The Ravinia Festival won’t release it’s entire 2014 schedule until Feb. 27, but it already has planted a theoretical “candle in the cake” for 2015.
Ravinia CEO Welz Kauffman tells me — if he has “His Way” — there will be a huge celebration of Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday in the summer of 2015. (Ol’ Blue Eyes’ actual centennial will be Dec. 12, 2015).
According to Kauffman, the goal will be to stage a mega-celebration that would include “Frank’s family members and other entertainers who have worked with him,” and would address all aspects of Sinatra’s career, from the great Nelson Riddle recordings to the movies and even his famous connections to Chicago.
The hope, of course, also is to involve performances by younger artists inspired by Sinatra.
From Michael Feinstein to Liza Minnelli to Harry Connick, Jr., to Tony Bennett, to Michael Buble and even the rapper Logic — the list of potential performers at a big Sinatra Centennial bash boggle the mind!
