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For over a year the 'Rat Pack:Live from Las Vegas' show in London's West End has received rave reviews.
The show evokes the joint cabarets of Frank, Dean and Sammy at the Sands Casino in the early 60's, when they had a scotch in one hand and the world at their feet.
George Daniel Long does indeed pay tribute to Sammy in a manner that Sammy himself would be proud of. We caught up with him backstage after the show:
At what point were you introduced to Sammy?
When i really heard about him was when the tribute show was on at the Theatre Royal. So I knew a lot of people in our show (The Cotton Club) were doing it. I wouldn't have been able to say what songs Sammy had done.
I had never heard of Candy Man. I think I only knew 'What Kind Of Fool' at that point, but i wasn't really familiar with him. I vaguely knew who he was. I didn't know anything about the Rat Pack.
To what do you attribute the phenomenal success of the show?
I think so many ages like it. There's Grannies, kids, middle aged people that either grew up with it or have discovered a new love for it. And I think also because there is no plot in the show. They don't have to think about the show, about who did what when, or who killed the butler. It's just fun and if you are not into script they can at least get all the songs they want to hear. So there is something for everybody. You might not get all the dialogue but at least you get to hear all the songs. You might hate some of the songs or you may have only come to see Frank but there's a bit of something to please everyone's taste.
Can you tell if there are particular groups of people there for Frank or Dean or Sammy?
Generally, before the show even gets going you know who the fans are in for.
Frank's first speech, he says " I'd better explain how the show is gonna work. I'm gonna do a couple of numbers and then Mr Sammy Davis is gonna come out... and the Dean Martin...." You can judge by the applause after each name is mentioned. Sometimes you hear on the tannoy the applause and you know its going to be a Dean night or a Sammy night. You haven't come on yet but they have already shown who they are looking forward to seeing.
In the UK more focus is centered on Frank & Dean. Why do you think this is the case?
I think it was because Sammy didn't get the greatest chances to do much here in the UK. Maybe because of the racism he experienced or the hate-mail. I don't think that helped his career. So I don't think he did as many performances as Frank and Dean did. So he is not as familiar.
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Sammy's persona was so multifaceted. His multitude of talents must have made it extremely difficult to master. How did you go about studying and learning his character? People have always said that the way I perform is very similar to him. And I don't like to 100% try and imitate because if you come on as a robot and do everything possible to imitate a person. It makes it very difficult if something happens to throw you off your guard and then if you have attempted to be a carbon copy it is easier for people to criticise it. So I think the most important thing is the essence. There is also stuff that I do that is naturally very similar. There's the physical side as I do look like him although somewhat taller. The general gestures and the copying of the phrasings, the extra notes he adds in and his general vitality and enjoyment of performing.That's the easiest way to convince people.
It is a very physical role that you play. Performing every night must be very demanding. Psychologically and physically how do you maintain the level of performance?
If the audience is really with me and my tempos are really zippy, I really get into it. It doesn't matter what gets thrown at me for the whole show, i really enjoy myself and that is when I do a really good show. If i find that my first set is uncomfortable then that I find quite hard. I rely on energy for his character. If i feel sluggish in any way I find it really hard to get that energy back. So all I need is to be perky and bright and it all just fits into place.
When you play the same role night after night, the character can overspill into your personal life and inevitably you can start experiencing what that character experienced. Have you found this to be the case?
Yes. I do find that being a black performer. Until somebody comes from a group of people that have been prejudiced against nobody can really tell you that you don't feel it. You know when somebody looks at you because of the colour of your skin in real life, the same as you'd know if you were getting looks if you were wearing something silly.
So when you go out there every night, at the beginning of the show, and you don't get the same reaction to your name as the others, is it partly because of the lack of familiarity? If there are still racist people out there, are they judging your performance on the colour of your skin. I have had abuse shouted before during the show, but thankfully thats generally more on tour.
All you want to do is entertain.
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The camaraderie between Frank, Dean & Sammy was what contributed to their success on stage. As a team how do get on with each other?
It has taken us a long time especially because I was the original person out of the three who has been doing it the longest. I was used to the show working in a certain way. Stephen (Frank) had just come back from the States and he is not used to this sort of environment. He is used to doing things by himself so this was different for him. Mark (Dean) came with this whole new aspect of how he wanted to play Dean and I was used to it being a different way. So the first tour we just really got through it all. It was after we came back from our Christmas break that everyone came back a bit happier and we sort of now knew what to expect from each other there were a few problems when Stephen kept getting taken out of the show for his own tour and they kept putting the understudy in. But since we moved from the Haymarket Theatre to the Strand we have all forgotten about the things that were irritating us about each other,we are all settled in what we are doing. I can't make other people do what I want them to do and everyone has to to do their show the way they want to. We do get on well now, but playing friends on stage is hard it's taken months of trial and error to get a bond. I'm definitely not blame free.
Through the re-enactment of the 'Rat Pack' show you must have relived some of the emotions that Sammy experienced whilst working with Frank & Dean?
It is amazing when there's one bit we got off a tape when he says 'Hold it, I ain't holdin' it, you hold it whitey'. Now, all the time when they hear the words black, Jewish, or whatever you hear the audience laugh. The minute you say 'You hold it whitey', the audience gasps and they get shocked, or they chuckle at how ineffective "whitey is", well i couldn't have said ***** in the 60's.
Sometimes there are people out there who don't get the point. One night in Ireland, one guy kept shouting out 'That's not pc Frank!'.
