Celebrating Christmas Sinatra-style in East Grinstead

"People can expect to take a trip back in time to the golden age of Christmas television spectaculars by the likes of Andy Williams and Perry Como," says David Alacey who appears as Frank Sinatra in a show designed for all the family.

“Like those greats, The Rat Pack – Frank, Dean and Sammy are synonymous with Christmas and as performers we look forward to the Christmas tour throughout the year. We really can't wait to get into the festive mood with classics such as Let it Snow and White Christmas. When audiences leave the theatre we make sure that they feel as though it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

“The Sinatra started for me when I was training as an actor at the time at Italia Conti,” David recalls, “and I needed an equity card. The easiest way to get one was to do a variety act and work in the clubs and just build up your contacts and I didn't know what to base my act on. But it just happened at the time that my parents had a spare ticket to go and see Frank Sinatra. That was in 1990. He died in 1998. And I also saw him again on his final UK tour in 1992.

“And I was just completely knocked out. He was amazing. I was knocked out by the way that even though he was in his 70s and his voice maybe wasn't what it was, he was still able to use his acting skills to give a great performance. He was a great actor. He had won an Oscar. And he was using all those skills particularly when he was singing the emotional songs.

“And I was just bowled over by it. I decided to form an act about his life story and little did I know that all these years later I would still be doing it.

“There is still so much interest in him and I think you just have to realise that he was absolutely an iconic figure in the 20th century. You look at Elvis and Sinatra and The Beatles, the complete greats of the 20th century that have lasted the course. He had such charisma. Charisma is a great word for him. He encompassed not just the singing but also the acting and he was also a political figure involved in politics and he obviously had the links with organised crime. The point is he was a really interesting figure who went a long way beyond the music and the performing.”

And, of course, David really appreciates what Sinatra has done for him personally: “Every year on his birthday I celebrate his life because he's given me an amazing career. Who knows what I would have done, which way things would have gone if I hadn't taken this turn but Sinatra has certainly given me a wonderful career in this business. I've been very fortunate to work on this show and the great thing is that there's such a range of his songs. You can keep changing things. You're able to keep it fresh. Obviously you can't please everyone all the time. Last night in Inverness we didn't do Strangers In The Night and someone complained to me that we hadn't done it but you can’t do everything!”