Players Circle Theater revives “My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra

This is Gulf Coast Life Arts Edition from I'm John Davis. Thanks for joining us. Today we're diving back into the robust summer performance season at Players Circle Theater to shine a light on the final two productions of the season. This week marks the final performances of Players Circles youth theater production of Stephen Sondheim's multi-award-winning and beloved musical Into the Woods. And right on the heels of Into the Woods, the theater space will be transformed from that magical mystical realm into an intimate, classy nightclub for a production of My Way, a musical tribute to Frank Sinatra. The show celebrates the life, music and style of Old Blue Eyes and includes more than 50 classic tunes from the Great American Songbook. These are instantly recognizable, nostalgia laden songs like Fly Me to the moon, New York, New York, Cheek to Cheek, I Get a Kick Out of You, and of Course, My Way, among others. Despite the small cast, there's just four singer dancer actors. This is an ambitious production. There's also a piano, bass and drum jazz trio on stage and throughout the show, the music never stops. My way premiered at the Tennessee Repertory Theater in 2000, and continues to be one of the most popular musical reviews in musical theater history, with more than 500 productions and multiple national tours. Players Circle Theater first presented this show back in 2024, and it's back by popular demand with the same reunited cast, and three of them are joining me in studio today. We're talking with Ted Wioncek Players Circle Circle Theater associate artistic director. Ted, welcome back. Thank you so much for having us. And also my way. Cast member, Players Circle Theater Director of Education and director of their currently running production of Into the Woods. Kimberly Suskind. Great to have you back. Thank you for having me. Also my way. Cast member, company director of outreach and assistant director of Into the Woods. A.J. Mendini is back in studio with us as well. Thanks for taking the time. Glad to be here. So we're in these final performances of Into the Woods. Again. This is a really well beloved show. Between the original Broadway production and the 2002 revival, it's garnered like a million Tonys. But for the uninitiated, Kimberly and A.J., can you just tell us a bit about what the show is about and why it's such a good fit for a youth theater production? Yeah, absolutely. It's it's it takes all the fairy tales that you know and love and it it twists them in a way where they all sort of intersect and, and start to, you know, acknowledge each other. And the first act, the brilliance of Sondheim and James of Pine is the first act is what happens when you get your wish, when you get your happily ever after. And then the second act is what happens as a consequence to doing whatever you could do to get your wish. So it's really unique. The first act will be, you know, somewhat familiar. And then the second act is when everything gets turned on its head and it has a very dramatic it has a lot of comedy, it's got a lot of drama. It's really heartfelt. It's, you know, it's got a little something for everybody. You know, I think some people might hear a term like youth theater and just immediately become dismissive, like, no one's going to this except their parents. It won't be any good. Set the record straight. For me. Well, there's not just parents and grandparents and siblings that come to see these productions. We're very fortunate to have a a robust patron list and donors and all these people that come and support the education program. In our fundraiser last April, we had an incredible amount of donations of scholarships and financial donations to help the education program. And now they come and they support the kids, and it's great for us to see them there. It's great for the kids to see them there. But when I say kids, I mean they're ages 15 to 23. So we've got high school through college age and some recent graduates. And you know, it's their talent is immeasurable. I mean, it's incredibly inspiring and impressive. Well, last week's performances were all sold out. And that was the most amazing thing, is sitting in that theater and looking around and saying, only a handful of these are parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters. I mean, these are true patrons of the arts cheering them on as well. They should, because I got to tell you this, this production is every bit as good as a main stage production from set the costumes, performance, the direction, every step of the way. It's quite impressive and the feedback we've received is absolutely overwhelming. So if anyone out there listening has any youngins, you'll love it. But even if you don't believe me, this is built for adult audiences as well. Are there advantages and challenges to directing younger actors? Yeah, I mean, AGL, definitely, you speak on this as far as the production end, but yeah, I mean, there's benefits and there's negatives because you have students that are maybe a little less