I was enjoyably surprised at how much I enjoyed A Christmas Show Tribute to Sinatra and Friends starring Robbie Howard at Theatre at the Center. Since I don’t care for Frank Sinatra – I know, don’t judge – I didn’t expect to like it.
Robbie Howard started with a couple of Sinatra tunes but then, after telling a story about his Las Vegas career, he followed up with the voices of Dean Martin, Tom Jones, Johnny Carson, Bobby Vinton, Louis Armstrong and many more.
He doesn’t just imitate the behavior of the singers he impersonates, he actually sounds like them. He said he developed many of the voices in his own recording studio – his parents’ car, listening to the radio. Then he went on to imitate multiple and frequent station changes with snippets of songs all in different voices.
We heard Wayne Newton, George Strait, Joe Cocker, Bob Dillon, Paul Anka, the Righteous Brothers, Eric Clapton, Fats Domino, Jim Morrison, Barry Manilow, Redd Foxx, Julio Iglesas, Willy Nelson, Roger Miller and Neil Diamond.
His Christmas carol range included Blue Christmas as Elvis Presley, Mele Kalikimaka as Jimmy Buffett, as well as Burl Ives and Andy Williams.
In one of the funniest parts of the show, he invited three gentlemen from the audience to join him on stage to be the chorus in a Mills Brothers song. It was hilarious and all in good fun.
All in all, this was a wonderful show. If Robby Howard makes a return trip to Theatre at the Center, I’ll be in the audience.