Hillbarn Theatre tribute to Sinatra a success their/his way
By Keith Kreitman, Contributor
San Mateo County Times, Tuesday December 6, 2005
The problem in doing shows that are tributes to specific entertainers, such as Frank Sinatra, Cole Porter or Noel Coward, is that the performance of the cast is inevitably judged against the original.
So, it is wise to steer it away from imitation and director John Kirman did just that in "My Way, a Tribute to Frank Sinatra," which opened at the Hillbarn Theatre in Foster City this past weekend.
Of course, it helps make the evening successful by encasing it in a believable set and Ron Gasparinetti again creates authenticity with his beautiful version of an "upholstered saloon" of the Sinatra era.
Sinatra described himself, at the core of his entertainment persona, as a highly paid saloon singer. But, of course, he was more than that. He was a natural talent who could act, was a good dancer in his early career and had the stubborn, inflexible drive to impose those talents "his way" upon receptive audiences and, thereby, displaced Bing Crosby as the greatest ballad singer of the past century.
And, in so doing, he is now revered as a prime icon of his generation.
Which is somewhat amusing to me - raised in my earlier years in an Italian-American neighborhood similar to Sinatra's - that the mode of dress and expressions of that culture should now be looked upon by mainstream America as having been a Sinatra original invention.
But, so what? Sinatra was the most instrumental in bringing that loose, swinging, fun loving, sharp dressing, good dancing ethos into the American entertainment mainstream and he should be celebrated for that.
This show is really a review, a number of his famous songs punctuated with reminiscences about his life, peccadilloes and career and full of quotes from the great man, himself, usually referring to his dissipated life and excessive drinking. Four wives and a string of affairs would not have gone over too well in our earlier neighborhoods.
But, his songs, strung together by David Grapes and Todd Olson, do make for a good show and the four actor/singers in this production brought on a load of nostalgia to the aging audience that attended the opening night.
The two younger ones, Zach Trimmer, a high school senior at San Mateo High School and Anna Traina, at Foothill College are budding talents and mesh well with veteran performers James Kason and Juliet Green. All of the solo and ensemble singing was done well and had the audience tapping its feet.
This is a the rare case where the musicians (pianist Ron Sfarzo, bassist Danny Min and drummer and music director Greg Sudmeier) become part of the action on the stage.
The songs chosen embrace most of the great "pop" composers of the past century whose names would not be familiar to most of the young popular music lovers of today. There are Jerome Kern, Harold Allen, Sammy Cahn, Rodgers and Hart, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Johnnie Mercer and many more.
Among the 60 songs are a number uniquely associated with
Sinatra: "All of Me," "My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)," "New York, New York," "Summer Wind," "The Tender Trap," "Love and Marriage," "The Lady Is a Tramp," "One For My Baby," "Young at Heart," "It Was a Very Good Year," and, of course, his signature tune "My Way."
If you really yearn to warm in nostalgia, take advantage of the New Years Eve. final performance, complete with dinner, dance and Champaign. I'll be there with handkerchief in hand, brushing away a tear and humming along with this excellent cast.