experienced than professionals, but they're also free. You know, they're they're sponges and they soak up. We did a lot of character analysis. You know, these characters are three dimensional. It's not these, you know, two dimensional Hansel and Gretel kind of stories. It's they are full fledged people with flaws and and with, you know, real personalities. And so that's that was really great to dig into. They loved that. And they really took that and ran with it. And as far as staging, you know, there's always a little bit of a learning curve as we are in three quarter instead of a traditional like proscenium theater. It takes them a little while to latch on to that. But I think AJ will agree with me that working with kids, I mean especially they want to be there. This is not, you know, recreational theater. This is a pre-professional training program. And they they're taught by professionals and they want to learn. And so it's extremely rewarding. I mean, just to echo exactly what Ted and Kimberly both said, we are treating this just as important as every production we do in the main stage season. So everything from costumes, set and and performing on stage. We're giving them the full experience of performing in a professional environment and a professional show. So incorporating, you know, rented or borrowed or built costumes and props and things that they may not have experienced before. And the care that goes into, you know, participating in them and using them is also part of the learning experience. And they get to help. We had a lot of, you know, student volunteers come in and help paint. AJ built some really amazing, magical props, and they got to see that process. So they're really getting a well-rounded arts education. And it is it's a magical show in of itself. And I think this production packs even extra magic in there, especially due to the intimacy of the setting. You said three quarter. I mean, you are right there. It's a Broadway piece. People are used to sitting 500 seat away from the action. You're in the woods when you were audience. And the amazing thing, John, is the the support over this program and of course, this production. It's immeasurable because the truth is, out of these 30 young, up and coming stars of tomorrow. Right? Maybe a handful of them will want to pursue this for a living. And we hope that they do. They all have the chops to do it, but whether they decide to do it or not is neither here nor there, but every single one of them in their lifetime is going to go to a job interview. They're going to have to shake someone by the hand. They're going to have to look them in the eye, and they're going to have to speak eloquently. And theater education and this production prepares them for that. So if you are on the other end of this, hearing this and saying, how can I support the future of not just our country, but particularly the arts in Southwest Florida and just economy and the growth of Southwest Florida supporting these kids? They are all outliers. They are all going to be the future leaders. So see them now. And you have to think about arts funding getting cut. You know, nationwide that programs like this are very important to support. Yeah. So just six performances left and then you have a whole five days. Before before you open up my way of musical tribute to Frank Sinatra. Ted, what made you want to bring this show back after Players Circle debuted it in 2024? It's truly backed by popular demand. I mean, it did so well two years ago for us that we had audiences clamoring for it ever since. Please bring it back. There's a uniqueness to it. First of all, you're starting with great material. You don't get any better than Frank Sinatra and his songbook, right? Then, you know, we have this killer three piece band, four performers on stage, each unique, each a different sound, a different voice. But the whole theater is transformed into a nightclub. So everything, every element, it feels like you're walking back in time. For me personally, that's what I love most about it. You walk into that theater and you go, this is not 2026 and I'm not in Southwest Florida. I'm at the Copa, right? You know, I'm at Atlantic City in the heyday. I'm in Vegas. It has that feel and it's an interactive piece. While we're all performing, we also sort of traipse through the audience at time. It has that nightclub Rat Pack feel, and it's an homage. It's an homage to Frank Sinatra, and I think that the audience, they're transported when they watch this, it's not just they're listening to music or hearing voices or a band. They're actually kind of going back into perhaps a simpler time, you know, it's a walk down memory lane. And when you give people an audience an opportunity to escape for 90 minutes, I mean, that's therapy, baby. I mean, you know what I mean? You know, more than 50 classic songs. The musical score is constructed in a way that the music never really stops. Even spoken long lines of dialog are delivered underneath, like maybe a piano solo. Do you get a chance to take a break at all aside from intermission? I mean, this seems like a real endurance