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| The Rat Pack - Live From Las Vegas | |
|---|---|
 Promotional image for the West End production | |
| Music | Various |
| Lyrics | Various |
| Productions | 2003 West End 2009 West End revival 2011 West End revival 2017 West End revival |
The Rat Pack - Live From Las Vegas is a musical produced by Flying Music Group Ltd. It was conceived and created by Mitch Sebastian, who was also the original director and choreographer.
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Developed over three years the original production opened outside London, England, at the Beck Theatre, Hayes, in January 2000. A short tour featured Louis Hoover as Frank Sinatra, Michael Howe as Dean Martin and Peter Straker as Sammy Davis Junior. The show was rewritten and new set designs were added for a second UK tour in 2001 with Clive Carter and George Daniel Long playing Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Junior. It was not until the 2002 UK Tour that the show found an audience. Further rewrites and new set designs by Sean Kavanagh with costume designs by Paul Clarke and a cast that featured Stephen Triffit (Sinatra) Mark Adams (Martin) and Long (Davis) led to a 6-month tour.
The production transferred to the West End for a twelve-week engagement at Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2003. It then transferred to Strand Theatre (now Novello Theatre), where it played for two years. The original West End cast starred Adams (Martin), Long (Davis), and Triffitt (Sinatra). In May 2005, the show transferred to the Savoy Theatre where it ran for another two years, for a total run of more than 1,000 performances.
A new limited season was performed at the Adelphi Theatre in London from September 2009 to January 2010 starring Craige Els (Martin), Giles Terrera (Davis), and Louis Hoover (Sinatra). It then played for another limited season at the Wyndhams Theatre in 2011–2012 with the original cast.[ citation needed ]
By 2014, it had also played at Peacock Theatre, London Palladium and Theatre Royal Drury Lane.[ citation needed ] In December 2017 it returned to the Theatre Royal Haymarket, with Nicola Emmanuelle as Ella Fitzgerald. It closed in February 2018 followed by another UK tour which finished in June 2018.[ citation needed ]
A European tour premiered in 2004 and ran for four years playing, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Norway and Denmark.[ citation needed ] The show was renamed The Ratpack Live from the Sands when it embarked on its first US Tour in 2005.[ citation needed ] It continued to tour America as part of the Broadway series for a subsequent four seasons.[ citation needed ] Another production played in Toronto's Canon Theatre.[ citation needed ] Sebastian also directed a filming of the show for PBS in America, with (Giles Terrera as Davis. [1]
The Original West End cast recording was made early in the run at the Novello Theatre featuring the original cast. [2]
The show was nominated for best new musical in the Whatsonstage.com Awards and for best entertainment in the 2003 Laurence Olivier Awards. [3]
Dean Martin was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular entertainers of the mid-20th century, he was nicknamed "The King of Cool". Martin gained his career breakthrough together with comedian Jerry Lewis, billed as Martin and Lewis, in 1946. They performed in nightclubs and later had numerous appearances on radio and television and in films.
Ocean's 11 is a 1960 American heist film directed and produced by Lewis Milestone from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Charles Lederer, based on a story by George Clayton Johnson and Jack Golden Russell. The film stars an ensemble cast and five members of the Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. Centered on a series of Las Vegas casino robberies, the film also stars Angie Dickinson, Richard Conte, Cesar Romero, Patrice Wymore, Akim Tamiroff, and Henry Silva. It includes cameo appearances by Shirley MacLaine, Red Skelton, and George Raft.
The Rat Pack was an informal group of singers that, in its second iteration, ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business friends, such as Errol Flynn, Nat King Cole, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra and others who met casually at the Holmby Hills home of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. In the 1960s, the group featured Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford, among others. They appeared together on stage and in films in the 1950s and 1960s, including the films Ocean's 11 and Sergeants 3; after Lawford's expulsion, they filmed Robin and the 7 Hoods with Bing Crosby in what was to have been Lawford's role. Sinatra, Martin, and Davis were regarded as the group's lead members after Bogart's death.
Samuel George Davis Jr. was an American singer, actor, musician, comedian and dancer.
