‘Rat Pack Show’ brings old Vegas to life

Hackett and crew re-create legendary performers

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The spirits of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Dean Martin are channeled by the performers of “Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show,” coming to the Clark Center in Arroyo Grande at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 23. //Contributed

If you long for the days when Vegas was Vegas and the Rat Pack prowled the stages of its classic casinos, you can relive that era of smoky lounges and smokier voices next week in Arroyo Grande.

“Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack Show,” considered the most authentic Rat Pack show in the world, will take the Clark Center for the Performing Arts stage at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 23.

Hackett’s personal connection to the iconic Rat Pack legends allows him to tell their personal stories unlike any other producer or performer before, a Clark Center spokeswoman said.

Chosen personally by Rat Packer Joey Bishop, Hackett brings to life the nonstop party everyone wanted access to back in the 1950s and early ’60s.

David DeCosta takes the role of Frank Sinatra, Dezmond Meeks is Sammy Davis Jr. and Tony Basile portrays Dean Martin.

Hackett, a veteran writer, producer and film and television actor, portrays Bishop, while his wife, Lisa Dawn Miller, a singer, songwriter, producer and daughter of Ron Miller, fills the role of “Frank’s one love.”

The show features new arrangements of such classic songs as “Get Me to the Church on Time,” “My Kind of Town,” “New York, New York,” “My Way,” “Mack the Knife,” “Luck Be a Lady” and “My Way.”

Also included are original songs written by the late legendary songwriter Ron Miller, who penned “For Once in My Life.”

Backed by a smoking-hot band, the group performs the numbers with the flair of the real legendary entertainers, re-creating the witty stage banter and loose, partylike atmosphere of a real Rat Pack performance, the spokeswoman said.

But the comedy also is fresh and new, allowing the audience to experience the Rat Pack as if the group showed up in today’s world.

The show also includes exclusive footage with recorded voice-overs made exclusively for the show by Hackett’s father, the late legendary comedian Buddy Hackett, who was close to the original Rat Pack.

Currently performing at the LVH Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, “Sandy Hackett's Rat Pack Show” is the longest-running show of its kind, the spokeswoman said.

With multiple touring casts, the show has been seen by more than 1 million people in dozens of national and international appearances.

Tickets at $39, $45 and $49 are available from noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Clark Center box office, 487 Fair Oaks Ave.

Tickets also are available by calling 489-9444 or visiting www.clarkcenter.org.

The box office also usually opens two hours before performances.