"Sandy Hackett's Rat Pack Christmas" kicks off at Morris Performing Arts Center - South Bend Tribune: Music

"Sandy Hackett's Rat Pack Christmas" kicks off at Morris Performing Arts Center

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Posted: Sunday, November 29, 2015 6:00 am | Updated: 6:14 am, Sun Nov 29, 2015.

Dec. 12 would have been Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday.

And with a slight hint that his tongue is planted in his cheek, Sandy Hackett wants people to bring Ol’ Blue Eyes a birthday present when they attend his “Rat Pack Christmas” show Thursday at the Morris Performing Arts Center.

Specifically, a motorcyle or high-definition television are high up on Hackett’s wish list of gifts for Sinatra, who died May 14, 1998, at age 82 and isn’t likely to unwrap any of his centennial presents himself.

“I’ll make sure he gets it,” Hackett says by phone from his home in Los Angeles about two weeks before the launch of this year’s “Rat Pack Christmas.” Thursday’s show at the Morris kicks off the tour, a dual-celebration of Christmas and Sinatra’s 100th birthday.

The show features Hackett, the son of ’60s comic and Rat Pack associate Buddy Hackett, playing the comic he grew up knowing as “Uncle Joey” Bishop, along with Angelo Babbaro as Sinatra, Kenny Jones as Sammy Davis Jr., and Tom Wallek as Dean Martin as the most electrifying quartet of entertainers to set foot on a Las Vegas stage. Sandy Hackett’s wife, Lisa Dawn Miller, rounds out the cast as Ava Gardner.

“The magic of the Rat Pack was that you never knew what would happen when they were onstage together,” Miller says.

A singer-songwriter and the show’s producer, she also carries a Hollywood bloodline. Her father, Ron Miller, was a prolific songwriter for Motown during the ’60s and wrote, among a slew of hits, the Stevie Wonder classic “For Once In My Life.”

Her songwriting will be in the spotlight at the Morris with two original Christmas songs — “It’s Christmas” and “My Favorite Time of the Year,” both co-written by Miller and songwriter/producer Mark Matson — set to make their debut.

“We’re actually premiering them for the show,” Miller says. “Our ‘Christmas’ tour starts in South Bend, and (Thursday) is the first time these songs will ever be heard.”

Also expect Frank, Dean and the boys to break out “a lot of the favorites they recorded individually,” Miller says. “Mack the Knife,” “My Way,” “Amore” and even Davis’ “Candy Man” all receive resurrections.

“And we have a lot of Christmas songs,” Miller says, listing, among others, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and a Christmas medley that will be unwrapped onstage.

“I don’t have anything new planned until I get there and Jerry Sandusky reveals himself,” Hackett says wryly.

The last time Hackett and Miller brought the “Rat Pack Show” to South Bend, in 2012, the Sandusky scandal dominated the news and Hackett’s Joey Bishop character had a field day on the former Penn State football coach who was sent to prison for sexually abusing young boys.

But Jerry Sandusky is old news. Hackett pays homage to his dad’s pals by bringing the Rat Pack characters to life on stage in today’s world, where no topic is off limits as long as it’s happening now and “appropriate for the show,” and everything flies unscripted by the seat of the pants.

““It’s very easy to keep this show fresh,” Hackett says. “In our show, God sends them back to do one more show, modern-day in their prime.

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