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I’m enjoying these attempts of putting Frank … A Musical Journey into blog form, living each moment, reliving every emotion and trying to give the reader a glimpse into the experience that is this monumental Las Vegas show. The combination of song and narration deliver the greatest Sinatra experience on stage.
It’s no coincidence that the Chairman of the Board’s songs have love as a central theme – the man was fuelled by a seemingly unquenchable thirst for it, which strains the strongest of relationships. Nancy captured his heart first, getting him to the alter in 1939, but those ravenous urges damaged their marriage until it finally broke apart for good in 1951 when he couldn’t be without actress Ava Gardner.
Gardner’s rising stardom and the fall of Frank’s career combined with their intense jealousies to create an impossible situation for a stable partnership and the roller coaster ride essentially ended with their separation in 1953. What a ride it must have been, just last week Shirley Jones said the reason Frank left the role of Billy Bigelow in the movie Carousel because of a jealous threat from Gardner who was filming Mogambo with Clark Gable on the other side of the world. I feel the emotion of this moment in The Voice’s life is captured wonderfully by the song You and Me, as he fell into despair.
You can’t keep a man like Ol’ Blue Eyes down for long though. He won an Oscar for his role in From Here to Eternity and signed a recording contract with Capitol Records – he was back on top of the world with choice movie roles and a reinvented music career, which I celebrate by singing I’ve Got the World on a String. I think it’s the perfect choice for such a dramatic upturn in his life.
Of course, Las Vegas rose to be a world-class city under the tutorage of Sinatra and the Rat Pack, as they created an absolutely unprecedented, timeless style emulated by the pop stars of today with hopes of following Frank’s path for success. My song choice for this was none other than Luck Be a Lady, but luck had little to do with the achievements of this man.
I hope I’ve whetted your appetite for information about Frank … A Musical Journey. Check out the demo and watch for more coming very soon!