Best Of The Best Release
TV ALERT!
Today’s release of
Sinatra: Best of the Best will be covered on
‘Entertainment Tonight’ tonight (Nov 15th.)
In LA, ‘ET’ airs weeknights at 7pm on CBS 2 and at 11:30pm on KCAL 9
The release is also included in the ‘New Music Tuesday’
slideshow on
ET’s site.
‘SINATRA: BEST OF THE BEST’
NEW COLLECTION BRINGS THE CHAIRMAN’S ICONIC RECORDINGS WITH CAPITOL AND REPRISE TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER
Single-Disc Features 23 Sinatra All-Time Favorites
Deluxe 2-CD Adds Out-of-Print Concert Recording
Order Single CD Edition Here
Order Deluxe 2CD Edition Here
Exclusive Frank Sinatra Broadcast
Tune in for an exclusive broadcast as
Frank Sinatra Jr. walks SiriusXM listeners through selections from the new compilation album,
Sinatra: Best of the Best, featuring many legendary performances by his father. Frank Jr., who penned the album's track notes, provides intimate memories and consummate knowledge of his father's studio sessions and delivers an intriguing, entertaining hour, which can be heard only on Siriusly Sinatra (channel 71).
Come Fly Away LA Times Review
If Beyoncé isn't already at the Pantages taking notes, she should be. No choreographer alive knows more about getting pop songs on their feet than Twyla Tharp -- and just about everything she knows is on view in “Come Fly Away,” the full-evening salute to the vocals of Frank Sinatra that opened Tuesday for a two-week run.
In various forms, under various titles, this show has been around since 2009. The Pantages version is a half-hour shorter than the 2010 Broadway edition, with seven songs, a dancer, an onstage vocalist and an intermission jettisoned for the tour. At a lean 80 minutes, it charts the formation and rivalries of four couples in a nightclub that sports a sensational live band upstage.
Under the supervision of Dave Pierce, that band artfully supplements and often dominates the classic arrangements and orchestrations of Sinatra's recordings. What's more, Peter McBoyle's sound design makes Sinatra's voice seem a living entity -- as if he's offstage, mike in hand.
Tharp has been choreographing to Sinatra for more than 30 years, and “Come Fly Away” contains quotations from her previous creations for modern dance and ballet. But it also differs structurally: Instead of one showpiece duet following another, she opts for a fluid, unpredictable format in which new dancers continually invade and heighten other dancers' specialties. Moreover, the movement style here relies less on ballroom dancing than ballet technique -- with experimental lifts even more prominent than in Tharp's 2002 Billy Joel musical “Movin' Out.”
Her 14 dancers define that style with spectacular authority. It's the way we'd all dance at parties -- if we were young gods. But there's a major caveat: Tharp has never told stories or shaped characters with distinction, so her eight leads are all playing stereotypes, forever reiterating a very limited range of expression and seldom getting deeper than the steps.
The triumphant exception is Cody Green as Sid, passionately dancing out his demons and making every move unforgettable. By the highest Tharpian standards -- Baryshnikov in “Sinatra Suite,” Tom Rawe in “Nine Sinatra Songs” -- this is a great performance.
As it always has since 1976, the flamboyant apache duet to “That's Life” flattens the audience, and Marceea Moreno and Martin Harvey's faultless execution lives up to expectations. Ron Todorowski spices his cute-kid act with amazing flips, Meredith Miles poses statuesquely in red satin, and the other principals (Mallauri Esquibel, Marielys Molina and Matthew Stockwell Dibble) punch out virtuoso steps with aggressive expertise.
But be advised: Lead roles in the show are double-cast, with individual dancers appearing in only three-to-five performances per week. So what you'll find throughout the run will often differ from the opening-night lineup.
Glitzy scenery by James Youmans and rather cheesy costumes by Katherine Roth make "Come Fly Away” seem to exist in a lurid '70s purgatory. But Donald Holder knows how to light dancers for maximum effect.
And when the four lead males explode into a delirious, no-holds-barred challenge-dance to “I'm Gonna Live 'Til I Die” (with additional contributions from the corps), it makes no difference whatsoever where they are or what they're wearing.
