Las Vegas Weekly

March 24, 2010 · 3:24 PM

Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show has double duty here and in S.F.

By Robin Leach

Sandy Hackett's Rat Pack.

Photo: Luck Media

The Rat Pack producer Sandy Hackett is about to juggle two casts of his hit Strip show, and there even might be more to come as he celebrates the 50th anniversary of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Dean Martin’s collaboration. Direct from Las Vegas, Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show kicks off its national tour at San Francisco’s Marines Memorial Theater for a limited engagement starting with a gala premiere April 17. Tickets go on sale today.

We posted a story and photo gallery of the Rat Pack opening at the Sahara in December. Since then, the stars have moved up to the larger main Sahara showroom, and interest in the production continues to grow so much that Sandy also is putting the show on the road. A Broadway theatrical company wants a touring company and a New York stage show.

First up, though, is the San Francisco stop to kick off the national tour. It’s been 50 years since the original Rat Pack’s legendary Las Vegas performances at the Sands, which is the site now of The Venetian. Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show takes audiences on a journey back to the days of highballs, hijinks and Happy Hour with Frank, Sammy, Joey and Dean.

Produced by Sandy, the son of the late, great comedian and actor Buddy Hackett, and Lisa Dawn Miller, the daughter of legendary songwriter Ron Miller, it features such classics as “For Once in My Life,” “My Way” and “Mack the Knife” and stars Sandy Hackett as Joey Bishop, David DeCosta as Frank Sinatra, Doug Starks as Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Basile as Dean Martin and Lisa Dawn Miller as “Frank’s One Love.” Buddy himself is the opening scene set announcer thanks to a voiceover recorded before he died in 2003.

In a sense, the casting will be similar to Blue Man Group in that there will be more than one Rat Pack troupe, more than one Frank, Sammy, Dean and Joey. So the show remains at the Sahara and then moves across the country, with the casts rotating so that everyone gets at least a day off from the seven-nights-a-week performances.

Sandy tells me that he’ll perform in San Francisco for the first two weeks and then shuttle between the City by the Bay and our Strip, and that will probably be the pattern as he adds cities. I’m assured that the Las Vegas production is in good hands with the new cast members being added.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

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Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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