Anyone who attended Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin’s and Sammy Davis Jr’s concerts at The Sands Hotel, Vegas in the early 1960s obviously took away the memories of a lifetime and its probably fair to say that anyone who attended the sell-out tribute Rat Pack Vegas Spectacular in Newport on Saturday evening probably did the same.
The 8 strong Rat Pack Orchestra under the direction of Drummer Chris Draper and featuring Al Terry on Piano kicked off with a rousing rendition of Ain’t That a Kick in the Head Performed by Patrick Kennedy as Dean Martin.
Patrick Kumah as Sammy Davis Jr then made a startling entrance through the audience performing My Shining Hour before launching into the classic Mr Bojangles.
The show was already in full swing when King of the Rat Packers, Roman Marek took to the stage as a Songs for Swinging Lovers era Frank Sinatra made his entrance in trademark hat and spats with a rendition of Come Fly with Me.
Accompanied by two wonderful dancers’ Jenny and Sarah who made a wide variety of costume changes throughout the evening, the trio delivered many Rat Pack standards and a personal tribute to Newport – a lyrically adjusted version of My Kind of Town.
Concluding with Sinatra’s New York New York , The Rat Pack Vegas Spectacular was a neat tribute to three of the 20th centuries Greatest Performers and judging by the audience response a magical evening for all who attended.
- A version of this review by Andy Howells originally appeared in The South Wales Argus during February, 2011