-- Lewis Segal
Los Angeles Times
“Come Fly Away,” Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Through Nov. 6. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 pm. Saturdays, 2 and 8 pm. Sundays, 1 and 6:30 pm. $25-$105. (800) 982-2787 or
www.broadwayla.org. Also: Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Jan. 31-Feb. 5. $20 to $80. (714) 556-2787 or
www.scfta.org. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.
Photos: "Come Fly Away" couples, from top, Mallauri Esquibel and Ron Todorowski, Marceea Moreno and Martin Harvey, Meredith Miles and Cody Green. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times
Come Fly Away Pantages Premiere
The new Twyla Tharp Musical
COME FLY AWAY Featuring the vocals of Frank Sinatra Premieres at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre Direct From Broadway and Las Vegas
October 25 – November 6, 2011 • 2 Weeks Only!
STARS FROM THE WORLDS OF MUSIC, DANCE, HOLLYWOOD AND TV ARRIVE ON THE RED CARPET TO CELEBRATE THE LOS ANGELES PREMIERE OF
COME FLY AWAY
Buy Theater Tickets Here
The new Broadway musical
COME FLY AWAY makes its L.A. Premiere at the Pantages Theatre direct from Broadway and Las Vegas!
COME FLY AWAY will play the Pantages for two weeks only, October 25 – November 6, 2011.
WHO
Over 50 celebrities confirmed to attend. Sisters
Tina and Nancy Sinatra will walk the red carpet and pose for still photographers as well as speak with television news crews about the L.A. Premiere of
COME FLY AWAY and their father Frank Sinatra.
WHEN
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25TH 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM: RED CARPET SHOW ARRIVALS
WHERE
PANTAGES THEATRE, 6233 Hollywood Blvd (just east of Vine St.)
ABOUT THE SHOW
COME FLY AWAY is the new Broadway musical that brings together the legendary vocals of FRANK SINATRA and the creative vision of Tony Award-winner TWYLA THARP (Movin' Out). This one-of-a-kind experience combines the seductive vocals of "Ol' Blue Eyes" with the sizzling sound of a live on-stage big band and the visceral thrill of Tharp's choreography. As 14 of the world's best dancers tell the story of four couples falling in and out of love, you will experience the exhilaration of a first kiss, the excitement of a first dance, and the bittersweet moments of a first good-bye in a world of sparkling romance and astonishing beauty.
COME FLY AWAY features a host of beloved Sinatra classics, including "Fly Me to the Moon," "My Way," "New York, New York" and "Witchcraft."
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
Tickets are available at
www.BroadwayLA.org or by calling 1-800-982-ARTS(2787), as well as at the Pantages Box Office (6233 Hollywood Blvd) and all Ticketmaster Outlets. Performances are Tue-Fri at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm and Sundays at 1pm & 6:30pm. Recommended for Ages 13 and up (Everyone must have a ticket; children under 5 will not be admitted to the theatre) Running Time: 80 minutes with no intermission.
PRESS COVERAGE
Los Angeles Times – Sunday, October 23, 2011
First person account by Holley Farmer
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-come-fly-dancer-20111023,0,2899727.story
Los Angeles Daily News – Sunday, October 23, 2011
Interview with Twyla Tharp
http://www.dailynews.com/lalife/ci_19171610
Ventura County Star – Friday, October 21, 2011
Interview with Cody Green and Laurie Kanyok
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/oct/21/twyla-tharp-goes-from-the-piano-man-to-ol-blue/
Good Day LA (FOX-TV - #1 Morning News) – Monday, October 24, 2011
Live performance of “I Like to Lead When I Dance” with Meredith & Cody
In the 9 am hour
Hollywood Reporter – Thursday, October 27, 2011
Interview with Twyla Tharp
KTLA Morning News (#2 Morning News) – Tuesday, November 1, 2011
One hour live remote from 7a – 8 am, performance TBD
Frank Sinatra
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Chip says:
Nov 19, 2011 8:43 AM
OK--the deluxe box is near impossible to open! Took two of use and some slender kitchen knives to get this thing open. Yes, the contents are a real treat, postcards and live disc, but the box detracts from a otherwise great compilation..