1992 Radio City Music Hall, New York City
First Show, Opening Night
Orchestra Conducted By: Frank Sinatra, Jr.
1. All Or Nothing At All
2. For Once In My Life
3. Come Rain Or Come Shine
4. I've Got You Under My Skin
5. The House I Live In
6. Luck Be A Lady
7. Barbara
8. Summer Wind
9. Moonlight In Vermont
10. What Now My Love
11. medley: The Gal That Got Away - It Never Entered My Mind
12. Mack The Knife
13. My Way
14. medley Frank & Shirley: Let's Do It (Shirley) - You Make Me
Feel So Young (Frank) - You Do Something To Me (Shirley) -
Witchcraft (Frank) - Cheek To Cheek (Shirley) - That's What I Call
Balling (Shirley) - Let's Do It (Frank & Shirley)
15. New York New Yor
Review/Pop; Sinatra and MacLaine: Stoic and Feisty Nostalgia
Top of Form
Bottom ofForm
By KarenSchoemer
Oct. 10, 1992
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Shirley MacLaine isn't as big a legendas Frank Sinatra, but she sure can kick
higher. At Radio City Music Hall onThursday night, opening their eight-night
engagement, Ms. MacLaine strove todazzle by abundance. She had lots of great
costumes, lots of songs, lots ofjokes and lots of gusto. With her red hair
short and her mouth fresh, she cameonstage wearing a black-and-silver dress
that showed off a generous percentageof her long legs; when she stepped just
right she gave a glimpse of a fiery redpetticoat underneath. Later, she wore a
cosmic-blue ball gown.
Ms. MacLaine doesn't have a voice thatexactly dazzles, but she went easily from
hot-mama bravura to lovelorntenderness. Most of her numbers were medleys. She
sang so many songs, orportions of them, that it was hard to keep count:
everything from "On aClear Day You Can See Forever," "Irma la Douce," and
selectionsfrom the musical "Gypsy" to "Heart and Soul," "I'llNever Fall in Love
Again" and Hank Williams's "Hey GoodLookin'."
Throughout, Ms. MacLaine happily playedthe feisty grande dame. In between
cracks about how she spent a good portion ofher film roles in bed, she made all
her costume changes onstage, within view ofthe audience. She even did a
can-can. "It was easier playinghookers," she panted afterward, lifting the
dress and ripping off thepetticoat.
By contrast, Mr.Sinatra showed an almost stoic, grandfatherly restraint. He
wore a gray suitwith a red hankie in his breast pocket, and the most
high-stepping he did was aslight hip chuck during Cole Porter's "I Get a Kick
Out of You" or asubdued tap dance in "You Make Me Feel So Young." But flash
andfrills have, of course, never been Mr. Sinatra's style; his greatness
hasalways been built around his casual, effortless grace. He is a man of
firsttakes, a singer who sits as comfortably in his songs as in an easy chair
yetwinds up looking like a king on a throne.
Much has been made of the deteriorationof Mr. Sinatra's voice. Yet one of the
most intriguing aspects of hisautumn-years performances is that his approach
hasn't changed an iota. Hisphrasing still swings, and his candor is intact. The
physical instrument aloneshows age. So when he leaps into "Come Fly With Me" or
tosses off areference to "that chick" in "The Lady Is a Tramp," theauthority
remains very much evident. And when he shoots for a note that hecan't quite
reach, the shadow of the younger man echoes, clear and strong.
On Thursday, Mr.Sinatra had a moment of magnificence that would have been
impossible in hisyouth. Singing the saloon standard "One for My Baby," he
climbedinside the song, emotionally and physically. Here, his voice broke by
design;the words, and the feeling, were no longer just out of reach but right
in thepalm of his hand. As the song waned, he stood up from his bar stool
andshuffled offstage. The time was a quarter to 3. One could almost see him
takehis fedora from the coat rack. One could almost hear the saloon door click
shutbehind him.
NEW YORK TIMESOCTOBER 10, 1992
