Friday, Aug. 10, 2001 | 9:30 a.m.
"Ol' Blue Eyes, the Ultimate Tribute" at the New Frontier showroom stars Jed Profeta as Frank Sinatra, with guest appearances by Johnny Edwards as Dean Martin and Justin Shandor as Elvis Presley during the course of the 65-minute production. Shandor also appears as Elvis daily at the Elvis-A-Rama museum.
Production values are minimal but adequate. Profeta sings in his own voice but with a nice Sinatra-type approach against pre-taped instrumental versions of classic songs from Sinatra's repertoire. Edwards and Shandor also work with pre-taped orchestral backgrounds. There is an overlong offstage narrative at the start, relating Sinatra's history as a performer.
The song sequence at the performance we caught started with Profeta in a white tux jacket singing "Got the World on a String," "They Can't Take That Away from Me," and "You're Learning the Blues." At that point, he started to sing "That's Amore" and was interrupted by Edwards as Dino, who joined him in a duet.
Edwards took over for a rendition of "Everybody Needs Somebody Sometime," and then Profeta returned for some typical Sinatra-Martin banter, which could be strengthened to make it an even more effective segment.
Profeta, in a suit, sang "Come Fly with Me," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "The Lady Is a Tramp," and "One for My Baby and One More for the Road."
Shandor (as Elvis) joined Profeta for an interesting turn where, as a duet, Profeta sang "Love Me Tender" while Shandor sang "Witchcraft" -- a show highlight. Profeta left the stage again as Shandor lit up the crowd with "Don't Be Cruel" and "Treat Me Nice."
Profeta in a third costume change took it from there with "My Kind of Town, "Fly Me to the Moon," "Luck Be a Lady," "That's Life," "The Way You Look Tonight," "My Way," and "New York, New York." He was much more effective in the second half, especially following the audience response to Shandor's solo spot.
There was a goodly house at the show we attended. Comparisons with "The Rat Pack Is Back" are inevitable, but worthless. Each show is quite different; each is worth its ticket cost.
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