"The Rat Pack Lounge"
Meadow Brook Theatre
Rochester, Mich.
April 26, 2025
The thing about jukebox musicals – where all the music comes from pre-existing songs – is your enjoyment level of the show is generally based on your original affinity for the source material. These shows tend to be plot-light, a retroactive attempt to string together popular songs to create a story to experience them in a new way. James Hindman and Ray Roderick’s “The Rat Pack Lounge” – performing at Meadow Brook Hall through May 18 – pretty much fits that bill. In this case, the focus is on music from, appropriately, “The Rat Pack,” consisting of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin. The show features 30 of the singers’ greatest hits during a single-act, 95-minute performance, directed by Meadow Book Theatre Artistic Director Travis W. Walter.
Set on New Year's Eve in 1998, the opening scene features the voice of God telling the three classic entertainers they were being sent back to Earth to convince bar owner Vic not to kill himself that night. Sinatra had apparently made a comment to Vic when he was a boy that has caused him immense suffering. Consequently, Sinatra & Co. have been tasked with saving his life if they want to remain in heaven. The alternative is a one-way ticket south to join former member Peter Lawford.
The three descend to the Las Vegas bar, “The Rat Pack Lounge,” to find a themed establishment covered with their photos and paraphernalia. They take over the bodies of three people inside the bar to make their case: Davis (Malik Jordan) becomes bar employee Bobby Goldberg, Martin (Javier Alfonso Castellanos) becomes chauffer Jeorge Rodrigues, and Sinatra (Corbin Payne) becomes William Saunders, a real estate developer planning to take over the failing lounge to expand the next-door Hooters. Jackey Good plays Saunders’ assistant Katherine, who is later embodied by the angel, Angie.
As they relish in indulging in the vices of their Earth lives, the three learn Vic is suffering due to his failed career as a performer. After hearing his talent – or apparent lack thereof – they decide to help him, each singing a song to pass along their individual talents. Vic – performed by Eric Coles – however, is far too good a singer to make that believable.
Spoiler alert: The Rat Pack succeeds in their mission (it is a jukebox musical after all), and the second half of the show is basically a full-on nightclub concert – further attempts at a plot be damned.
Each of the five actors is incredibly talented – but a Rat Pack impersonation show this is not. The four men, in particular, have beautiful voices, but lack the suave, velvety smoothness of a proper crooner. That being said, they have some fantastic harmonies, and their personal takes on the songs are still enjoyable. Audience members will likely still enjoy their renditions of “My Way,” “Volare,” “Come Fly With Me,” “Ain’t Love a Kick in the Head,” “That’s Amore,” “Fly Me to the Moon,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and others.
Those who are big fans of the group or who, perhaps, simply grew up during their peak popularity, will better understand the jokes and references made throughout the show than I did. I laughed heartily when Davis said he would cry his eyes out – a few beats after the fact when my friend explained that he had lost his eye in a car accident. (Apparently this was also a source of his own comedic material later on, so everyone seemed cool with making fun of it.) Despite that incident, I’m fairly familiar with the personas of Davis and Sinatra, but my knowledge of Martin is pretty limited to his hit songs. Based on the show, it appears his other defining characteristic is his alcoholism, which got to be a rather redundant joke.
The on-stage band – featuring drums, a piano, percussion and a bass – was a highlight of the musical, delivering a nostalgic, rich live swing sound that’s hard to come by these days. In the first part of the show, they are behind a screen and performed on cue when an actor shouted out a letter/number combination, referencing the retro jukebox in the corner. The screen is removed during the second half of the performance when the show goes full-on night lounge. The reveal – along with a dramatic light change designed by Scott Rosse – creates a fantastic transition that brings you back in time to the glory days of live big band performance.
“The Rat Pack Lounge” was a pleasant show. Rat Pack fans will enjoy the nostalgia of hearing their favorite songs live with a swing band and appreciate the jokes referencing the larger-than-life personalities of the entertainment icons. Those younger/less familiar with the group will recognize the hits, and – as long as they already like them – should also be happy.