Rat Pack

edited by Madelyn Miller

I just came back from a week in Las Vegas. It is my new favorite city. Fabulous food, exciting nightlife, great shows. And as I toured some of the new construction like the M resort and the City Center, I kept thinking back to the visionary thinkers who founded Las Vegas in the middle of a desert.

Although I was sad to leave the excitement of Vegas, I am thrilled to know that Rat Pack is coming to Dallas.

THE RAT PACK - Live at the Sands is the hottest and coolest party in town. After four unprecedented years on London's West End, this acclaimed production vividly recreates a legendary evening at the Sands Hotel with the most famous performers of our time: Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin. Dallas will re-live the excitement of those nights with the Rat Pack, back on stage, at The Majestic Theatre, March 3-8, 2009, for 8 performances only.

THE RAT PACK - Live at the Sands transports the audience to the early 1960s, when Frank and his pals were filming the original version of the casino robbery caper Ocean’s Eleven in Las Vegas. The Sands Hotel was featured prominently in the film, which included solo performances by Frank, Sammy, and Dean. The Rat Pack legend was born when Frank and Dean spontaneously joined Sammy on stage and, to the surprise and delight of the audience, playfully interrupted his act. Subsequent nights the three of them were on stage together. There were hi-jinks and horseplay. They crooned, they quipped and they rolled out the gags right along with their on-stage liquor cart.

Director and Choreographer Mitch Sebastian re-creates the magic that was the Rat Pack on stage. Performers Stephen Triffitt (Frank), David Hayes (Sammy) and Phil Barley (Dean) evoke all the glamour of that notorious nightclub gig when the audience was glittered with the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Peck, Judy Garland, Tony Curtis, Sam Giancana and Jack Kennedy. It’s an evening of wisecracking, hip-cat nostalgia: a cool mix of sharpies and broads singing some of the finest music ever written. Set Design by Sean Cavanagh, Vocal and Musical Arrangements by Matthew Freeman, Costume Design by Christopher Woods and Lighting Design by Mark Wheatley. The U.S. tour is produced by Paul Walden and Derek Nicol for Rat Pack Touring, Ltd., in association with Paul Woolf.

This sensational production celebrates the incredible talents of these three larger than life entertainers -- legends in their own time. There’s a fifteen-piece on-stage big band, and of course, it wouldn’t be The Rat Pack without some fabulous broads: Meet Joanne Dalladay, Lucie Florentine and Nikki Stokes as the beautiful back-up singer- dancers, The Burelli Sisters. Audiences will swing and swoon to The Rat Pack’s signature songs: "My Kinda Town," "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime," "Fly Me to the Moon," "Me and My Shadow," "What Kind of Fool Am I," "Mack the Knife," "The Lady is a Tramp," "I’ve Got You Under My Skin," "That Old Black Magic," "That’s Life," "Mr. Bojangles," "That’s Amore," "Sway," "Volare," "My Way," "New York, New York," and "One For My Baby."

Tickets, priced from $12-$71, are on sale now at The Box Office, 542 Preston Royal Shopping Center, or at any Ticketmaster outlet, including the Majestic Theatre, 1925 Elm Street. Tickets are also available by calling 214-631-ARTS (2787) or online at www.ticketmaster.com. For groups of 10 or more, call 214-426-GROUP. General tour information can also be found by visiting www.TheRatPackLiveAtTheSands.com.

All performances will be at The Majestic Theatre, with the following schedule:

     Tuesday March 3     8 p.m.
     Wednesday March 4     8 p.m.
     Thursday March 5     2 and 8 p.m.
     Friday March 6     8 p.m.
     Saturday March 7     2 and 8 p.m.
     Sunday March 8     2 p.m.

Next up for Dallas Summer Musicals

The Pajama Game March 10-15
Frost Nixon April 28-May 3
These productions will be presented at The Majestic Theatre, 1925 Elm Street in Dallas.
A subscribers’ special presentation of RENT, starring original Broadway production stars Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, May 5-10
Topol in Fiddler on the Roof, May 19-24, will be presented at the Music Hall at Fair Park.
The DSM summer season at the Music Hall at Fair Park kicks off with Happy Days, A New Musical, May 26-June 7; The Wizard of Oz June 9-21; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang June 23-July 5; A Chorus Line July 7-19; Legally Blonde The Musical July 21-August 2; Mamma Mia! August 18-30; and Disney’s Mary Poppins as the State Fair musical September 24-October 18, 2009.
Season sponsors for Dallas Summer Musicals, presented by Comerica Bank, are The Dallas Morning News, WFAA TV Channel 8, and American Airlines. Now celebrating its 69th season, Dallas Summer Musicals, Inc. (DSM) is the largest producer of live theatrical entertainment in the Southwest, the second oldest summer theater organization in the United States, and the sixth largest non-profit theater company.
Dallas Summer Musicals has been entertaining North Texas audiences with the finest in live, musical theatre entertainment since 1941. In addition to presenting national Broadway tours, DSM also produces shows on Broadway, presents and tours local productions, and is involved in developing new works. Dallas Summer Musicals won 2007 Tony Awards® for Jay Johnson: The Two and Only and 2008 Tony and Drama Desk Awards® for Boeing-Boeing. Also in 2008, The Drowsy Chaperone and Jersey Boys each earned a Dallas Fort Worth Theatre Critics Forum Award in the Touring Production category.
Dallas Summer Musicals’ affiliates include DSM Management Group, Inc. (DSMMGI), which manages the Music Hall at Fair Park and the historic Majestic Theatre.

For more information about Dallas Summer Musicals please visit their website at www.dallassummermusicals.org or call (214) 421-5678

Madelyn Miller is a travel and food writer who loves musicals and Las Vegas. This should go in the favorites list.

Read her stories on www.travellady.com, www.carladynews.com, www.yogayaya.com, www.chocolateatlas.com, www.cocktailatlas.com, www.teaAtlas.com, www.coffeeatlas.com