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Rat Pack tribute comes to Port Theatre

Andy DiMino, Gary Anthony and Lambus Dean portray Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.
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Photo courtesy Andy DiMino Dean Martin tribute artist Andy DiMino, pictured, along with Gary Anthony as Frank Sinatra and Lambus Dean as Sammy Davis Jr., will perform An Evening with the Rat Pack at the Port Theatre on Oct. 3.

Andy DiMino likes to tell people, “I spent 25, 30 years trying to be me, but the most success I’ve had is being someone else. Being Dean Martin.”

Since around the turn of the millennium, DiMino has been travelling the world portraying the iconic crooner, and on Oct. 3 DiMino, along with Gary Anthony as Frank Sinatra and Lambus Dean as Sammy Davis Jr., will perform An Evening with the Rat Pack at the Port Theatre.

Martin’s music has been a part of DiMino’s life since childhood, when he used to sit on the living room floor watching the Dean Martin Show with his parents, and listen to the songs of Martin and other Italian-American musicians during Sunday dinners.

DiMino had been performing in Las Vegas for years before catching a Rat Pack tribute show and immediately thinking, “That looks like so much fun.”

“I know how to sing, I had done some stage acting … the only thing I had really never done was comedy, so I started studying what it took be able to deliver like that,” DiMino said.

“Being a bit of a class clown anyway, I was able to pick it up and make it feel very natural and normal. I would watch everything. I would watch Dean Martin with the sound off just to watch everything from his hands to his eyes to his little quirks and mannerisms.”

DiMino said it was important for his portrayal of Martin to go beyond the music. In order to present an authentic recreation, he had to capture the singer’s mischievous character and “be open to things that are happening in the moment.”

“Many times people from the audience will say something, so you have to be able to respond as the character,” he said.

“I learned that early on. You can’t just all of a sudden be like a deer in headlights because you don’t know what to say. There are many situations that arise where you have to be able to stay in character and respond and continue with the show without missing a beat.”

DiMino said the music of the Rat Pack represents “a time in history” and many audience members have an emotional response as they’re reminded of that era. He mentioned one spectator who approached him after a performance in Nevada.

“He waited until all the people had gone by and then he came up to me and said, ‘I just wanted to tell you that what you did on stage…’ and then he started sobbing,” DiMino said.

“He said, ‘It took me right back to being 14 years old and sitting at the foot of the couch with my father and watching the Dean Martin Show and singing along to the songs.’ So I just gave him a hug and said, ‘I’m that same kid. I was there, too.’”

WHAT’S ON … An Evening with the Rat Pack shows at the Port Theatre on Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $54.

arts@nanaimobulletin.com