MIDDLETOWN: SINATRA TIMES THREE
Nathan DeDeo is among the singers making like Ol’ Blue Eyes all weekend long when SINATRA “OUR WAY” commandeers the MAC stage for three benefit shows, produced by Middletown’s own David J.V. Meenan (below).
Middletown’s own David J.V. Meenan has hoofed his way into the Guinness Book of World Records as a champion long-distance tap dancer; performed on Broadway in A Chorus Line; and presented many an all-singing/ all-dancing extravaganza at Monmouth University.
Here in Red Bank, he managed his own playhouse (the Royale Theater on Monmouth Street) in the 1990s, and premiered his own original musical (Transatlantic) at the Count Basie.
For his latest demonstration of dazzlement, Meenan looks to a hometown venue (the auditorium of the Middletown Arts Center) and a homegrown Jersey icon (Francis Albert Sinatra), for a “bit of classic Vegas” that commandeers the MAC stage for not one, not two, but three big benefit performances this weekend — proving, if nothing else, that The Chairman Always Swings Thrice.
Presented under the title Sinatra “Our Way,” the centennial salute to the lasting legacy of Ol’ Blue Eyes (born in Hoboken on December 6, 1915) assembles a box-set of Sinatra signatures — from “The Lady is a Tramp” and “Cheek to Cheek,” to “New York, New York” and (naturally) “My Way” — in a way that reportedly doesn’t skimp on “all the Hollywood glamour, glitz and feathers you would expect.”
Meenan, the producer-director and impresario behind the not-for-profit Shore Concerts, hasn’t cut corners with the assembled talent either. Co-starring in the cast of vocalists and dancers will be Broadway veterans Michael St. John (Les Miserables) and Kristin Carbone (Mary Poppins), along with Abigail Cibrian, Kelly Cibrian, Nathan DeDeo, Laura Diorio, Valerie Dowd, William Goodman, Paulina Homiak, and Kelly Ross. They’ll all be at the bandstand in front of The Royale Orchestra, conducted by Karen Feeney.
Performances of Sinatra “Our Way” are 8 pm on October 23 and 24, with a 2 pm Sunday matinee on October 25. Proceeds from the $32 admission charge will be dedicated to the Barn for the Poorest of the Poor in Middletown, and the NJ Chapters of The Ronald McDonald House. Call (732)403-0429 to reserve tix.
