Our Sinatra
Birdland Theater, NYC, September 28, 2019
Reviewed by Ron Forman for Cabaret Scenes
Wow! What an entertaining show! I first saw Our Sinatra in 1999. Since then I have seen countless Frank Sinatra tribute shows, and many of them were quite good. But this revival of Our Sinatra featuring the original three stars—Eric Comstock, Hilary Kole, and Christopher Gines—was and is far and away the best of the lot. The three vocalists work seamlessly together, each is a wonderful singer, and Comstock’s work on piano is exemplary.
His comments are always interesting and often amusing. Kole adds a jazzy flavor to the show, and Gines emulates Sinatra’s arm and hand motions in his performance. Sinatra recorded over 1,500 songs in his career, but it seemed to me, a life-long Sinatra fan, that this show did touch just about every one of his iconic recordings
Comstock set the stage by opening with “Come Fly with Me.” The individual singers then took turns with Gines doing “I’m Not the Guy”; Kole with a soft, jazzy “Come Rain or Come Shine”; and Comstock with a swinging “Too Marvelous for Words.” There were many outstanding performances, but some especially stand out: Kole’s very dramatic “I’m a Fool to Want You”; Comstock’s “Everything Happens to Me,” including lyrics added 30 years after Sinatra first recorded it with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra; and Gines with a very powerful “Old Man River” as Sinatra performed it in the film Till the Clouds Roll By. Saloon songs were a staple of every Sinatra performance; Kole covered “Angel Eyes,” Comstock “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,” and Gines “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road).
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The highlight of this extraordinarily fast-moving show was the medley of 38 (but who is counting?) of Sinatra’s hits that flowed from one to another using key words from one song to lead into the next. The medley was filled with humorous comments; it appeared to end with “The Song Is You” but then actually closed with “Theme from New York, New York.” The evening ended with the trio of stars performing the song that Sinatra used to close his radio and television shows, “Put Your Dreams Away.”
