In this solo show about an ambitious crooner, we see Frank Corelli in an interrogation room, prompted to reveal the story that got him there.
Jamie Begg gives a fine performance and this entertaining exploration that considers ideas of power is well executed.
It all started at the Pink Flamingo where Franky was singing one night. It’s 1950s New Jersey and any man can be who he wants to be, as long as he has connections. A meeting with Don Giovanni and Franky’s ambitions to be a “made man” lead him from musician to mafioso.
Scottish actor Jamie Begg does an excellent job with the New Jersey accent. He’s a capable singer although I found the retro style microphone had a harsh sound to it, despite looking the part. He’s better when he’s singing off-mic.
Begg performs with real emotion and there’s something naïve about Frank – he tells us he’s not really a bad guy and we believe him. That said, he’s not without confidence that he’ll get off. After all, Don Giovanni and “the Family” got him into this mess in the first place and with his connections, surely he’s untouchable. While the writing is good, the story doesn’t really offer a new angle on the mafia genre – we’ve seen this world in Goodfellas and The Sopranos before. The pedant in me noticed a bit of dialogue that needs a slight correction – a reference to Corelli singing Sinatra songs. Sinatra, in fact, only ever sang standards and never wrote his own songs – although he did make many songs famous.
The performance uses a lot of recorded audio. We hear the interrogation of an unseen man buzzing through an intercom in another room as well as audio to suggest time and place: the Pink Flamingo, a funeral, the ominous buzz of the prison intercom. It’s well done and adds some variation to what would otherwise be monologue on stage.
Jamie Begg gives a fine performance and this entertaining exploration that considers ideas of power is well executed.
