It’s a gorgeous Wednesday, May 18, 2022 afternoon at Holmdel, NJ’s PNC Bank Arts Center where music lovers are streaming in for “Sinatra Forever,” a Frank Sinatra tribute concert by Las Vegas entertainer Rick Michel.
Presented by the Garden State Arts Foundation, Michel’s tribute is the first in a series of four free Spring concerts which also include “The Geator Rocks the House with Gary U.S. Bonds, The Chiclettes, and Bobby Wilson” on May 24; “Cousin Brucie Presents Tommy James and the Shondells, Little Anthony, and the 1910 Fruitgum Company” on June 9; and “The Letterman with Comedian John Pizzi” on June 23.
Before the show begins, we chat backstage with Michel who tells us, “I play all over the world. I just finished a tour in South America where I played in Brazil and Chile, and I was also just in Italy. Of all the places I’ve been, however, I knew I was looking forward to this show in New Jersey most of all.”
Explaining, “I’ve performed at the PNC Bank Arts Center many times and I love that I get to play here with a 24-piece band,” Michel notes, “It’s a great group with a three-piece rhythm section, nine horns, and twelve string players which I’ll conduct as I’m singing. Plus, today, I’ll be performing eleven songs I’ve never done here before.”
As we take our seats in the open air amphitheater, we hear a familiar radio jingle — “77 W-A-B-C” — playing over the PA system as Garden State Arts Foundation Vice President Ron Gravino takes the stage. Gravino poses the question, “Why are we playing that jingle?” and explains that WABC Radio is one of the sponsors of the Garden State Arts Foundation’s series of free concerts. He asks the audience to give WABC and all of the other GSAF sponsors a round of applause for supporting this season’s series of shows.
The members of the orchestra take the stage. Piano, bass, and drums begin to play and horns and strings follow as an announcement introducing “‘Sinatra Forever’ starring Rick Michel!” is made.
Looking dapper in a black tuxedo with an orange pocket square, gold watch, and gold cufflinks, Michel opens today’s show with his rendition of Frank Sinatra’s 1958 recording, “Come Fly With Me.” Singing “Come fly with me, we’ll fly, we’ll fly away,” Michel’s rich baritone fills the amphitheater accompanied by muted horns and walking bass, vividly recreating the classic Sinatra sound of the late-1950s. The band flies high as Michel sings with ease and style on his gold microphone to avid cheers and applause.
Welcoming the crowd, Michel exclaims, “I’m proud to have this 24-piece orchestra!” adding, “For 12 years, I’ve been coming back to this magnificent amphitheater.” Continuing with the lovely ballad, “All or Nothing at All,” the audience is treated to the lush sound of the orchestra which accompanies Michel’s voice. Michel punctuates the performance by conducting the various orchestral breaks within the arrangement, at times even scatting horn parts with the instrumentalists.
Following Sy Oliver’s arrangement of the ballad, “Oh, Look at Me Now,” the lower register of Michel’s voice is featured on “Without a Song,” his full and resonant vocal floating out over the attentive crowd as the strings swell, horns blare, and the rhythm section swings.
Following hearty applause, Michel reveals, “I brought this next song out from my dusty songbook because I knew I would have strings here today.” The sound of the string section fills the air on a romantic arrangement of “I’ve Never Been in Love Before.” With his onstage presence, Michel shows how much he truly enjoys listening to the string lines before the audience applauds for the string players, an audience member yells out, “Whoo-hoo!” and Michel responds, “We’re having fun now!”
Michel talks about Sinatra’s association with the Rat Pack, even going so far as to imitate his Rat Pack colleagues, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin. Launching into Sinatra’s 1963 classic, “My Kind of Town (Chicago Is),” audience members snap their fingers and tap their toes to Michel and the orchestra’s upbeat, dynamic sound.
After adding ice to a glass and saying, “It’s time for a little Jack (Daniels),” Michel pours himself a drink. Acknowledging the loss of several family members to COVID-19, he dedicates his next song “to anybody who lost anyone to COVID,” and wishes everyone “health, happiness, and family.” Here, Michel performs a dramatic and poignant interpretation of “Come Rain or Come Shine” where his rich baritone voice and the orchestra build to a dynamic conclusion.
Telling the audience, “This next song is Frank Sinatra’s epitaph,” Michel performs a jazzy arrangement of “The Best is Yet to Come” which features tinkling piano, walking bass, and tasty drums punctuated by the blips of horns which contrast with warm, legato lines played by the strings.
The string section is also spotlighted on the Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen ballad, “We Wanted it All,” but they sit out on the next selection, “All I Need is the Girl.” On this happy-go-lucky tune, Michel moves across the stage while singing before stopping to conduct the horns as they’re featured.
“It’s time now for a saloon song,” announces Michel, who explains, “This next song is sung from the point of view of singing to a bartender named Joe in the wee hours of the morning.” Audience members applaud when they recognize the intro to “One For My Baby (and One More for the Road).” On this wistful arrangement, Michel sits on a stool and serenades the audience with a drink while the lush sound of the strings envelopes the audience.
Members of the saxophone section switch over to flutes for Antonio Carlos Jobim’s Latin-flavored composition, “The Girl from Ipanema.” Then, Michel and Co. follow up with a Quincy Jones arrangement of the 1955 hit by The DeCastro Sisters, “Teach Me Tonight.”
