ Sammy will do ‘Candy Man,’ which actually came a little later on, but the folks really want to hear those, too. And he’s going to do ‘Hey There’ and ‘Mr. Bojangles.’
“Dean’s going to do as many as I can remember the lyrics to,” Poco deadpanned. “We’re going to give you the big hits, but sometimes we’ll slip in a less familiar one because we sure like singing it and it’s a beautiful song.”
“It’s funny, but we are a high-wire act,” said Poco. “We do not script this show, because we do what they did. We have things that we like to say, jokes we have used before, but we don’t know what order it’s coming in. If Sammy spills his drink on Frank, who knows what could happen next.
“Like we like to say, “Every show is different, because we never screw up the same way twice.’”
In a way, that helps the group return quickly to venues they played previously. “The Rat Pack Now” first performed at the Maltz in January at a fundraiser for its Theatre Guild support group. Now it returns for an encore performance, again emceed by Guild member Cindy Hite of Palm Beach Gardens.
One chief difference is that Hite, a local broadcasting personality, will emcee as Rat Pack contemporary Marilyn Monroe. “Marilyn’s going to start off the show singing ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,’ she’s going to run the raffle at intermission. I’m going to play it straight Marilyn. You’re not going to see Cindy,” said Hite.
Later, Marilyn and the Rat Packers will be schmoozing with the audience, and making themselves available for photographs at a post-show party.
“It’s ‘what’s-not-to-like?’” Hite said. “It’s all fun, all great, well-crafted humor and good music.”
What: “The Rat Pack Now”
When: 7:30 p.m. today
Where: Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter
Tickets: $35
Telephone: (561) 575-2223 or (800) 445-1666
