In my mother’s household, there is only one “Frank.”
When my mother spoke of Frank, there was never any doubt as to who she meant. Ol’ Blue Eyes. The Sultan of Swoon.
The Chairman of the Board. The Voice. I speak, of course, of Francis Albert Sinatra. The one. The only. The inimitable, incomparable, irreplaceable Frank.
Little wonder I learned to love vintage movies at an early age, having been exposed to the likes of From Here to Eternity, Ocean’s Eleven, Tony Rome and especially Von Ryan’s Express when I was just a wee lad. (I managed to avoid Dirty Dingus Magee… at least for a while.)
When I was 12 years old, not nearly old enough to see an R-rated movie by myself, she took me to see The First Deadly Sin because, she said, “It’s Frank.” I needed to see Frank on the big screen, she decided, and I also think that she needed to see him back on the big screen. He hadn’t done a theatrical feature in 10 years.
Of course, Frank’s movies were only a small part of the magic. Inarguably one of the most popular and beloved (and, yes, controversial) entertainers of the 20 th century, his is a star that will never dim.
When Frank “retired” in 1971, my mother went to that concert. When Frank “un-retired” in 1973, she went to that concert, too. She blew my stepfather’s mind in the early ’80s when they went to Frank’s show in Atlantic City and she got so excited during one of Frank’s numbers that she stood up in jubilation and upset a table filled with drinks. (Others at that table included Joan Rivers, Mel Allen, Jilly Rizzo and Barbara Sinatra, to give you an idea how calamitous the situation was. My stepfather still clutches his chest remembering the long drive home, especially every time a dark sedan appeared in the rearview mirror.)
Of course, Frank left us to sing with the angels in 1998. “We could only have him so long,” my mother said. “We couldn’t have him forever.”
Nevertheless, the music and the legend and the legacy live on — and Winston-Salem’s Theatre Alliance is providing its own brand of Frank holiday cheer with its production of Christmas My Way: A Sinatra Holiday Bash, opening Friday, Dec. 11.
As Frank himself might have said:
“Well, if that title doesn’t say it all….”
Conceived by David Grapes and Todd Olson (with book by Olson), the team that created the successful musical revue My Way, this coo-coo Christmas extravaganza boasts no less than 40 Sinatra standards (and didn’t Frank make every song a standard?) as performed by a talented quartet, including “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “Love and Marriage,” “Fly Me to the Moon” and “New York, New York.” In the spirit of the season, there are also such holiday-themed favorites as “Christmas Memories, Winter Wonderland,” “The Christmas Song,” “Mistletoe and Holly” and many others.
Showtimes are 8 p.m. Fridays (Dec.11 and 18), 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday (Dec. 19 only), 2 p.m. Sundays (Dec. 13 and 20), 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday (Dec. 21 and 22). Ticket prices range from $12 to $16, and reservations are strongly suggested.
Theatre Alliance is located at 1047 W. Northwest Blvd., Winston-Salem.
Next up for Theatre Alliance is a real change of pace: Marsha Norman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama ‘night, Mother, which opens in January.
For tickets or more information, call 336.723.7777 or see www.wstheatrealliance.org.
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Way to go, Angus! Winston-Salem’s own poet laureate, Angus MacLachlan, has been selected to receive the inaugural Alumni Recognition Award from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), of which he is a graduate twice over. MacLachlan earned a high school diploma in Visual Arts in 1975 (when he was a wee lad), followed by a BFA from the School of Drama in 1980.
Of the 20 potential recipients of the award, MacLachlan received the most votes of the 600 cast by UNCSA alumni. Nominees were chosen based on their success in their chosen fields as well as their work on behalf of the school.
The multi-talented, multi-hyphenate MacLachlan (actor/ playwright/screenwriter/producer/director) counts among his credit’s the one-man show Marginal Living, which was broadcast on UNC public television; the short film Tater Tomater, which he wrote and Phil Morrison directed, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival and later on PBS’ “American Playhouse;” and the critically acclaimed 2005 comedy/drama Junebug, which he wrote, Morrison directed and for which Amy Adams earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress. Morrison himself copped a nomination for Best First Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards.
MacLachlan was also recently seen in Ramin Bahrani’s critically acclaimed film Goodbye Solo, which was filmed in and around Winston- Salem, in which he plays one of the late-night passengers picked up by cab driver Solo (Souleymane Sy Savane). Too bad we don’t have a still of MacLachlan from the film, as it’s a memorable appearance, to say the least!
Coming in 2010 is the thriller Stone, adapted from one of his plays by MacLachlan himself and directed by John Curran. The film stars such heavyhitters as Robert De Niro and Edward Norton, with Milla Jovovich. Stone was produced by Nu Image/Millennium Films, whose founders (including Avi Lerner, Danny Dimbort and Trevor Short) all got their starts with Cannon Films, a studio about which I know plenty. I just thought I’d throw that in there.
For more information about UNCSA, the official website is the place to go: www.uncsa.edu.
