Review: THE RAT PACK IS BACK at Starlight Theatre

Starlight Theatre completed its 66th Broadway summer season with an excellent touring company of "The Rat Pack Is Back." The huge Starlight stage fills up with very good approximations of Sinatra and his close buddies, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Junior as they would have looked while performing at the legendary Sands Hotel in Los Vegas. A twelve-piece swing band capably backs up the singers and fills the outdoor theater with scores of popular standard music up to about 1970.

Sinatra was "Chairman of the Board" of this randy group of Rat Packers. Sammy Davis Junior was called the "world's greatest entertainer." Dean Martin was the "boozy best friend crooner." The three frequently appeared tuxedoed on stage, on TV, and in a series of buddy movies meant for the big screen.

The act was simple. The boys came on stage in their popular personas, sang their hearts out, and told the kind of almost raunchy jokes that audience members probably heard at work or on the golf course. There were Black jokes, Jewish jokes, Black Jewish jokes, Italian jokes, Homophobic jokes, and jokes that consciously offend most groups but gently. These are stories that might not play in 2016, but as a glimpse of old Las Vegas in the 1960s, they are fine. They are told without crude language and are generally charming groaners and double entendres.

Chris Jason appears as Frank Sinatra. Drew Anthony appears as Dean Martin. And Kyle Diamond re-incarnates Sammy Davis Junior. All three actors have mastered the tradeMark Mannerisms and postures of their character. All sing well and in the manner of their characters. The full band fleshes out the performances.

Of course, these three are not Sinatra, Martin, or Davis Junior, but they are the next best thing. All three of the originals have graduated to the great cabaret in the sky. The show is less a tribute to the characters and more an homage to a gentler time.

"The original Rat Pack" from the early 1950s was a group of show business friends. The pack was led by actor Humphrey Bogart. It included Sinatra, Bogart, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Rex Harrison and others. Bogart's wife, Lauren Bacall saddled the group with the "Rat Pack" moniker. The Bogart/Bacall home was their hangout until Bogart's death in 1957,

By the 1960s, Frank Sinatra with two to four additional friends inherited the name. The ground included Sinatra. Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Junior along with irregular participation by Peter Lawford, and comedian Joey Bishop.

"The Rat Pack is Back" is a pleasant evening. It is recommended for fans of good music, saucy jokes, and great music. The singers are worth hearing.

"The Pack" completes the 2016 Broadway outdoor season, still to come are a number of outdoor concerts, an indoor season onstage with five new shows, and the soon to be announced 2017 Broadway season.

Photo courtesy of Starlight Theatre