After revealing “Sinatra recorded more songs than Elvis Presley and the Beatles combined,” Michel performs a highlight of today’s show — his interpretation of The Chairman of the Board’s 1966 Top 5 hit, “That’s Life.” Audience members nod to the beat as Michel sings, “I’ve been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn, and a king/I’ve been up and down and over and out and I know one thing.”
At the conclusion, the crowd reacts with enthusiastic applause.
Cole Porter fans in the house applaud when they recognize the classic Nelson Riddle arrangement of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” Strings glide along with legato lines which contrast with the swinging horns and walking bass. The infectious arrangement ends with Michel singing, “I’ve got under skin/And I love you under my skin/And I love you, New Jersey!” before doing an impression of Lawrence Welk saying, “Thank you! Thank you!”
Next up is Michel’s upbeat and jazzy interpretation of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day,” where audience members sing along as the horns wail. He follows up with a dramatic rendition of “I Have Dreamed” from The King and I where he stands center stage at a mic and conducts the orchestra with both hands while singing. The strings swell and serendade his vocal, his voice rich and full with emotion. The crowd erupts with applause and cheers as Michel acknowledges the instrumentalists behind him confessing to the crowd, “They make my job easy.”
Following the swingin’ “Until the Real Thing Comes Along,” Michel recalls how he first started singing Sinatra songs. According to Michel, as a youngster who enjoyed doing impressions, he once asked his mother who she’d want to hear him imitate and she replied “Paul Newman” before responding “Sinatra.” It was then that Michel recorded a Sinatra LP he found in his basement onto a reel-to-reel tape so he could better study Sinatra’s vocal timbre and phrasing.
At this point, he dedicates his next selection — his interpretation of the first Sinatra song he ever learned — to his mom. Audience members sing along with Michel on a delightful rendition of “You Make Me Feel So Young” in which Michel and the band swing together with youthful enthusiasm.
At the conclusion, the crowd cheers as Michel raises his hand to heaven and whispers, “Thanks, Mom.”
Music lovers in the crowd especially enjoy Michel’s next selection, “Here’s to the Band,” on which he lyrically pays tribute to the talented instrumentalists onstage with him. After singing about each section of the orchestra, Michel gestures to the musicians while announcing to the audience, “I give you the best 24-piece orchestra in New Jersey — it wasn’t for them, I’d be singing a cappella!”
Michel also thanks the Garden State Arts Foundation along with everyone at the PNC Bank Arts Center for their help with today’s performance before announcing, “It’s time to wrap up the show.” When several members of the crowd shout “No!” Michel jokingly responds, “No? Did you bring a pillow?”
Many in the audience take out their phones to record Michel’s next number — his rendition of Sinatra’s 1969 smash, “My Way,” where the audience happily sings along with him on the final lyric, “I did it my — way.”
The audience rises to its feet for a standing ovation.
“There’s one song I left out. What do you think it is?” asks Michel as audience members reply, “‘New York, New York!’” The band plays the song’s famous intro as Michel jokingly sings, “Chicago, Chicago/A hell of town,” bringing chuckles from the crowd. Deftly segueing into “New York, New York,” Michel croons, “Start spreading the news/I’m leaving today” as audience members sing, clap, and dance along at their seats before he concludes by singing, “It’s up to you, New York, New York — and New Jersey!”
As audience members make their way out of the amphitheater, we chat with several music lovers in the crowd who share their opinions of today’s performance. Exclaims Fran from Lakewood, “This was an amazing production! Rick Michel was awesome!” noting, “This isn’t the first time I’ve seen him. He’s so good, I wanted to come back and hear him again.”
Susan from Holmdel agrees, adding, “What a treat!” Declaring, “It’s so important to keep this kind of music alive!” Susan acknowledges, “I loved being able to attend this performance. The concerts here at PNC Bank Arts Center are always great. The crowd really loved it!”
Robin from Manchester comments, “I like that I knew most of the songs that Rick Michel did, and I loved hearing the orchestra behind him.” Debbie from New Milford concurs, exclaiming, “This show was just phenomenal! Rick Michel has such a voice and to hear that live band behind him was terrific!” Explaining, “We listen to Sinatra’s music and watch his movies at home and I always say, ‘I wish we could go places and hear live music like that,’ and today I did!” Debbie further notes, “It was so heartfelt, too, the way Rick Michel talked to the audience. When he toasted all the people we lost, I was welling up with tears. It was all so touching.”
Lastly, we chat with Russell, also from New Milford, who calls today’s concert, “Amazing!” After suggesting, “You have to have a band like this to really hear this kind of music,” Russell concludes by stating, “muRich Michel’s voice was so good, you could close your eyes and it felt like Sinatra himself was singing!”
To learn more about Rick Michel, please go to rickmichel.com. To learn more about upcoming Garden State Arts Foundation concerts at the PNC Bank Arts Center — including “Cousin Brucie Presents Tommy James and the Shondells, Little Anthony, and the 1910 Fruitgum Company” on June 9, and “The Letterman with Comedian John Pizzi” on June 23 — please go to gsafoundation.org.
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