Ridgefield Playhouse Welcomes Paul Anka May 15

After two previously sold out shows, Paul Anka returns to The Ridgefield Playhouse stage with a new show - Anka Sings Sinatra: His Songs, My Songs, My Way - on Wednesday, May 15th at 8pm. "The Anka Sings Sinatra tour will honor a great artist who has influenced me more than anyone else throughout my career, Frank Sinatra," explains Anka. "It will also feature the hits that have spanned my career on this 60th anniversary year. It will be a night filled with his songs, my songs, my way!" This show includes Anka favorites "Diana," "Puppy Love," "Put Your Head on My Shoulder," as well as some of his personal favorite Sinatra classics such as "My Way," "Fly Me to the Moon," "New York, NY," and more! Join us in the lobby before the show for a cocktail party featuring a wine tasting by Pera Wines and appetizers prepared by the Culinary Chefs of Atria Senior Living, and bid on custom engraved bottles of Jack Daniel's Sinatra Select Tennessee Whiskey courtesy of ReserveBar! This show is part of the Ridgefield Magazine's Broadway & Cabaret Series and Pepsi Rock Series powered by Xfinity with support from Atria Senior Living, Pera Wines & ReserveBar. Check out the BMW on display the night of the show, courtesy of BMW of Ridgefield! Visit GALLO (5 Grove St, Ridgefield) for dinner before the show and get a free glass of house wine with your entrée when you present your tickets!

Paul Anka has been composing and performing pop music since he debuted with the single "I Confess" at the young age of 15 in 1956. During his long career, Anka has released more than 25 studio albums and dozens of singles. He also appeared in several films to capitalize on his teen idol status in the '50s and '60s, including a few dramatic roles in such productions as "The Longest Day" and "Look in Any Window." Unlike most young pop stars, Anka was a talented songwriter who wrote or co-wrote many of his hit songs. Paul Anka's credits include the theme from "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" -- reworked in 1962 from a song Anka wrote earlier called "Toot Sweet"; it had been rewritten with lyrics and recorded by Annette Funicello in 1959 as "It's Really Love." Anka composed Tom Jones' biggest hit record, "She's a Lady," and wrote the English lyrics to "My Way," Frank Sinatra's signature song (originally the French song "Comme d'habitude").

Not one to rest on his laurels, Anka's two most recent albums - Rock Swings and now Classic Songs, My Way - ingeniously featured songs originally created by some of the biggest rock performers of the day - as well as other established artists across several genres. The twist: Paul Anka did the songs 'his way.' His goal: "taking great songs and reworking them so they're natural for me." With the help of his five daughters, Anka spent months researching music from the '80s and '90s, trying to find the songs that would work in the radical new context he proposed. The songs that made the cut included Bon Jovi's "It's My Life," Lionel Richie's "Hello" and Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven." Even more dramatic were his transformations of "Wonderwall" by Oasis, "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

The Chicago Tribune raves about this tour: "(His) ability to seize and hold a stage only seems to deepen with the passage of time...it was evident that Anka was playing the room as a virtuoso plays a fiddle and relishing every minute of it."

For tickets ($150) call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.

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