The Town Hall Arts Center is presenting “My Way” its way, which is not so much Frank Sinatra’s way . . . but more the cruise-ship way.
Stripped squeaky-clean of all the edge that made Sinatra one of the coolest and most volatile pop-culture icons of the 20th century, Town Hall’s “My Way” is little more than a musical eulogy by a talented foursome Sinatra might have found insufferably cheerful. It’s hard to imagine these squares getting invited into Sinatra’s private suite at the Flamingo.
Which is not to say they aren’t vocally gifted. They are. Backed by the live duo of Mitch Samu and Tag Worley, they work their way merrily through pieces of 56 songs Sinatra once crooned (not wrote, as the audience might be led to believe). It’s peppered with the requisite forced audience interaction, finger-snapping and (from one actor in particular) vaudevillian cheesiness throughout.
There’s no context, setting or plot for this featherweight musical revue, which was conceived by the University of Northern Colorado’s David Grapes and had a high-profile debut at the Denver Center in 2005. Four singers will simply sing for you in a nebulously defined cabaret. They’re paired off as younger and older couples who “perform” the plots of each song, a device that grows confusing because every song is different, so there are no consistent relationships.
The medleys are meticulously themed by topics like love and marriage (“The Tender Trap”), losers (“One for My Baby”), survivors (“That’s Life”) and more — with glossed-over biographical narration interspersed between.
The women come out just fine (despite the most unflattering of gowns) — a sassy Kristen Samu torches “My Funny Valentine,” and Clarissa Hope Stranske does a lovely “Something Wonderful.” When all four sing together, the harmonies are blissful.
But the neither of the men is remotely Sinatraesque, so very little of the chairman ever comes across. Allen Bennett sings standards like “I’ve Got the World on a String,” “New York, New York,” “The Lady Is a Tramp” and “Summer Wind” like he’s a Vegas emcee — on the Stratosphere side of the Strip. And when Erik Bryan, who has one of the best voices you’ll hear on any stage, is made to riff cheeseball lines like “You know what I’m talkin’ about!” during “Makin’ Whoopee,” it’s pure corn. Samu comically bosses these poor sots around all night, which further emasculates any sense of Sinatra.
There’s no blue-collar machismo here. No swagger. No cockiness. No blue-eyed cool. No mystique. No vocal delivery sending shivers down your spine. And if no one is evoking the true spirit of Sinatra, then this is all nothing more than an elegant evening of karaoke.
In truth, “My Way” is not so much a nod to Sinatra as to 36 great songwriters. It’s about Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Rodgers and Hart, Sammy Kahn and more. Sinatra, in many ways, is really incidental to it all.
But Town Hall is a good space for the revue, and given how awful the sound balance was for last year’s similar “Swingtime Canteen,” it’s nearly miraculous how good the voices blend in with the onstage band.
It’s a crowd-pleasing amusement for the older set, many of whom will be transported back to quintessential moments from their own lives. And it’s selling like crazy.
But as Bennett tells the crowd, quoting Sinatra, “If you’re indifferent about it, it’s endsville.”
It’s endsville.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra” * 1/2 (out of four stars)
Musical eulogy. Littleton Town Hall Arts Center, 2450 W. Main St. Written by David Grapes and Todd Olson. Directed by Anita Boland. Through Feb. 8. 2 hours. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays plus 2 p.m. Feb. 7. $21-$36. 303-794-2787 or
