In 1971, singer Frank Sinatra was seriously considering retirement. He had survived Elvis and the rock and roll 1950s. He had survived the Beatles and the British Invasion of the 1960s. But the Hard Rock of the early 1970s have him stymied. He has gathered a group of his celebrity friends—Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, Dean Martin, Gina Lollobrigida and more—in the intimate confines of the Purple Room in Palm Springs. With a full bottle of Jack Daniels, a large quantity of ice cubes and an accompanist (Bill Evans) at the piano, Frank reminisces about his life and career for an hour. That is the gist of Richard Shelton’s Sinatra: Raw on the Broadwater MainStage at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. It’s a heartfelt, sincere tribute to the man and the legend.
Shelton does not try to impersonate Sinatra; rather he gives us the essence of the man. He covers his career from his beginning with the Tommy Dorsey Band in 1939 through the bobbysoxer frenzy he caused in the 1940s, to his Academy Award win and revitalization of his career in the 1950s. He details the highs and lows of his involvement with the love of his life—Ava Gardner. He rails against racial prejudice highlighting his civil rights activities and he rails against the inferences of his mob connections. And he sings—some of his classic Saloon Songs like “One For My Baby” as well as his Grammy-winning “It Was a Very Good Year”. And of course, he closes with “My Way”. Shelton does it his way and Frank would be very proud.
A few bits of trivia. It was Lauren Bacall who named Sinatra, Martin, Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop and Sammy Davis, Jr. The Rat Pack when she had to put up with them hanging out at her at Bogie’s home in the mid 1950s. If Sinatra had retired in 1971, he would not have recorded his versions of “Send in the Clowns”, “New York, New York”, and other songs he put his classic touch on until his actual retirement in 1995.
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/9679