Club Scene
An inviting evening with Sinatra stylist

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

Local entertainer Randy Smith sings a tribute to Frank Sinatra in the Esprit nightclub at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. He performs "An Evening with the Music of Sinatra" on weekends. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser 'An Evening with the Music of Sinatra' Featuring Randy Smith 7:45 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays Esprit nightclub, Sheraton Waikiki Hotel $20 cover charge, plus a one-drink minimum; dining package available 922-4422 Also featuring Debra Canada, Chris Washington, Joni Albao

With reason. Smith, who manages a diving shop by day, dons tuxedo on Fridays and Saturdays, then glides through Sinatra's songbook, delivering a smooth performance punctuated by anecdotes about the crooner from Hoboken, N.J.

Sinatra, who became a sensation among bobby-soxers, a movie star and ultimate Chairman of the Board, lives anew in this appealing tribute show, staged at the Esprit nightclub at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. It is not an impersonation act; the show borders on cabaret theater.

Handsome and dapper in a crisp black tuxedo, accented by a red handkerchief mirrored in the framed portrait of Sinatra sitting on a cocktail table nearby, Smith is a remarkably warm, irresistibly cool balladeer, who, like the original inspiration, demonstrates an unending respect for lyrics and melody.

Suave and inviting, he opens the show with "I've Got the World on a String," emulating the style and manner of Sinatra without being imitative. He sashays into "The Best Is Yet to Come," keeping tempo with the big band backup sound, and immediately, you're smack dab in a sentimental journey.

Smith shares tidbits and facts, the material coming from research from the show's producer and writer, Jack Cione. So you are enlightened while being entertained.

Among the nuggets:

• Sinatra has recorded 100 albums containing 2,000 songs.
• He completed 60 films.
• He become a bobby-sox fave in 1942 and popularized the bow tie and "crooning."
• He was the big cheese in the Rat Pack.
• He once used the name Frankie Stain but was chastised by his mother to stay with his real name: Francis Albert Sinatra. "Mothers do have their say," Smith says.

The musical revue doesn't necessarily include all the Sinatra biggies. Rather, it strives for variety to tap the moods and moments of Sinatra's life and legacy.

There are some classics, to be sure, such as "I'll Never Smile Again" and "Night and Day" (from a movie called "Revelry With Beverly," Smith says like an annotator), along with blockbusters "My Kind of Town" and "That's Life." But no "My Way" or "Something Stupid." That's not a complaint, just an observation.

Smith is perfect and precise in creating a scene, a moment. "One More for the Road," in particular, is a smokey, apres-hour blues ballad that effortlessly sums up everything Sinatra was.

There is a supporting cast — singers Debra Canada and Chris Washington, and hula stylist Joni Albao — that provides a bit of variety. The vocalists factor in a series of duets from Sinatra's late-in-the-career album that lured notables singing with the master. Canada's "What Now My Love" with Smith and Washington's "The Lady Is a Tramp" with Smith are among the bonding highlights.

Albao's hula on "Blue Moon of Hawai'i," a tune that Smith, not Sinatra, has recorded, puts an Island imprint on the entire evening. Canada also has solo moments, demonstrating her own thrush-hold, on "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," and Washington makes like Sammy Davis Jr., singing and dancing on "Candy Man."

The show is performed against a black curtain; the lone props are the cocktail table that holds a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey (Sinatra's brand), that framed portrait, a glass of booze (faux, for sure) and an ashtray (Sinatra used to smoke).

The dangers of singing to taped music became apparent the night I stopped by, when the background track stopped. But Smith — quick with the quip, fast with the smooth talk — eased out of what might have been a catastrophic moment in lesser hands. Something Sinatra might have done, too, his way.