FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Randy Smith, middle, brings back "An Evening with the Music of Sinatra" to Esprit Night Club in the Sheraton-Waikiki Hotel. Chris Washington and Debra Canada, pictured, have been replaced with guitarist John Valentine, veteran singer Cathy Foy and hula dancer Joni Albao.

Still spreadin’ the news

A revamped Sinatra tribute shines
with a new backup cast

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By John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.com

Charisma's the key ingredient as Randy Smith returns to star in a revised version of "An Evening With the Music of Sinatra" at the Esprit Nightclub in the Sheraton-Waikiki. Few shows billed as a "tribute" do justice to the original artist, and few celebrity impersonators come across as being more than wannabes or part-time hacks.

Randy Smith is not the world's best Sinatra impersonator, but his heart is in the right place. Smith is good enough to pull it off as an entertainer that the show transcends its inherent weaknesses.

Smith is still singing to pre-recorded backing tracks rather than working with a live Sinatra-style big band, and he has only a narrow strip of stage to work with. But what's more important is that he's singing songs he loves, doing it well enough and clearly enjoying every minute of his stint as a Waikiki showroom headliner.

With this revised show that producers Jack Cione and Yemun Chung first introduced last fall, Smith still covers several decades of music that Sinatra made famous over the years. The set list is about the same as before, with three of Sinatra's biggest hits -- "It Was a Very Good Year," "Love and Marriage" and "Strangers in the Night" -- still missing.

Smith is more comfortable in his role of narrator-host of the show, but the show gets a needed boost from his new co-stars. Guitarist John Valentine seems like an unlikely guest in a Sinatra-themed show but adds the welcome textures of acoustic guitar for a solo number ("Classical Gas") and then returns as Smith's accompanist in a Sinatra-style salute to one of the man's favorite songwriters, Antonio Carlos Jobim.

'An Evening With the Music of Sinatra' Starring Randy Smith Where: Esprit Nightclub, Sheraton-Waikiki When: 7:45 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays Cost: $25 (includes free validated parking) Call: 922-4422

Cathy Foy, a veteran singer with many showroom and musical theater credits, is perfect as Smith's simpatico co-vocalist on "Some Enchanted Evening" and is enchanting in her own right on "Kamehameha Waltz" and "I Am Hawaii." While those last two songs are not Sinatra-related, they have been part of Foy's repertoire for years, and she stills interprets them beautifully.

Foy's second duet with Smith, "All the Way," reaffirms the magic she brings to the stage as a singer and actress.

Hula dancer Joni Albao's performances in support of Foy ("I Am Hawaii") and Smith ("Blue Moon of Hawaii," a song Sinatra himself never recorded) are exquisite as well and are incorporated more effectively in this revised version of the show.

Smith's decision to make "My Way" his final number is another improvement. It isn't because "New York, New York" wasn't a great capper to the previous show, but the Paul Anka number is a better assessment of Sinatra's life as an entertainer, and perhaps Smith's approach to show business.

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