The
Rat Pack -
Touring
Director and Choreographer - Mitch Sebastian
Producers - Paul Walden & Derek Nicol for Flying Music
Venue - King's Theatre Edinburgh 0131 529 6000
New Secure 72 hr email booking + info available at www.eft.co.uk
Dates - 17 - 21 April
Tues to Fri at 7:30pm Sat at 5pm and 8pm then continues tour
Reviewer Thelma Good
If you didn't get to see them live, The Rat Pack tries to give you the
flavour of an evening in Las Vegas when Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and
Sammy Davis Junior were paid to entertain the punters taking time out
from the gaming tables. Back then there would have been a haze of cigarette
smoke, cocktails on tables and guys from the mob sitting at them. And
the women? All giltz and in their subservent place. This production
hints at that kind of tacky glamour and the songs still work sung by
sound-a-likes.
There were also a couple of parody songs like When You're Drinking
with the lines, "When you're sober, life's a pain in the ass."
sung by Alex Bourne the Dean Martin of this pack. Bourne
slurs and smoothies his way through the two sets, it's his portrayal
and singing I was most satisfied by. The Sinatra, Louis Hoover
sings Frank's My Way with Frank's particular phrasing. In two
other songs Louis bit off more than he could chew, missing the high
notes. Other notes missed in this production included mikes not turned
on and the mike leads getting tangled during several uninspiring dance
routines.The Sammy Davis Junior, George Long had some of Davis's
slinky, slightly repulsive sexiness but whoever decided not to get
Long tap lessons seriously undermined the characterisation - a mimed
tap dance is a no-no. The real Sammy Davis Junior, sang and wonderfully
danced his way into the otherwise white Rat Pack.
The Rat Pack is not a musical, it's an attempt to recreate a evening
with these past entertainers and 30+ of their much loved songs. Strangely
the creators of The Rat Pack decided we see not one of the Pack's
winning streak evenings but one when their charm and talent wrestled
with their drinking and their cynicism. A bit more story might have
made this approach work better, but it only hints at the singers' dark
sides. Even on the singing side the three women singers and dancers
are underused especially in the second half, even for those days. Still
it was good to hear some Rat Pack's standards sung well with a live
band instead of a karaoke machine.
© Thelma Good 17 April 2001Theatre listings
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