BWW Reviews: Sinatra Is Back In Vegas In Twyla Tharp's SINATRA DANCE WITH ME

It is a perfect combination - the ultra-cool of Frank Sinatra's music and put it with the heat of Twyla Tharp's choreography. Add sets, costumes and lighting and you have the show that opened Saturday night at Wynn Las Vegas.

Now, really, this was on opening night, more than just a show. It was a celebration of the music and dance, but also a celebration of Frank Sinatra's 95th birthday the next day and of Steve Wynn's love for Sinatra, with whom he worked closely when he bought the Golden Nugget here an opened another in Atlantic City, Sinatra was his spokesperson in ads - very memorable ads. Wynn's new Encore Hotel has a restaurant called Sinatra where his movies are played on a continuous loop over the bar and where Sinatra's Oscar and Emmy Awards are displayed. (It also has an amazing raspberry martini that I choose to attribute to the namesake's good taste.) But, by the end of the show, there were tears all over the theater with people nostalgic for their friend Frank Sinatra or the Las Vegas of Sinatra's era wishing he were still around.

Sinatra Dance With Me is a truncated version of the two-act Sinatra: Come Fly Away that ran earlier this year on Broadway. Sinatra provides the vocals and a terrific 17-piece orchestra under conductor Dave Loeb brings us right back to Sinatra in his prime. Set in a nightclub, which Sinatra would have undoubtedly called a "saloon," the 25 songs serve as the script against which four couples dance their stories.

But it is of course Tharp's choreography that brings the show to life. The dancers, fine athletes all, leap off the stage and into our hearts. We care about these people even though we never hear them speak. They quickly assume personalities and we root for them to overcome any obstacles to their love. They are mostly the dancers from the Broadway production and are very welcome here in Las vegas.

Sinatra's music always seemed to me to be intensely personal, as if he was telling us about himself and his experiences and that is why, I believe, it is still relevant today. His estate has provided master recordings for the show so that, for example, the version of Witchcraft is not the same as the one that was such a hit for him. Thus, even familiar music that was around before most of the audience was born, takes on a freshness. Then, again, whenever Frank Sinatra sang it was a fresh experience….he and his music never got old.

Perhaps that is one reason why Twyla Tharp is attracted to his work. In 1982 her ballet Nine Sinatra Songs debuted and it continues to be performed today. With Sinatra Dance With Me Tharp has produced a show that simply exudes love and warmth, a perfect-for-the-season work that is festive, romantic, memory- and thought-provoking.

Each piece of music can be greeted like an old friend. Yes, we often hear My Way and New York, New York, but they're always good to hear. The other songs whether they are strangers we're first meeting or Old Acquaintances that are paying us a pleasant surprise visit - You Make Me Feel so Young, That's Life, One For My Baby, The Way You Look Tonight, I'm Gonna Live 'Til I Die, among them - are most welcome.

Bathed in soft pinky-violet bar lighting designed by Donald Holder, James Youmans set is beautiful. And, at the end, as a portrait of Sinatra in lights comes up, you can feel the audience emotion. The standing ovation given at the end was as much for Frank Sinatra as it was for the people involved in this production.

Sinatra Dance With Me is playing now through January 29.

Tickets are $89 and $69 and are available here: https://boxoffice.wynnlasvegas.com/sinatra_dancewithme.html

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