I was glad of the support, but we have to be true to life. Sometimes you get some people who are really on your side and they shout 'Leave him alone'. So I think it touches people in different ways. We are not trying to make any direct political statements. it's hard just taking the abuse and it can be frustrating. it can also be annoying when you are constantly inturrupted when you are trying to do the show, but thats what they did so i really feel for sammy, it must have been annoying sometimes.
Set at a time when political correctness was not high on the agenda, how do you feel about the jokes at the expense of Sammy. And what reaction do you experience from the audience?
Sometimes that can hurt. Sometimes you can think it is just a play. It is not that they aren't supposed to laugh, of course they should laugh. It is amusing. But to get that night after night, people laughing at you, getting a white sheet over your head or being sent off the stage sometimes you can take it personally. It is hard not to. Sometimes you are not going to get the audience on your side. If you are not getting what you need from the audience in order to give it back to them again and if everyone is laughing at the racist jokes, it does dampen you a lot. You can feel really alone out there. It can really feel you and them, as in Frank and Dean and Me, sometimes.
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It can be very much like me doing my show and those two doing theirs.you can feel like the stooge. It is hard. Some weeks it can bring you to tears.
Sammy originally didn't want to record Mr. Bojangles. His fear was that he would end up like Bojangles, singing in small bars telling tales of how it used to be. Over the years this song has become synonymous with Sammy. What is it like to perform this song and what reaction do you generally
receive from the audience?
It is amazing everyone at the front of the theatre can really see how you are doing it and they get the physical emotion anyone in the back has got to hear it in the voice. Sometimes people don't react due to being touched and other times they can go absolutely mad at the end of the song, some people are emotional in different ways.
I like the song but it is not the world's best. If you just take the song, it is the words and the meaning of it that's more than anything else. It's the performance of it.
It's a thoughtful song and it's amazing how people can pick up on what you are thinking and how you do the song. They can feel it. One reporter said they were brought to tears by it. It is one of the biggest numbers that the crowd react to. I think Robbie Williams has a lot to do with people's familiarity of the song but that makes it also harder because you always get somebody at the beginning who is whistling in the wrong place,but for whatever reason it is a popular song.
Robbie Williams, with the recording of his album 'Swing When You Are Winning" made the Rat Pack 'cool' to a whole new audience. To what do you attribute this reassurgence of the whole swinging sixties genre to?
Yes, it definitely has had an effect people have become more familiar with the songs and it has become trendier because Robbie did it. But I have got people who come to the show that have always loved the music, people my
age who would rather not go clubbing and go and listen to Frank songs. The first tour I did was a year before Robbie's album came out and we were still selling out up and down the country. The first tour was even a year befoe i joined.
We still had young people as well as old people. When I first did the gigs I was amazed at the age range. I used to get quite defensive about the Robbie thing. People say 'you did the show due to Robbie'. He has helped and especially with certain songs that people didn't know. But any sort of music that is good will always be there no matter who fronts it
Similarly do you think that there is a performer who is worthy of being labelled a present day equivalent to Sammy?
Not really because of just everything he could do. These days there is so much retaking. People come into the studio and retake and drop in almost every bit of a song. People like Sammy did it night after night bang on. He couldn't afford that luxury of high tech studios, they weren't around. I don't think anybody will be as versatile as Sammy because people don't have to be. It is quite easy to have a brief career in pop music these days. Too many people settle with 'oh, that was nice'.
The standard is going down. There are many ok artists but i don't think we are releasing that many fantastic artists in the UK. Look what Sammy could do. Who out there can do impressions, play the instruments, sing, dance, tap especially as well as he could and the guns. Michael Jackson, well he sang and danced, nowhere near Sammy. To find it all in one person is really really hard.
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At Sammys funeral Gregory Hines told of the last time he saw Sammy and how he threw an imaginary ball to him to signify that he should carry on with what Sammy saw as his path. Do you feel a sense of obligation to Sammy and his legacy?
Everyday, whether you are a black performer or just a black person doing something that people accept you for, paves the way for any other person that isn't as lucky to have people accept them. So every time I go out and do a show or somebody meets me it reflects on other black people and it is a bit of a duty to continue that. If we didn't continue doing that, if people like Sammy or Gregory Heinz hadn't done what they did then people wouldn't actually see that we are normal and talented people. So I do think I have a duty. Being mixed race can be difficult in the community and you can be seen as the acceptable face. but no matter how light or dark we all need to get out there and show the world that all shades of black men and women are human beings
Black singers who have made it into the pop world, sports people, they all have a duty to represent the black community. So their behaviour counts for a lot, it may not be fair but it's necessary. The more gangster artists for example and people who don't understand that music and see alot of the rappers glamorising guns and violence, i can see that putting ignorant people off. and it does fuel the stigma attached to black men.
So every time I go out and do a show it makes other people more accepted in some shape or form. It will make some impact. I really hope so.
What are your plans for the future?
I have been playing Sammy know for a long time and by the time I finish it may be two or three years. I would like to go on and play something that is being me. I don't mind what I do.Stage TV Film, I just want to work. As long as I am working and I am expanding every time I do something and I get the chance to enjoy what I do. It's not about the money or where the show is. If I was singing to fifty people every night that loved what I do or choreographing something, as long as it gives me some kind of satisfaction. as long as people get something out of what i do i'm sure i'll be satisfied I'd love to do another show that I got to play a good part in or a part that I could create completely by myself rather than having the boundaries of being somebody else.
This show has definitely done me a great favour and I have Sammy to thank for that.saying that i'd love to be in sammy's shoes, the worlds greatest entertainer. who could ask for more, but they'll never be another so here's to dreaming.
You can find out more about George Daniel Long at: http://www.georgedaniellong.com
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