test. No, not really, and not even during intermission. Really. Not even during intermission. We continue that. We continue kind of the the the club atmosphere, atmosphere and participate with the with the audience. Talk to them, get to know them a little bit more and. Really nice, you know, although it would be great to get a break. It's not it's not a super long sit either. I mean, the show, it moves once we get started. There's a lot of medleys and all of a sudden we're at intermission. And because we're kind of interacting with the audience throughout, it's nice to get a minute with them and be able to shake someone's hand and say, oh, you know, how are you today? It's good to see you again. I mean, and they love that. They love interacting with us. Please. I'm sorry. Plays into the fact that we are ourselves on stage two. We did. Not playing Frank Sinatra. We are ourselves paying tribute to this man and his music. So it allows us to really kind of connect. With that. We don't always get to. Right, right. So I wanted to get into something you had just said, AJ, that's really important is that, you know, this is not about doing a physical or vocal imitation of Frank Sinatra, but just sort of embodying his spirit of. Cool. Yeah. And your characters, you don't have names on paper. It's like man one and man two or a woman one. And the descriptions are so fun, like Kimberly for yours here, I'll read a little bit from a leggy blond or redhead with drop dead looks and a smile that lights up the room. Check she should be able to project an energetic and youthful sexuality to the audience. Woman two is the type of woman that might be associated with Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner, Mia Farrow. When it comes to your vocal performance, I'm curious about how you approach that character because, yeah, I mean, for me, I associate a lot of these songs, of course, with Frank Sinatra, but a lot of the songs he was known for are also songs that people associate with Sarah Vaughan. Exactly. Gerald. Well, that's the thing. It's the Great American Songbook. So a lot of these songs are Gershwin or Irving Berlin or, you know, Cole Porter, who's one of my favorites. And he writes very well for female voices as, as well as male. And because so many women have covered some of these songs and they've been in multiple musicals or in multiple albums, like you were saying, it's nice for me to I take on more of that kind of bright jazz sound that would be like a trumpet in, you know, which has a different sound to, I'll say, like Ted, although he's not imitating Sinatra has. I mean, it's incredible, has the crooning style, and if you close your eyes, you're listening to Frank Sinatra, and they want to hear that. But I think it's nice break for the ear and a changeup for the ear to hear AJ sing some tenor. You know, jazz me to sing more soprano. And then Ruth, our fourth cast member, has a beautiful, rich lower sound, which, you know, it's just nice to hear these songs in all different vocal types. Despite all the intricacies, the songs, the nonstop music, the choreography, the dancing, coordinating with the live band on stage, does it make it any easier just because you have all done this before together? I think in a lot of ways we have to admit that that is the case. I mean, we're familiar with the material, we know what sort of elicits a certain response so we can make minor adjustments to our performances due to that. And, you know, and really like what Kimberly was talking about, interacting with the audience. You know, one of our mottos is that we're big enough to serve you, small enough to know you. And this is the perfect piece for that, because we actually are getting to know them well. We know from last time that we did this, that that was one of the highlights of the night was us going out during intermission and meeting people. So now what was when we first created that idea was, what is this going to be like? How's it going now? It's something we're so excited to do because we know the reaction, you know, the response it received. Well, they love this music. A lot of people in our audience grew up with this or their parents grew up with. And so it's nostalgic. So you get people, you know, you're not going to have a lot of people sitting back and looking like they're going to fall asleep in a show like this. They're in it. And because they're in a club atmosphere, they know we can see them. We're with them. But I got to tell you, this is something, you know, you could go see, theoretically, a singer in a club behind a piano singing these songs. Right. But you're going to get one guy, you might get a piano. Maybe you'll get another piece. You're also going to get a lot of noise in the background. You're going to let a dishes clanging and all that kind of thing. This gives you that intimacy, but it puts it in a professional setting. So you get to hear every lyric, you get to hear every note. And that's different from what you'd get to experience outside of a theater venue. So it's almost like we are creating an atmosphere and bringing it into the theater versus