RAT PACK
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Irish Tour 2010
S T R I C T L Y . . .
Everybody Loves Somebody…and we ALL loved Frank, Sammy and Dean. No surnames needed. Kings of Cool….. High Priests of Hip, Sultans of Swing …Class in a Glass, a trio of true believers in having a FABULOUS time, everyone welcome.
With its full West End cast, a top class 14 piece band ‘Strictly: The Rat Pack’ brings you all the unmissable glitz, glamour, sass and swing of Las Vegas in its heyday.
Strictly – The Rat Pack is a glorious celebration of their legacy of Living it Big– Booze, Babes, Bright Lights and to heck with tomorrow. It’s a toast to their easy sophistication , the way they loved and laughed at life and to the ‘everything is possible’ promise they breathed into their music.
Fly Me To The Moon, That Old Black Magic, Mr Bojangles… Strangers in the Night….You’re Nobody Until Somebody Loves You…songs your heart never forgets.
With its West End cast, a top class 14 piece big band ‘Strictly: The Rat Pack’ brings you all the unmissable glitz, glamour, sass and swing of Las Vegas in its heyday.
A B O U T T H E S H O W
Frank, Sammy and Dean first performed together in the 1960 “Summit of the Sands” at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas where they stayed during the filming of Ocean’s Eleven.
The rest of that decade is musical history with fans from all over America flooding into Las Vegas for a taste of the trio’s magic. Frank had taken over as leader of the Rat Pack (basically a group of drinking buddies) from Humphrey Bogart after his death – it was Bogart’s wife Lauren Bacall who gave the group its name declaring, after a particularly heavy night, “You look like a goddamned rat pack!”
Frank then added film stars Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford to the gang. The five developed an easy, upbeat entertainment style – mixing song, dance and self-mocking, ad-libbed comedy – which became a Las Vegas trademark and played a huge part in the city’s rise in popularity.
The five would appear all together or in various combinations, but it was the trio of Frank, Dean and Sammy who really carried the show and became The Rat Pack we think of today and whose legacy we continue to celebrate.
T H E C A S T
Louis Hoover | Frank
In 1999, Louis put together the musical “The Rat Pack” which played to packed houses in London’s West End for three and a half years.
Starring in the lead role of Frank Sinatra, Louis travelled through Europe and the US with the touring version for several years.
Louis grew up in Willesden in North London and first heard Sinatra sing when he came across one of his records in his big sister’s bedroom in the 1960s. He admits that, until then, he had thought the star was just an actor. But swing was now, well and truly, in his life and the Sinatra style was beginning to hugely influence his own singing.
He made his parents take him to see Frank in concert three times and he already had a hint of his destiny. In the 1980s Louis went to stage school planning a career as a stand-up comedian, took on some TV drama roles and then realised music was his first love. He joined the pop group “Wall Street Crash”, who went on to have 11 hit albums and a number one hit in the US. But he realised swing and jazz would always be his first love and took his fate in his own hands by putting together his show “Salute to Sinatra”, touring the U.K. and Ireland. Soon he was selling out venues like the London Palladium and the Royal Albert Hall.
Mark Halliday | Dean
Mark has appeared in a number of shows and TV commercials. He toured with Alvin Stardust in the musical Rock Hard and has played both Darren and Robbie in two separate tours of Girls Night Out.
He renewed his acquaintance with the Theatre Royal, Lincoln, in their production of Aspects of Love in the role of Hugo, and understudied the role of Alex. The UK Tour of Spend, Spend , Spend followed, in which he understudied and played the lead role of ‘Keith.’
Mark spent two years in the States creating the role of Hades in Disney’s new musical Hercules. He also created the role of bumbling magician ‘Morty’ in Morty the Magnificent, in which he learned how to perform real magic. Following this, Mark was the romantic lead, ‘King Marchan,’ in the European premiere of Victor /Victoria at the Bridewell Theatre.
Mark has appeared extensively throughout the UK, Europe and USA as Dean Martin in the Rat Pack Live From Las Vegas.
Ashley Cambell | Sammy
Ashley trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School and, while there, appeared in Carousel at the Royal National Theatre and Carmen Jones at the Old Vic.
At 16 he went to the Arts Educational Schools London, graduating with the Ned Sherrin Award for the Most Outstanding All Round Performance in musical theatre.
His most recent theatre credits include– Mad Matty in Jack and The Beanstalk at The Barbican, Sammy Davis Jnr. in The Rat Pack Livefrom Las Vegas (UK, European, American tours) Betty Boo in High Heel Parrot Fish (Theatre Royal Stratford East). Wilson in the Joe Orton play The Ruffian on the Stair (Barons Court). Fame the musical (UK tour and West End) and the Shakespeare series, from Bard 2 Verse on BBC3 with Anthony Head and Ricky Tomlinson.
TV credits include: CK in Ultimate Force (ITV), Adam in William and Mary (ITV) and Luke Parker in Holby City (BBC).
D A T E S
Irish Tour May / June 2010 – Check back for dates