Tom Burlinson is Frank

Musical explores both the bright and dark sides of Sinatra

He was one of the most charming men of the 20th century, but he was also known for his hot temper and his many bad habits. A complex personality, Francis Albert Sinatra - better known as Frank - lived larger than life, and when he died in 1998 at the age of 83 his Beverly Hills mourners included Liza Minnelli, Gregory Peck, Nancy Reagan, Sophia Loren and a trio of famous Tonys: Bennett, Curtis and Danza. ("Boy, heaven will never be the same," speaker Kirk Douglas told the assembled funeral guests.)
Australian entertainer Tom Burlinson - best known in North America for his roles in the films The Man From Snowy River and Phar Lap - grew up with the music of Ol' Blues Eyes. "Here was a man of great contradictions and real contrasts," he says. Burlinson has become something of a Sinatra expert; over the past five years he has toured Australia performing Sinatra's famous repertoire in Frank - A Life in Song, a show he created in 1998. (He also sang the voice of the young Sinatra in the Warner Brothers mini-series Sinatra as far back as 1991.) Now he's bringing the show to North America, beginning with a Toronto run.
"I chose Toronto after looking at a couple of North American cities because I was born there," he says, "and also because it's such an established theatre centre." He has only been here once since he left as a child, coincidentally to tape the voice of Sinatra for a soundtrack of a production about Mario Lanza, along with Canadian tenor Richard Margison as the voice of Lanza.
Sinatra was "belligerent, bad-tempered, self-centred and rude," says Burlinson. "And at the same time he was described as generous, gracious, tolerant and tender." Rather than trying to paint a literal portrait of the star, Burlinson uses his trademark songs to illustrate his character and the drama of his high-rolling life.
"For me, the man expressed the best parts of his nature through his singing, and that's the thing I always found the most attractive and the most interesting," Burlinson says. However, he adds, "We do deal with biographical issues. The main premise in the show is that he lived his material."
Therefore, he explains, at the point in the show when he describes Sinatra's tempestuous relationship with film star Ava Gardner, he performs the song "Nevertheless I'm In Love With You." The lyrics mirror the situation more truly than any invented dialogue would do.
With the help of a 16-piece band and a pair of dancers, Burlinson (who is quick to stress that he is not an impersonator) makes his way through some two dozen Sinatra classics, including "Come Fly With Me," "The Lady Is A Tram,." "My Way," and "New York, New York." To date Toronto is the only city that will see the show, but Burlinson hopes the run here will kindle interest across the continent.

Frank - A Life in Song opened on July 16 and runs to August 4 at the Bluma Appel Theatre of the St. Lawrence Centre. For tickets, call 416.872.1111 or visit www.ticketmaster.ca.

Publication Date: 2002-07-21
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=1596