During the late 1950s and through the '60s, the "Rat Pack" defined "cool" in the biggest showrooms along the Las Vegas Strip.
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. — sometimes joined by Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop and even Shirley MacLaine — formed a loose-knit group that first called itself the Clan, a title Sinatra changed to the Rat Pack to avoid racist connotations.
Now, some four decades later, the intimate Desert Star Dinner Theater is taking on the atmosphere of a scaled-down version of a showroom in the Sands or the Riviera with a trio of local performers playing Sinatra, Martin and Davis in "The Rat Pack Remembered."
Writer-director Scott Holman, longtime artistic director at Desert Star, is tackling the role of Dean Martin, with Dan Larrinaga as Sammy Davis Jr. and newcomer Dominic Quin-Harkin as Frank Sinatra.
"You have to have three guys who really get along together," Holman said. "You need that camaraderie."
Finding the right combination wasn't all that easy. "We had a guy lined up to play Davis — and he also played the trumpet, but he was not from around here and left for another job in Reno. Musicians are different than actors.
"Then we had another guy ready to play Sinatra — a good impersonator, but he had some family problems and couldn't do the show."
Holman even went to Las Vegas, with its sizable pool of impersonators, but nothing panned out.
He had initially figured that he would play Sinatra himself, but when he couldn't find a Martin, he took over that role instead.
Larrinaga has performed in several recent Desert Star productions and also has a long list of credits with other theaters in the city. Most recently he's been in Desert Star's long-running hit, "My Big Fat Utah Wedding."
Quin-Harkin auditioned after seeing an announcement posted on the www.slcstage.com Web site. "He came in and has worked really hard," said Holman. "He's a big Sinatra fan and, even coming in at the last minute, I think he's doing a great job."
Growing the youngest of seven kids, Holman got "a really diverse background. I probably knew as much about Sinatra as I did Billy Joel. My dad thought Sammy Davis Jr. was just amazing."
This background was helpful when Holman began writing his script for "The Rat Pack Remembered." "This will be — as corny as it sounds — an actual tribute. I've written a monologue for the opening. A custodian-technician picks one person out of the audience and, using a scrapbook in his cart, notes that the showroom is closed and the hotel is being torn down, then he reminisces about the shows he's seen over the past several years.
"He points out that, most of the time, Sammy Davis Jr. was not even allowed to stay in the hotels where he played or eat in the restaurants. He had to come in through the back door. During that time, people like to focus on Sinatra's connection to the mob, but during the 1940s and '50s he was pretty outspoken on racial segregation. He would tear up contacts that didn't treat blacks like all the others."
He added that players who formed the Rat Pack were more than just guys performing together. "These were real friendships forged in unbelievably difficult times."
The trio will perform with a small combo on stage. "Ben Mayfield (musical director for all of Desert Star's productions) is a terrific jazz pianist."
Commenting on Dean Martin, Holman said, "He hardly ever sang a song right. He never sang a song from beginning to end. He once told a woman in one of his audiences that if she wanted to hear the songs right, she should listen to the albums."
Holman noted that "impersonations are so subjective. When you bring that experience in front of audience, you can bring out the personality, then they'll start looking more like the person you're replicating."
He's also excited about exposing audiences to "the music and lyrics of that era — there is such a rich history. These were guys who never showed up in anything less than finely tailored suits. And they were so good at so many things. Sammy Davis Jr. was a big hit on Broadway."
Desert Star's owner-producer Mike Todd commented last week that "The Rat Pack" is very different from most shows his customers have become used to. It's not "musical melodrama," but a musical revue.
Through the next two weeks, "The Rat Pack Remembered" will play in repertory with "My Big Fat Utah Wedding," which is closing Nov. 19 after a record-breaking 75-week run.
That next weekend, Nov. 25, the Rat Pack show will be slightly reconfigured into a holiday production entitled "The Rat Pack Celebrates Christmas," playing in repertory through the end of the year with "Home for the Holidays."
After the first of the year, "The Rat Pack Remembered" will resume for an open-ended run.
Dates and show times vary. There will be additional performances during the holidays to accommodate company dinners and other large groups.
If you go
What: "The Rat Pack Remembered"
Where: Desert Star Dinner Theater, 4861 S. State, Murray
When: Through Nov. 25 (resumes in January)
How much: $26.99-$29.99
Phone: 266-2600
Web site: www.desertstar.biz
E-mail: ivan@desnews.com