Being a frighteningly devoted Sinatra fan, I had to pay tribute the kings of swing somehow. I started working via emails with Tricia Galbraith, a playwright from Indiana, to complete this Two-Act monster. It pretty much tells the story of The Rat Pack, complete with the Kennedy's, the mafia, and fixed elections. Iím really proud of these tunes, though, a lot of catchy themes that highlight the occurrences of this unique time in American history when the strongest forces in the entertainment business interacted directly with America's most dangerous mafia figures, and the White House.
Musically, the themes in the tune From Here It's to the Top serve as little motifs for later events, representing Frank's overall planning and scheming as to how heís going to pull off this dream of his to incorporate these opposing worlds into one, big swinging party. Other members of Frankís new "clan", Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Joey Bishop show up amidst the heavy action (the tune's bit longer than this older version) as Frank explains the need to get Peter Lawford involved, who is now married into the Kennedy Family. The themes in this track get reprised several times, and exists in the two instrumental pieces on this page.
After the big opener, Frank confronts Peter in the next scene to explain his need for Peterís new in-laws, and to ease a rift between them over an old photograph of Peter hanging out with Frank's ex-wife, Ava Gardner. A big party ensues, and the Pack meets the Kennedy's. Marilyn Monroe is present, and JFK is virtually hypnotized by the Hollywood lifestyle. Bobby tells Frank at the end of the scene that the Kennedyís father, Joseph, would like to meet with Frank, one on one.
The song A Personal Favor is a duet with Joseph Kennedy and Frank, in which Joseph asks Frank's help with his mafia connections to influence the election. Work proceeds on getting Kennedy to the White House, and Frank does meet with Chicago crime-boss Sam Giancana to ask this "favor". In a later scene, Things Are Gonna Have to Change is Sammy's moment of expressing his frustration over racist insults due to his involvement in the campaign, and Available is Judith Campbell's theme of seduction, aimed both at JFK and Chicago crime boss Sam Giancana.
Act 2 opens with The Rat Pack getting ready to go on stage at the Sands hotel in Vegas, and the tune Everybody Wants to be Us is Frank, Dan and Peter splitting verses while getting Sammy to change out of a brown suit and into a tux like the rest of them. Once onstage, Dean starts out solo by singing Come Love With Me, which gets interrupted by Frank and Sammy, and then the Pack emerges in full swing.
The tune The Cocktail of the Hour is Dean's lament to their enormous success, and how it will inevitably end with changing times. Peter vents to an angry Frank (upset and the Kennedy's growing distance, and Peter being the brother in-law to JFK ought to be the problem's remedy) with the tune I Don't Want to be a Kennedy, and two gangsters (Skinny D'Amato and Johnny Roselli talking to Sam Giancana) express the mafiaís frustration with Attorney General Bobby Kennedy's campaign against organized crime with the duet If Thatís What it Takes.
Ava Gardner also returns to Frank, briefly, just as his new empire is crumbling rapidly. Upset by his distractions of phone calls and angry friends, she shares a duet with him, You Will Never Change, and then leaves him as she did so often before when they were married. Frank gets his shining moment with the tune Loser of the Century, returning to the emotions and means of expressing them that is really whatís been the most important thing to him all along: his singing. The show closes with Frank boarding a plane to Europe to do charity shows to boost his public image. He has a revelation while talking to his body guard, realizing how much he does still have in his life, and all the important things thatíll never go away. He then gets an idea for a new scheme, and runs off excitedly, just as he did at the start of the show. (kind of a "ego-around-in-circles" kind of thing).
There are many other tunes not listed above or available on this page, simply because they haven't been recorded yet. The full script and/or a piano/vocal score are available, just send an email or snail mail request to:
Brent Goodbar
-or-
Mrs. Tricia Galbraith
email: goodbar26@yahoo.com
1930 17th Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94116
email: pjg13@aol.com
1406 Parkside Drive
Evansville, Indiana 47714