the other way around. I'm curious about how you maybe approach your characters differently in terms of like, man, one is supposed to be a little bit older than man. Dare you? Yeah. Well he is, yes. Well, there's even even, like, the creators provide, like, instructions for the actor playing man two. They're like, listen to Sinatra's recordings with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra to understand the smooth, easy vocal style that is required for this role. I mean, I'm like, oh, okay. That's it's like you are intended to maybe capture not just the spirit of Frank, but a specific era. Yeah, yeah, a more youthful I mean, my character has a lot of the sillier moments or moments that can seem a little goofier or not so serious, which allows me to have a bit of fun. And Ted sets me up great every time. He has. A very good job of that. I think it's it it. Going back to what Kimberly said, it's it's nice to have these different sounds, be able to be yourself, deliver these songs that are the American songbook in, in, in your own voice and still reflect the spirit of this man. And cover the different eras of Sinatra himself. I mean, he went through a very I mean, his voice changed, you know, from his young career through, you know, his later years. And, I mean, the songs reflect that, the voice reflects that. And it's nice to have a little bit of, you know, sprinkling of his whole career. I will also say that AJ and I are both born and raised Jersey boys, so you better you better come correct. When it comes to Sinatra, that's true. Well, I mean, I'm just saying it's, you know, forget about it. The show includes a number of optional. Yeah. Don't take that seriously, John. It's so good. A number of optional dance breaks. So I'm curious about how intensive you've gotten with the choreography. Yeah, not not as you know, we cut some of them. Some of them went on a little too long. And and then we kept a couple that really were worth just featuring the band and not stepping aside because they're so talented. We kept some of them, you know, to keep it active. But, you know, it's more it's loosely choreographed. I would say there is visual interest to watch, but. I'll tell you, you say that. But I got to say to your credit, you did choreograph it. The choreography that's there is. Right? I mean, it's beautiful. And you have a tap dance solo in the middle. Fly me to the moon because you and the drummer. And it is, it is. It's worth the price of admission. That's pretty cool. It is nice to, you know, we we get to, you know, have a live drummer. So I get to go back and forth with him a couple times with the tap and then the drum is fun. They did such a great job putting this piece together. We've had the pleasure over the years of, you know, knowing the creators behind this, and it did such a great job putting it together. And I have to imagine after 500 performances, what probably excites them is the fact that every version is slightly unique. I mean, even though we're following what's in the script, every voice is going to be a little different. Every set is going to be a little different. But I think they paid such homage to Frank Sinatra, and we want to pay homage to their piece and to Frank Sinatra. And it's really interesting. You know, there's just little elements of, you know, your Sinatra little hand motions, little head things, little turns that we really kind of studied to capture, just like you said, that essence of cool because nobody was cool with the Sinatra. Yeah. I mean, and again, I want to be clear with everybody, there's not like a traditional narrative flow like in a musical. This is a true music review. We tell a lot of great, fun facts about him throughout the piece. In fact, you know, what about Ava Gardner? When he proposed to Ava Gardner, she threw the diamond ring out the window of the moving car, and it's never been found. And it isn't that heartbreaking. So I have to this were going on on a scavenger hunt. Yeah, right. Do you expect audiences of different ages are going to respond differently to the music? Because, I mean, if you're young, you're not going to be nostalgic about it. But I went through the song list and I was like, I mean, I can't quote every word of every verse, but I could sing the chorus of every one of these songs. Absolutely. I don't want to. I'll start and I want you guys to weigh in. But I have to say, I grew up nostalgia for an error that I wasn't a part of. Yeah, I mean, I did, you know, I grew up wanting to have been alive throughout this time period. You know, we Sinatra was it in our household and in our family. And I want it to experience the Rat Pack. I wanted to experience that. And of course, born too little, too late. So for me, you know, even at my age, the advanced of the cast, as John so kindly pointed out, the. 40 to 60 is the reason. I, you know, you kind of you're going to pay for this. No, really. The the thing is, even for me, it scratches an inch of, of an error that I wasn't a part of. But I think what's so great is exactly what you just said. Like these young adults who haven't experienced Sinatra. I