By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO–It’s not that I haven’t seen this show, Come Fly Away before, because I have. It’s not that I don’t love Frank Sinatra. I do love his voice. It’s because of the above-mentioned Sinatra voice and Twyla Tharp’s absolutely stunning choreography that I love this show.
Once in Vegas was not enough. Even though it was called Sinatra Dance With Me, if it looks like the same show, dances like the same show and swings like the same show, call it what you will, it is the same show but with different dancers. That’s not unusual since even in this current rendering the cast alternates nightly because of the physicality of the performances and performers.
Call me on old fogy or a sentimental drooler, maybe I am. But you should have seen the couple in front of me swaying to some of the music at some points and snuggling into each other during other selections. I think they call that shared memories. They were not twenty or thirty or forty something year olds.
Come Fly Away is Twyla Tharp’s musical-dance tribute to Frank Sinatra, Chairman of the Board, who did it his way and did it very well thank you. Tharp conceived, choreographed and directed this well-oiled machine now playing at the San Diego Civic Theatre downtown through Nov. 13th. It had its world premiere at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta.
The show opened on Broadway at the Marques Theatre in 2009/10. At first it was called Come Fly With Me, and as mentioned in Vegas, Sinatra Dance With Me, now it’s just Come Fly Away. The total running time is eighty minutes of dazzling entertainment with twenty-five or so of Sinatra’s most popular and recognizable tunes sung by the Man himself and piped into the sound system. With the help of David Pierce’s additional orchestrations, that actually sounded just fine in the cavernous Civic Theatre. The only one missing was, well…Sinatra.
Tharp’s choreography; jazz, ballet, swing and ballroom along with a talented crew of fourteen dancers actually spotlight four distinct couples who, over the course of the evening, dance to a script loosely showing them falling in and out of love and telling their stories through dance.
One may or may not follow along; it does get cloudy. It doesn’t follow a story line like her tribute to Billy Joel in Movin’ Out. It’s more dance sequence and less story but between Katherine Roth’s fitting costumes and the nightclub setting (James Youmans) that is used as a prop in many of the numbers strikingly illuminated with Donald Holders lighting design, the show more than highlights Tharp’s creativity.
The crew, the night I saw it included Ramona Kelly as Betsy the gal who ultimately falls head over heels (literally) for Marty. Christopher Vo is Marty a super athlete and very physical dancer. He’s the waiter in the bar. Cody Green, is solid as Sid, Ashley Blair Fitzgerald is stunning as Kate. She and Martin Harvey are the star-crossed lovers, Kate and Hank who fit together like hand and glove. They also dance beautifully together. Marielys Molina is Slim. She was also in the Vegas show as Kate. Meredith Miles is Babe and Matthew Stockwell Dibble is Chanos. All deserved a standing ovation, which they got!
It didn’t hurt either that the show closed with a powerful “ My Way” and “New York, New York”. Other works included were “Stardust”, “Let’s Fall in Love”, “Pick Yourself Up”, “The Way You Look Tonight/My Funny Valentine”, “Let’s Face The Music and Dance” and “One For My Baby”.
Between Sinatra singing for the better part of eighty minutes, Tharp’s non-stop choreography and a pretty amazing P.J. Perry’s sax solo, this show has something for everyone.
For me it was one of those ‘Witchcraft’ moments that I can still hear and see.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: through Nov. 13th
Organization: Broadway/ San Diego
Phone: 619-570-1100
Production Type: Dance/Musical Tribute
Where: 3rd & B Street, Downtown
Ticket Prices: check here:www.ticketmaster.com
Web: broadwaysd.com
Venue: Civic Theatre
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Davis is a San Diego-based theatre criktic. She may be contacted at carol.davis@sdjewishworld.com