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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Des McAnuff

Aired October 11, 2003 - 09:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: You might call it "Techno Frank," the show is called Sinatra. His voice, his world, his way. It opens this week at New York's Radio City Music Hall, and Tony award-winner Des McAnuff is creative director of the show. He joins us now from New York.
Thank you very much for joining us. This really looks like a multimedia event. What is it people are going to see?

DES MCANUFF, DIRECTOR, "SINATRA HIS WAY": You know, they'll see Frank Sinatra projected on a series of films, singing some of his greatest songs with a company of more than 80 people.

MOLINEAUX: I guess we've really got to explain how it is that you did this because there was an old Frank Sinatra TV show from the '50s, and you essentially rescued footage from it.

Take a look at what happens, because the process, we now understand, is rotascoping, actually not a real technology in showbiz. On the left, you see what it originally looked like as he was standing on this 1950s style sets. On the right is the product that you came up with. It sounds like a real arduous process.

MCANUFF: Yeah, it's very time consuming. You have to kind of go frame by frame. And we were very fortunate that Sinatra had the foresight and vision to film these TV shows. There was no need to do that, because in those days, of course, it was all kinescope. And he put a series of these shows on 35 millimeter film, and separated his vocal track. And, in fact, motion picture recording was the finest recording of the time. So these are in fact some of the best recordings of many of these songs.

MOLINEAUX: What we're seeing now is essentially what you are going to see live on the stage. In fact, you can see the live musicians down on the front.

How big of a challenge is it technically to put this all together? You're not talking about a musician singing to a recorded background, but rather a live orchestra playing with a recorded singer.

MCANUFF: Yeah, it's been very challenging. It's actually, as you've just pointed out, it's a number of old technologies, like click track, which is an electronic metronome, basically, and then, you know, digital technology. We -- Frank appears on many different screens, as do other people and other imagery, and all this has to be, you know, coordinated with a device called a montage.

So it has been, at times, kind of stupidly ambitious, but it's been a lot of fun.

MOLINEAUX: Now, "The Frank Sinatra Show" actually bombed back when it was on TV. Did that turn this all into an opportunity for you?

MCANUFF: Gee, if it bombed, it ran -- it ran for three years, so that's a nice long bomb. You know, I think his performances are pretty remarkable, and we also show other footage of Sinatra. It's not all from the television show, but no one's seen this film at all, because even if you were watching television in 1959 you were seeing it on kinescope, as I said, so no one's seen this kind of beautiful quality.

Sometimes, by the way, in those days, the orchestra was slightly out of sync, because they did it so quickly. So even if you were listening to it, you weren't going to hear what we're going to present at Radio City.

MOLINEAUX: You are doing this in the majesty of Radio City Music Hall. How significant does the venue itself become in a show like this?

MCANUFF: Well, I've always, you know, kind of dreamt of working -- dreamed of working at Radio City. I think it's arguably the greatest theater, maybe even in the world. But, you know, you need to achieve some kind of intimacy with performance. I think this show's kind of what the people that designed Radio City had in mind, because we can use image magnification to make the theater feel intimate.

I run a theater in California called the La Jolla Playhouse, and my ambition is to make Radio City have the same kind of intimacy that we have in a 500-seat theater there.

MOLINEAUX: Big technical challenge, as I understand, you are just a little behind as far as getting if all together and making it work.

MCANUFF: Oh, yes we are, and it's regrettable. And I'm sorry. There are people -- we had to cancel a few performances, and I regret that, I'm sorry to the people that were expecting to come, and I really hope they get to see the show. I think it's going to be a wonderful experience.

MOLINEAUX: Thank you very much for being with us. Des McAnuff. The show is "Sinatra: His Voice, His World, His Way," but he probably never imagined it would be put together quite this technically.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 11, 2003 - 09:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: You might call it "Techno Frank," the show is called Sinatra. His voice, his world, his way. It opens this week at New York's Radio City Music Hall, and Tony award-winner Des McAnuff is creative director of the show. He joins us now from New York.
Thank you very much for joining us. This really looks like a multimedia event. What is it people are going to see?

DES MCANUFF, DIRECTOR, "SINATRA HIS WAY": You know, they'll see Frank Sinatra projected on a series of films, singing some of his greatest songs with a company of more than 80 people.

MOLINEAUX: I guess we've really got to explain how it is that you did this because there was an old Frank Sinatra TV show from the '50s, and you essentially rescued footage from it.

Take a look at what happens, because the process, we now understand, is rotascoping, actually not a real technology in showbiz. On the left, you see what it originally looked like as he was standing on this 1950s style sets. On the right is the product that you came up with. It sounds like a real arduous process.

MCANUFF: Yeah, it's very time consuming. You have to kind of go frame by frame. And we were very fortunate that Sinatra had the foresight and vision to film these TV shows. There was no need to do that, because in those days, of course, it was all kinescope. And he put a series of these shows on 35 millimeter film, and separated his vocal track. And, in fact, motion picture recording was the finest recording of the time. So these are in fact some of the best recordings of many of these songs.

MOLINEAUX: What we're seeing now is essentially what you are going to see live on the stage. In fact, you can see the live musicians down on the front.

How big of a challenge is it technically to put this all together? You're not talking about a musician singing to a recorded background, but rather a live orchestra playing with a recorded singer.

MCANUFF: Yeah, it's been very challenging. It's actually, as you've just pointed out, it's a number of old technologies, like click track, which is an electronic metronome, basically, and then, you know, digital technology. We -- Frank appears on many different screens, as do other people and other imagery, and all this has to be, you know, coordinated with a device called a montage.

So it has been, at times, kind of stupidly ambitious, but it's been a lot of fun.

MOLINEAUX: Now, "The Frank Sinatra Show" actually bombed back when it was on TV. Did that turn this all into an opportunity for you?

MCANUFF: Gee, if it bombed, it ran -- it ran for three years, so that's a nice long bomb. You know, I think his performances are pretty remarkable, and we also show other footage of Sinatra. It's not all from the television show, but no one's seen this film at all, because even if you were watching television in 1959 you were seeing it on kinescope, as I said, so no one's seen this kind of beautiful quality.

Sometimes, by the way, in those days, the orchestra was slightly out of sync, because they did it so quickly. So even if you were listening to it, you weren't going to hear what we're going to present at Radio City.

MOLINEAUX: You are doing this in the majesty of Radio City Music Hall. How significant does the venue itself become in a show like this?

MCANUFF: Well, I've always, you know, kind of dreamt of working -- dreamed of working at Radio City. I think it's arguably the greatest theater, maybe even in the world. But, you know, you need to achieve some kind of intimacy with performance. I think this show's kind of what the people that designed Radio City had in mind, because we can use image magnification to make the theater feel intimate.

I run a theater in California called the La Jolla Playhouse, and my ambition is to make Radio City have the same kind of intimacy that we have in a 500-seat theater there.

MOLINEAUX: Big technical challenge, as I understand, you are just a little behind as far as getting if all together and making it work.

MCANUFF: Oh, yes we are, and it's regrettable. And I'm sorry. There are people -- we had to cancel a few performances, and I regret that, I'm sorry to the people that were expecting to come, and I really hope they get to see the show. I think it's going to be a wonderful experience.

MOLINEAUX: Thank you very much for being with us. Des McAnuff. The show is "Sinatra: His Voice, His World, His Way," but he probably never imagined it would be put together quite this technically.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com