mean, at least we were alive when he was alive. Some of these kids from the education program aren't. They'll get to be a part of an error. They get to step back in time. But the older audience that did experience it and is seeing it, you talk about these songs, what makes Christmas songs great? It's the memory. We all have an individual memory of each Christmas song. It's not specifically Karen Carpenter's voice or Nat King Cole. We do love that, but it's the memory and we go back when we hear Christmas songs where we're back at home, we smell the turkey, we see the lights. Right? That's what the Great American Songbook does. They're sitting there. Yes, they like Sinatra. Yes. They're enjoying the performance. They're reliving memories. What better gift can you give an audience? Well, I think that's. I'm sorry. Sorry, but that's exactly. That was exactly what I was thinking as you were speaking. My version of nostalgia is not harkening back to when this was happening. It's harkening back to my memories attached to this music and being at my grandparents house, holidays, whatever it might be. That's the nostalgia that I'm feeling in in participating. And I didn't grow up listening to Sinatra. I mean, it's a shame, isn't it? But my family was kind of in a different musical path. And for me, you know, other than, you know, pursuing a career in musical theater where these songs overlap a lot. I loved jazz, a guy found it. I think it's got a cool factor. And even for younger people, it's a unique date night. It's something that's not going to the movies. It's something that's, you know, not Netflix and chill, right? You're you're coming to a space that's transformed and it's jazzy and it's sexy. And I think it's just a nice something different. So I think younger people will get a lot out of it. I'm so glad you said date night, because when you talk about what do we experience? Last time we experienced quite a few audience members. One in particular. I'm thinking about who came back three times, really. I won't mention his name, but he did come back three different dates. With three different dates. Mum's the word, but he really enjoyed it. Set the tone. That's all I'm going to say. Yeah, for unique date night and you want to skip the usual fare, this is certainly the place. To be. That is truly and Frank Sinatra spirit. Yeah. And he came dressed to the nines, so he came in like almost a Texas. He looked like he belonged in the show. That's great. Well, he would talked about, you know, Christmas nostalgia earlier. I recently discovered there's a sequel to this show called Christmas My Way, and this was originally intended to be performed by the same cast who did My Way, the show that you're about to be doing, is that something we may be seeing in a future season? It's certainly been on the list year after year Robert and I have molded over, and I have no doubt it will make its appearance in similar fashion. It's just a matter of how it complements the other pieces throughout the season. It won't be coming up this particular year, but perhaps the next are the following. We're now in no rush to get away from this material. I mean, it really is. It's sort of captured our hearts, and it's great to be away from something for two years as we were to come back and revisit it. And you talk about nostalgia, I'm getting overwhelmed. I start tearing up about memories we had from two years ago, stacked on the memories I had hearing. This was the first time at my grandparents stacked on the. It's just it's so wonderful. And we all get along so well. We're all friends in real life and so we have a lot of laughs in rehearsal. We have a good. Time, Sinatra said. I think one of the lines we have in there is that he knew what the cat who wrote the song was singing about. He knew about the pain. He knew about the joy, and that's what gave him the edge. He didn't believe necessarily. It was his voice. It was his understanding of the material. And I think that's what we've really captured with this. I'm proud to say. All right, well, that is all the time we have for today's show. But I want to thank my guest. I've been speaking with Kimberly Suskind, AJ Mendini, and Ted Wioncek with Players Circle Theater. They'll all be performing In My Way a musical tribute to Frank Sinatra, which runs August 14th through the 30th, and audiences have just four days left to catch a performance for the company's youth theater production of Into the Woods. For more information or to secure your tickets, visit Players Circle Theater or call the Box office (239) 800-3292. Kimberly AJ, Ted, thank you so much for being here again. It's always a good time when you're around. Thank you so much. You and I show today was produced by yours truly, with audio production by Matthew Krause and video production by David Oquendo. And if you missed any of today's show, you can always hear in their entirety on our website wgcu.org/gcl Or subscribe to our podcast wherever you get your podcasts. For now, thanks for listening. I'm John Davis, this is WGCU-FM Fort Myers, 90.1 WMKO Marco Island 91.7 FM, NPR for Southwest Florida.