Those shoes will dance again

Relive the magic of Frank Sinatra with Kaye Riley at a Christmas special at Kyra this ThursdayCirca 1930 Your momma told you to beware of the boys with blue eyes but when Frank Sinatra crooned Ol Blue Eyes and Strangers in the night every woman waited with bated breath to chance upon that stranger with those dazzling blue eyes Then followed a spate of love hits The way you look tonight Young at heart and many more beauties His voice was indeed worthy to die foru00a0Circa 2009 Kaushik Shankar aka Kaye Riley dons the cap of Frank Sinatra on stage He croons and the women still swoonu00a0u00a0The Voice The Sultan of Swoon The Chairman of the Board Ol Blue Eyes The Greatest Singer of the Popular Song Names that describe but one man heralded as one of the greatest entertainers of the 20 Century A man whose career success spanned more than 50 years enjoying popularity with each successive generation Frank Sinatra the golden boy of Hollywood will come to life this Christmas Eve and we decided to get up close and personal with his new avatarIn conversation with Kaye RileyWhy Sinatra I pretty much grew up on my dads collection of musicu00a0 Elvis Presley Aretha Franklin Frank Sinatra Ella Fitzgerald Connie Francis Dean Martin Nat King Cole and loads of such artists from that era I love everything related to the 50s and 60s and anything thats considered Vintage Hollywood be it the movies the music the elaborate clothing the cars the works you name it I like it My personal affair with Sinatras music started when I heard his song Young at Heart This led to acquiring pretty much every single album he had recorded What I connect with is the fact that the music and the lyrics actually go hand in hand for most songs of that era I personally hate most music rather sounds that come out these daysu00a0 Rap I dont see the poetry in it Trance another set of random sounds and the like The fact that Sinatras music is timeless even today is a testament to how good the music actually isYour performance has quite a few stories from Sinatras life How did you go about trying to find these stories about himFive people from that era have completely captivated meu00a0 Frank Sinatra Marilyn Monroe Natalie Wood Gregory Peck and Katherine Hepburn Needless to say this fascination led to the reading up of as much as possible on each of them watching their movies and all their works The biographies of Frank Sinatra Ava Gardner and Natalie Wood gave me the stories I wanted to use in the show The torrid romance of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner is legendaryu00a0 their tumultuous courtship to Frank becoming an alcoholic when Ava left him was also some fodder for the performance The extensive research on Frank when I decided to do the show pretty much led me to these stories You have reworked the piece and tamed it down since it was first staged What have you tossed out The original private production in October 09 was all about Sinatra and his women in particular Lauren Bacall Natalie Wood Ava Gardner Sofia Loren and Barbara Marx It was a fullfledged musical in a sense because the show followed Franks journey through his women by showcasing the beginnings and ends of each of those relationships I played Frank and an actress played the various women Considering it was a musical and that the attention spans of most in the audience are often painfully low the number of songs was limited to twelve While people loved the show they wanted more music and less talk The biggest problem when youre doing a musical tribute to someone as legendary as Sinatra is that the icon has to always be a hero Nobody wants to see his or her icon miserable in love more so considering he is the king of romanceYou seem to be interested in the essence of the man the legend in Sinatra Is there a contemporary pop icon that comes close to being like himThere are three things that count as his essence his voice his originality and his versatility Having said that I personally feel three modern artists capture a little of that Sinatra magic aMichael Bubleu00a0 because he has undoubtedly brought Sinatra to the masses with several of his covers bMikau00a0 completely original pure pop perfection and cLady Gagau00a0 whose originality is at its peak right now Im curious to see how or if the system changes herWhat should one expect at the Sinatra concertIf you are thinking about coming to this show to see me impersonate Sinatra then this is the wrong show for you The goal of My Way has always been to construct a musical revue that recalls the essence of the man through the glorious music he sang You need to be there to celebrate Sinatras mystique and his myth through the medium he loved bestu00a0 the American standard The musical starts with Strangers in the Night and ends with My Way and features a total of 25 of Sinatras greatest hits This is the music that weve grown to This is a musician we idolize and respectu00a0u00a0My Way A Tribute to Frank SinatraOn December 24At Kyra Theatre Indiranagar 730 pm