Spotlight Cabaret with Kevin Kelly
Spotlight Cabaret with Kevin Kelly
Musical Direction by Chris Leavy
Winter Park Playhouse, Winter Park FL</strong>
Dapper. That’s the best way to describe Mr. Kelly in his light grey summer weight suit and his close cropped hair. If not for the earring, he’d fit into the America Ideal any time from 1930 to 1970. That cool era lines up with the height of Frank Sinatra’s career and tonight Kelly is all Sinatra. There are a few hits (“Come Fly with Me,” “Nice and Easy”) but the best part of this show is the stuff Sinatra recorded made famous and we just forgot about, just because there was so much other material.
As Americans, we are noted for our short attention span when it comes to pop stars, but Sinatra was the exception. A crooner early on, he’s now associated with the Rat Pack and the glory days of Las Vegas. His arrangements ( and he’s how I learned what and “Armament” is) are influence d by jazz: loose syncopated rhythms, lots of brass and an orchestral sound that’s not at all like the long hairs of the 19th century. Semi-obscurities here include “On The Road to Mandalay,” “Foggy Day (in London Town),” “Love Walked In” and that Cole Porter Classic “I Get a Kick Out of You”. Like all these shows, the room is crowded and familiar, the drinks flow, and if this was actually the height of Sinatra’s career there would be a cloud of smoke from Pall Malls and Chesterfields. The air might be up to modern environmental standards, but the smoke is stilling hanging in these wonderfully rendered classics.
For more information on Winter Park Playhouse, please visit http://www.winterparkplayhouse.org
