[NEohioPAL] Preview of "My Way" at Rabbit Run

[Bob Abelman]

Rabbit Run's Sinatra revue will bring together strangers in the night

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This preview appeared in the News-Herald 8/13/10

 

 

Before pop divas were known only by their first names-before the Madonnas, Michaels and Beyonces-there was the singer known simply and quite definitively as "The Voice."

 

Smooth, effortless and renowned for its impeccable phrasing, Frank Sinatra's vocal style helped transition the innocent and idealistic crooning of the 1940s to the jazzy, alcohol-enhanced sophistication of the 1950s.  The man and his music singlehandedly moved the music scene from the Big Band dance hall to the Vegas cocktail lounge and night club.  

 

Sinatra's persona was as much a part of this movement as the music itself.  According to his New York Times obituary in 1998, Sinatra was "a bruised romantic with a tough-guy streak and a song for every emotional season." Those songs became the musical vocabulary of adult relationships during and immediately after World War II, and continue to resonate with generations of music lovers.

 

So timeless is his work that this year's American Idol included a Frank-Sinatra-themed evening, performed by the Top 5 finalists.

 

So versatile is his catalog of songs that a new musical called Come Fly Away opened on Broadway this year that combines a 19-piece band with the choreography of Twyla Tharp and vocal performances from the Sinatra archives.

 

"So enjoyable is his music," notes Brint Learned, director of My Way, which opens this evening at Rabbit Run's barn theater in Madison, "that we just had to offer this musical tribute in the mix in our season's theater schedule."

 

This musical revue, which was conceived in 1999 by David Grapes and Todd Olson, features over 50 melodies that range from Sinatra's early recording days, to his films and his concerts. They are sung in medley and, in the case of his big hits, in their entirety, by four performers in the guise of cocktail lounge singers and are accompanied by an on-stage piano, bass and drums under the supervision of Ed Leonard.   

 

Although the performers are only in their 20s and 30s, each one came to this project overtly familiar with Sinatra's evergreen music and legacy. 

 

Brian Altman, who was recently seen and heard in Pickwick and Frolic's Forever Plaid and Lakeland Theater's Sweeney Todd, has childhood memories of his mother playing Sinatra records around the house.

 

Nichole Groah, a choir director with Madison Local School District, was 13 years old when she received her first CD player for Christmas, which came with her very first CD-the original soundtrack recording from Guys and Dolls featuring Frank Sinatra as Nathan Detroit.  

 

"I grew up in a family that loved to watch movies from the 1940s and 1950s, including those of Frank Sinatra's" says Rabbit Run regular Lindsey Sandham.  "I also remember the first time I heard his 1943 recording of 'Speak Low' and listened in awe at his ability to express emotion through music."

 

James Penca's grandfather passed away when James was a very young boy, and he was given his grandfather's music box that played "Moon River" as something to remember him by.  "I can listen to any version of that song without getting emotional, except for Frank's," he recalls. "That one gets to me."

 

Sinatra gets to many of us, and it will have the opportunity to do so once again starting this evening.

 

Details

 

What:     My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra

When:    Tonight through August 29.

Where:   Rabbit Run Theater, 5648 W. Chapel Rd., Madison Township. 

Tickets:  $15 to $17

Info:       440-428-7092 or at www.rabbitrunonline.org.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20100813/74cb86e6/attachment-0003.htm>