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The Bakersfield Californian Thursday, February 17, 2011
Eye Street
Index Whiskey Flat Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Denim & Designer Delights event . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Home and Garden Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Arts Alive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Gary Myrick and the Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 The Lowdown with Matt Munoz . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Robin Trower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32-33
Editor Jennifer Self | Phone 395-7434 | e-mail jself@bakersfield.com
Swingin’ and ring-a-ding-dingin’ ‘Frank,’ ‘Dean’ and the boys: It’s the coolest ticket in town, baby BY MATT MUNOZ Bakotopia.com editor mmunoz@bakersfield.com
A
ll aboard the Vegas time machine: “The Rat Pack is Back.” Paying tribute to a bygone era, there shouldn’t be a shortage of whisky and wild times when “Frank,” “Dean,” “Sammy” and “Joey” take to the stage in Bakersfield on Wednesday. “I can remember probably hearing Sinatra for the first time when I was about 8,” said Brian Duprey, who takes on the daunting task of bringing Ol’ Blue Eyes back to the mic. “I don’t think my parents had a Sinatra record, but my mom listened to a lot of easy listening and some of his songs would come on.” Becoming a fan of the pop singer’s music as a teen, Duprey describes the Sinatra style as an almost conversational form of entertainment. “I’ve always thought of it as ‘talk singing,’ because of the way he phrased his verses. I guess as a young kid being able to emulate that style was kind of cool,” he said. Born in Rhode Island, two states away from Sinatra’s hometown of Hoboken, N.J., the 36-year-old performer says his resemblance to the pop singer was noticed early on by his mother, who encouraged her son’s particularly strong interest in music. “Like most mothers, if I showed some interest or promise in something like music, she would find a way to keep me going. I think me singing along as a kid probably sparked her interest to Sinatra, because I was probably sounding like that. I was a fan of Elvis and Neil Diamond, too. At my age, I was kind of different for liking older music and acts.”
You look just like ... Taking up stand-up comedy, Duprey’s talents eventually drew him to the West Coast and to Las Vegas in 2002. Performing in a variety of local shows, including “Legends in Concert,” his uncanny similarities to the king of crooners brought him rave reviews, and ultimately to Hollywood. Appearing on Fox TV’s “Performing As …” talent competition in 2003, Duprey wowed celebrity judges.
PHOTO COURTESY OF JAM THEATRICALS
From left, Brian Duprey as Frank Sinatra, Kenny Jones as Sammy Davis Jr., Mickey Joseph as Joey Bishop and Drew Anthony as Dean Martin appear in “The Rat Pack is Back” on Wednesday night at the Rabobank Convention Center.
‘The Rat Pack Is Back!’ When: 7 p.m. Wednesday Where: Rabobank Convention Center, 1001 Truxtun Ave. Admission: $25 to $45 plus fees Information: 852-7777 or ticketmaster.com
He didn’t win the final round, but it was enough to build his reputation as an up-and-coming celebrity impersonator. “When I first moved to Vegas I was just singing, not really trying to act or look like Frank. Although those things were there, I just had to enhance them,” Duprey said. In 1964, there wasn’t a hotter Vegas ticket than the Rat Pack at the legendary Sands Hotel. Fans would scramble for tickets to see the cabaret antics of the four artists, all at their peak. Archival footage of their shows on the web and DVD show a palpable chemistry among them as they’d sing, dance, perform comedy skits and improvise. Preceded in death by
Martin and Davis, Sinatra’s passing in 1998 was followed by Bishop’s in 2007, closing the final chapter on the beloved foursome. For Duprey and his castmates, the Pack’s archive acted as a blueprint for the revival show with a lot of room to sprinkle in their own clowning around. “The natural chemistry is just like that all the time between us onstage. And although we don’t hang around all the time, we’re always joking around. It’s very easy to work with these guys. We have a script, but we improvise sometimes when we can,” he said. Coincidentally, Duprey and Drew Anthony, who plays Martin, also happen to be best friends, just like their real-life counterparts,. “I think it was just happenstance that I’m best friends with the guy who does Dean Martin,” Duprey laughed. “When we’re looking at our lines, we think about how Frank or Dean would have said this or that.” Duprey added that another way the show stays fresh nearly 50 years after the original “Summit at the Sands” is to make the jokes
“swingin’ and ring-a-ding-dingin” — that’s Rat Pack lingo for “current,” if you catch my drift. “We try to keep the audiences laughing, that’s for sure. We cut a lot of the old humor out, the stuff that might be considered too racy. Even if we threw some of those old jokes in, it just wouldn’t even be funny anymore. We try to keep things up to date with the music, too. We added ‘New York, New York,’ to the show, which wasn’t even recorded until 1980. We take artistic liberties where we can to make the show more enjoyable.”
Ava or Mia? And in order to be the man, you should know the man. Quizzed on knowledge of Sinatra’s personal life, particularly his love of women and whiskey, Duprey fared pretty well when asked about who he thought was the late crooner’s more notorious love conquest — Mia Farrow or Ava Gardner. “Ava Gardner, because she was something that Frank couldn’t quite put his arms around. He’d have her back for a couple years, then she’d go away for a while with
some other guy. It was just that crazy madness that kept him attracted to her. And the fact that she could say whatever she wanted to him and he kind of liked that about her. Whatever she was thinking came out of her mouth. Nobody talked to Frank like that, but she did,” he said. One thing Duprey says he won’t be imitating is the amount of onstage boozing the Rat Pack became known for — although many music historians claim it was really herbal tea, not liquor. “That would be incredibly hard to do, especially drinking and smoking every day then performing. I mean, my God, I don’t care who you are. There’s no way I could do it.” Backed by a 12-piece orchestra for the show, Duprey says everyone is guaranteed a good time regardless of age or drinking preference. “Expect to be transported back to the ’60s. And even if you’re not from the time period, I think it’s just a cool vibe we put off. The sincerity of what we do always comes through and I think the audience really feels it.”