For son of Racalmuto, Sinatra’s the way
Tony Sciara marks Old Blue Eyes’ centenary
Tony Sciara’s a man who never measures out his passion by the teaspoon or his actions by the half step.
I’m not saying it’s “all or nothing” with Tony. It’s just “all.” If he likes, say, Frank Sinatra, he will ink his veins in Sinatra (as you can see this weekend at the Blue Grotto).
I met him when Rigatoni, his then 17-year-old Jack Russell, went missing in 2011. Tony carpeted the city, organized a neighbourhood search party and ran classifieds in The Spectator every day. Day after day, month after month.
He spent almost $2,000 on those ads, people noticed, someone suggested I do a story and I did.
Rigatoni was found shortly after the column ran but sadly had to be put down. He’d had a great life with Tony and family.
In the five years since, I’ve come to see that Tony’s light is not unidirectional but shines through a prism, breaking into many colours.
Animal lover? Of course. Two young dogs gambol through his home as we talk, and Rigatoni’s picture sits on the mantel. Business man. He owns/runs Governor’s Manor Retirement Home in Dundas.
There’s more, I learned. Actor. Tony played the memorable Mr. Del Rossi in “DeGrassi High.” Numerous other roles. He’s also a crooner, impresario, musical interpreter, writer.
And, of course, he’s a Hamilton son of Racalmuto, key to his bond with the Chairman of the Board.
“As a kid on Ray Street North, it was always about Frank Sinatra,” says Tony, wearing a “Straight Outta Hamilton” T-shirt.
“He was one of us. At the social clubs, they’d be playing Sinatra. His (Sinatra’s) mother was from Catania near Mt. Etna.”
Tony always had a gift for performing and acted in a stage production of “A Christmas Carol” when he was six. And he was always singing.
As much as the music, Tony was drawn by the fabulous wealth of story that swirled around characters like Sinatra and another favourite, Bobby Darin. And so was born Tony’s tradition of staging big shows.
“Splish Splash — The Bobby Darin Story” was his acclaimed touring production, with a 13piece orchestra, in which Tony wove Darin’s best-known songs together with stories from his meteoric life.
“100 Years of Sinatra: I’m Gonna Live Til I Die” is a similar treatment, featuring an eight-piece orchestra, with Jim Heaslip, applied to Old Blue Eyes, for the centennial of Sinatra’s birth last year, featuring many great songs from the mammoth oeuvre.
Tony’s voice is coated not just with Sinatra’s music but his life so the stories flow spontaneously from his mouth. And out they’ll come in this weekend’s two-night stand (Friday’s already sold out). Some stories from the lore (Tony’s read a library on the man); other from the horse’s mouth.
For instance, Tony once opened for Al Martino, who played Johnny Fontaine in “The Godfather,” modelled, they say, on Sinatra. “He told me Sinatra never talked to him again after he took that role. He warned him not to.”
So many other stories. The women, Ava Gardner, for instance; the mob; Sinatra’s forays into acting, at which he was a natural; lots of ad lib.
Is Tony a “new” blue eyes? Hardly. His eyes are brown and his performance not an impersonation. “I’m a different shoe size,” says Tony.
“I can’t step into his. I’m like his best friend.” Tony doesn’t try to plagiarize Sinatra’s impeccable breathing and phrasing; he brings his own chops but he captures Sinatra’s warmth of tone.
“The Blue Grotto’s the perfect venue,” says Tony, of the moodily lit throwback to the ’60s.
“He (Sinatra) was the poet laureate of loneliness.” And maybe its best cure. Who better to be by yourself with, even in company, than Frank?