Arcadia Chorale Pops concert to feature Rat Pack songs

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Maybe you remember when Dean Martin sang “Bye, Bye Blackbird.”

And Frank Sinatra sang “The Way You Look Tonight.”

And Sammy Davis Jr. offered assurance “My Funny Valentine” didn’t have to be perfect.

Or maybe you discovered these Rat Pack songs years after they were recorded.

Either way, the Arcadia Chorale invites you to relive the heydays of the Rat Pack — entertainers of the late 1950s and early 1960s — during their annual Pops concert, set for 8 p.m. Friday, May 17 in the Sawtelle Auditorium at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 550 Madison Ave., Scranton.

The concert theme is “Rat Pack and Mascots,” and if you need an explanation the Rat Pack consisted of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. and some other friends, and their female “mascots” included Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall and Shirley MacLaine.

Mascots?

“Yes, that’s really what they called them,” Arcadia Chorale music director Matthew Rupcich confirmed.

The chorale’s annual pops concert is a popular one, Rupcich said, noting that “all of our concerts reach different people based on their interests.

While there’s an audience for the more serious, classical concerts, he said, there’s also an audience for such familiar, hummable tunes as “Anything Goes,” “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” “Over the Rainbow,” “Come Fly With Me,” “On a Clear Day,” the theme from “New York, New York,” and more.

“I wanted to pick songs the Rat Pack and the female Mascots sang,” Rupcich said, noting it was also important to find arrangements that would be challenging for the singers — who will perform as soloists, a quartet, other small ensembles and as a larger group.

Accompaniment will be provided by The Doug Smith Jazz Trio with Doug Smith on bass, Marshall Kornblatt on piano and R.J. Kennedy on drums.

Tickets to the May 17 concert are $15 general admission, $12 for seniors and WVIA members, free to students.

Then the Arcadia Chorale’s season will end June 22 with a mini choral festival, also at Covenant Presbyterian Church.

“We invite local singers to join us, whether they sing with church groups, community groups, university groups or high school,” Rupcich said. “We’ll be singing Randall Thompson’s ‘Frostiana,’ with a text based on poems by Robert Frost. The program is in English, with a chamber orchestra. People who may not have had a chance to sing with an orchestra may welcome the opportunity.”

The festival also will include Thompson’s “Alleluia.”

“I love this festival,” Rupcich said. “People come in Friday for rehearsal and they rehearse all day Saturday and then we have the concert at 7 p.m. Saturday. It’s really awesome.”

For more info about participating, see arcadiachorale.org/.