Peter Sydney Ernest Lawford was an English-American actor.
Joseph Abraham Gottlieb, known professionally as Joey Bishop, was an American entertainer who appeared on television as early as 1948 and eventually starred in his own weekly comedy series playing a talk/variety show host, then later hosted a late-night talk show with Regis Philbin as his young sidekick on ABC. He also was a member of the "Rat Pack" with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford. He is listed as the 96th entry on Comedy Central's list of 100 greatest comedians.
The Sands Hotel and Casino was a historic American hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States, that operated from 1952 to 1996. Designed by architect Wayne McAllister, with a prominent 56-foot (17 m) high sign, the Sands was the seventh resort to open on the Strip. During its heyday, it hosted many famous entertainers of the day, most notably the Rat Pack and Jerry Lewis.
Loletha Elayne Falana or Loletha Elaine Falana, better known by her stage name Lola Falana, is an American singer, dancer, and actress. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1975 for her performance as Edna Mae Sheridan in Doctor Jazz.
Sergeants 3 is a 1962 American comedy/Western film directed by John Sturges and starring Rat Pack icons Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. It was the last film to feature all five members of the Rat Pack, as Sinatra would no longer speak to or work with Lawford following the abrupt cancellation in March 1962 of a visit by Lawford's brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy, to Sinatra's Palm Springs house.
"High Hopes" is a popular song first popularized by Frank Sinatra, with music written by James Van Heusen and lyrics by Sammy Cahn. It was introduced by Sinatra and child actor Eddie Hodges in the 1959 film A Hole in the Head, was nominated for a Grammy, and won an Oscar for Best Original Song at the 32nd Academy Awards.
The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster. It was known as the Strand Theatre between 1913 and 2005.
The Rat Pack is a 1998 American HBO made-for-television drama film about the Rat Pack. The movie stars Ray Liotta as Frank Sinatra, Joe Mantegna as Dean Martin, Don Cheadle as Sammy Davis Jr., and Angus Macfadyen as Peter Lawford. Despite his membership in the Pack, Joey Bishop is given minimal screen time, while John F. Kennedy, depicted as an on-and-off friend of Sinatra's, is given a more central role.
Christmas with the Rat Pack is a 2002 musical album compiling Christmas songs by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr.
"My Kind of Town" or "My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)" is a popular song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn.
Antonio Morelli (1904-1974) was a producer, arranger, bandleader, movie producer, and conductor most well known for serving as orchestra leader for the famous Sands Hotel Copa Room in its Rat Pack heyday from 1954 through 1971. He was music director, band leader, and friend to some of the biggest names in show business for twenty years and is credited with bringing classical music to Las Vegas. He was also a songwriter, arranger, and music director for several Broadway musicals, and beloved for his devotion to philanthropic endeavors in his community most notably founding The Las Vegas Pops.
Giles Terera is a British actor, musician, and filmmaker. He is best known for his work in the theatre, particularly in the original cast of the London production of the musical Hamilton, as Aaron Burr, for which he won the 2018 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. His first documentary, Muse of Fire, premiered in autumn 2013.
Deana Martin is an American singer. She is the daughter of singer Dean Martin.
Markus Haider is an Austrian singer part of The Gang Guys, who dub themselves "the Austrian Rat Pack", a tribute band to the original Rat Pack. He is known for his performance of Dean Martin's Sway that is commonly but mistakenly thought to be performed by Frank Sinatra.
Mitch Sebastian is a British theatre director, choreographer and performer. He has been nominated for an Olivier Award and Whatsonstage Award for writing, directing and choreographing The Rat Pack: Live from Las Vegas. He was Artistic Director of Kilworth House Theatre 2005-2015. He won a BAFTA Award as part of the creative team behind the children's animated TV series, Yoko! Jakamoto! Toto!.
Robbie Howard is an American born entertainer, singer, impersonator and comedian who resides in Las Vegas, Nevada where he has directed, produced and starred in long-running shows on the Las Vegas Strip with Hurray America (1993-1999) and Stars of the Strip (1999-2005) and The Rat Pack is Back (2006-2014).
