I think I've got "That Holiday Feeling" now!

     I've never understood the demise of the Bing Crosby/Perry Como/Andy Williams-type of Christmas special.  They were special (the only time all year you'd see them); they were cost-effective (a few wintry sets with fake snow and lots of candles), and they were straightforward (a hour of singing songs of the season).  They always happened in December (no matter how early Thanksgiving came!), they manged to evoke Christmas memories from kids from one to 92 (whether they had memories to evoke or not), and, most importantly of all, they signaled that Christmas was indeed coming.
      Well, just that signal has been sent by Playhouse on Park with their cabaret That Holiday Feeling that closed this afternoon.  Directed and choreographed by Darlene Zoller, with musical direction by Colin Britt, the show intentionally and successfully brought back a flood of memories of my own watching Bing and Perry and Andy with my parents in the 60s and 70s.  (Confession: I always wanted to be Nathaniel Crosby).
     Singing a wonderful collection of familiar and not-so familiar songs, the talented cast of nine performers manged to be sentimental and funny and lyrical and sweet without ever becoming saccharine (or succumbing to the times' seemingly inescapable need for irony).
          Highlights:
               Kevin Barlowski's funny "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"
               Dante Jeanfelix's energized "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"
               Jenna Levitt's "River" (a song new to me, and, while not a new favorite, sung wonderfully)  
               Rick Fountain's mousy performance of "Rockin' Around the Christmas 'Cheese'" (despite not being able to sing most of his other numbers due to laryngitis)
               the male quartet of Kevin, Dante, Rick and Colin on the very witty pseudo-union-protest song "Elf's Lament"
and my personal favorite of the afternoon
          Becky LaBombard's "Christmas Stays the Same" (another song new to me but one that captured the show's ethos so perfectly and delivered with such warm sincerity that I wanted it to be reprised at program's end instead of the title song).
     These favorites should in no way suggest that remaining cast members (Carolyn Bell, Carolyn Cumming, Hillary Ekwall, and Victoria Thornsbury) somehow didn't deliver on such winning tunes as "Santa Baby," "Man Wanted," "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, and "I'll be Home for Christmas, respectively, but, if every number's a highlight, then none is, of course.
     In sum: from start to finish, my younger daughter and I enjoyed ourselves tremendously and wished, as we were leaving the theater, that it had been snowing.  Bing, after all, would have wanted it that way.
     Here's one vote in favor of a Playhouse on Park cabaret becomes a holiday tradition.      

Top 13 things I learned from Vic Damone's autobiography, "Singing Was The Easy Part" (SPOILER ALERT!)

13. Larry King can't write a good foreword to save his life.

12. When playing golf with Perry Como, bring quarters because
a) you will play a quarter a hole,
b) he won't play you without seeing your quarters, and
c) he'll lose no more than two holes.

11. Vic converted from Catholicism to Baha'i

10. The suggestion that he marry his present wife, Rhona, one of the co-founders of "Jones New York," was made by her live-in companion/business partner of 25 years --- although I'm unsure if that is a recommendation one should give added weight or consider tainted.

9. Legendary golfer Ben Hogan, who "categorically" never gave tips on golf tips to anybody, once muttered when passing Vic on the practice tee, "Turn, goddamnit. Turn."

8. Vic hung up on Frank Sinatra twice.

7. Sinatra's bodyguard, sent by his boss, stopped Vic from killing the lover of his first wife, Italian actress Pier Angeli, offering the sage advice, "Kill her...him you should send roses to" (and find how how he managed to do it).

6. He and Diahann Carroll obviously weren't married too long...everyone's favorite "Julia" only merits about three pages in the whole book (?!).

5. Both Burt Bacharach and John "Star Wars" Williams were Vic's accompanist over the years.

4. Mike Douglas owed his talk show career to Vic.

3. If, with a naked woman, you enter a sauna occupied by the Rat Pack, the naked Frank and Sammy will run out "like sacred rabbits" to cover themselves, and Dean will just sit there saying "Beautiful, just beautiful..."

2. On a date with Ava Gardner, you're going to drink and swear (and have a helluva time), even if you never drink and swear any other time.

1. NEVER leave your mob-daughter-princess-of-a-fiancee alone with your mother in the kitchen of your parents' house, lest
a) your mother start recommending dishes you might enjoy after you marry,
b) your fiancee take offense at the idea that she would have to cook at all,
c) your fiancee start calling your mother all sorts of names,
d) you break off the engagenment, and
e) you almost get thrown out of a NY hotel window by her mobster father.


Final thoughts:

I will no longer use my standard "There are no good Vic Damone stories" punchline when explaining why there are so many Sinatra/Mob stories, compared to everyone else, even though all those entertainers were singing in the same mob-run clubs as Frank.

The book is a fun, quick read that, while not especially well written, clearly portrays the character of the man and the tenor of his life and career.

I'm glad I read it.

Inauguration Day 2009 Playlist

On "Frank, Gil, and Friends" today on WFCS 107.7 FM New Britain/Hartford, we saluted the new president with a "Sea-to-Shining Sea" musical celebration plus the "Obama Suite" medley.

Here's the state/city/region play list:

Maine John Linnell
Moonlight in Vermont Frank Sinatra
Weekend in New England Barry Manilow
Spring in Manhattan Tony Bennett
Lullaby of Broadway Bing Crosby
Delaware Perry Como
Georgia on My Mind Matt Monro
Peachtree Street Frank Sinatra and Rosemary Clooney
Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve Cast of 1776
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Bing Crosby
You're in Kentucky Rosemary Clooney
(Back Home Again in) Indiana Bobby Darin and Johnny Mercer
Stars Fell on Alabama Frank Sinatra
My Kind of Town Frank Sinatra
Moonlight Mississippi (A Whistlestop Town) Rosemary Clooney
St. Louis Blues Jo Stafford
Natchez Trace Dusty Springfield
Way Down Yonder in New Orleans Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong
Houston Dean Martin
East of the Rockies Bobby Darin and Johnny Mercer
Shenandoah (Across the Wide Missouri) Bing Crosby
By the Time I Get to Phoenix Frank Sinatra
Wedding Vows in Vegas Was (not Was) with Frank Sinatra Jr.
San Fernando Valley Frank Sinatra
City of the Angels Tony Bennett
California Frank Sinatra

The Obama Suite

Yes, I Can Sammy Davis Jr
Blue Hawaii Frank Sinatra
Thin Man Boogie Pat Longo and his Big Band
Chicago Tony Bennett and Count basie
The Father of Girls Perry Como
Walking Happy Frank Sinatra Jr.
We're Gonna Change the World Matt Monro