FOR a swell start to the Christmas season, book to see this fabulous production.

Christmas with the Rat Pack, featuring the legendary songs of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr and Dean Martin, is a wonderful step back into the glamorous 1960s’ days of the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, when these performers took America by storm.

Backed by a 12-piece orchestra under the direction of Dominic Barlow on grand piano, the show opened with Stephen Rashbrook, who appeared to have stepped into a breach left by not only the principal actor, but the alternate one as well, as Frank Sinatra singing Style. He followed this with Sinatra’s signature tune, I’ve Got You Under My Skin.

Matthew Henry was ebullient as the straight-talking, nondrinking Sammy Davis Jr, springing around the stage doing nifty dance songs including That Old Black Magic and Mr Bojangles.

Oozing charm and charisma, Mark Halliday smooched and swayed his way as Dean Martin through an opening set of It’s Amazing and Baby, It’s Cold Outside, accompanied by the stunning Burelli Sisters (Robyn Currell, Nikki Stokes and Rachel Parrott).

After the interval, there was a mix and match of songs and performers, with plenty of comedy routines and adlibbed lyrics, which gave the show a more fragmented feel, but no doubt reflected the easy impromptu performances of the era.

It was interesting to note that the comfortable camaraderie included jokey references to skin colour, which in this day and age could be seen as being politically incorrect, though the Rat Pack was in fact instrumental in the desegregation of Las Vegas hotels and casinos in the early 1960s.

The show, produced by Paul Walden and Derek Nicol, is as heart-warming as roasting chestnuts over an open fire – just the ticket, in the words of Frank Sinatra, for “a cool Yule”.

Performances continue today at 5pm and 8.30pm and tomorrow at 4pm and 8pm.

Jackie Craft