TO live up to one legend is not easy. To attempt three at once could be described as madness. Not so with The Rat Pack. The ‘Live From Las Vegas’ show recreating the glitz and glamour of an evening at the Sands hotel with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr is first rate entertainment.

All the old favourites are here –That’s Amore, Mr Bojangles and New York, New York, Mack the Knife and much more. The live 11-piece swing band on stage is terrific under the direction of musical surpervisor Matthew Freeman.

Each of the three protagonists brings something of their alter egos to the stage. Stephen Rashbrook was understated but impresses as Sinatra; Darren Charles, though lacking the physical wiry frame of Sammy Davis Jr, convincingly captures the high energy persona of the talented singer and dancer. And then Deano – played by a smiling, charming Nigel Casey to superb effect. He even manages to make the drink-fuelled clowning around look in the same neighbourhood of cool as Martin.

The three backing singers and dancers, the Burelli Sisters individually and together sounded and looked fabulous and certainly add more to the show than they sometimes take away by distracting the eye.

The fairly recent addition of Ella Fitzgerald (Nicola Emmanuel) is a tour de force for this long-running and very successful show. She comes on in the second (and stronger) half and certainly elevates the mix of banter, chat, jokes and stand-out songs to an even higher level. The Rat Park could party, and they could sing. Sinatra did it My Way: these guys did it Their Way and it works.

Runs until Saturday, May 12.

Dorothy Blundell