Oregon Cabaret Theatre

Review by: Herb Heiman

If memories were butterflies, the Oregon Cabaret Theater would be filled from floor to ceiling with the gentle flutter of a million wings. My Way, A Musical Salute to Frank Sinatra is the vehicle that launched the beautiful creatures . . . and my metaphor.

The show is filled with so much music it takes two pages to list the tunes and the print is verrrry small. In spite of the abundance of songs, the program moves rapidly from one melody, from one tempo, and from one era to the next with fine pacing. There are lots of fragments and many songs are married to one another in well thought out medleys. How this all works is described in simple text in the Director's Notes, penned by Jim Giancarlo: "We're not trying to imitate Frank. The songs associated with events and people from our lives charge them with emotion that can take us to deep, wordless places in our souls." If that's not a direct pitch to plow up our emotional past and harvest a ton of memories, then I've misplaced all my 78's and LP records.

Although the three-piece musical ensemble cannot hope to duplicate the lush sounds of Nelson Riddle's string section, under the direction of Darcy Danielson, and musicians Jim Malachi and Bruce McKern, the music has both excellent arrangements and backing.

With My Way Jim Giancarlo and his creative crew have found a niche of nostalgia that should appeal to a broad spectrum of our Rogue Valley population. If you still own a collection of LP's, you're sure to "dig" this swingin', romantic production.

Pictured are Kathleen Antonia, Rome Harbinson, Katherine Strohmaier, Aaron Gordon




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