The Press on MY SINATRA: What the Critics Are Saying
"The BEST Sinatra singer in the world."
- Jackie Mason, comedian
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"Dead On."
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"Mesmerizing...A fascinating, intriguing, entertaining and touching tale of the effect a star can have on a fan's life."
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"Hilarious...Masterful...A comic souffle!"
- Scott Siegel
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"He'll blow you away."
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"Absolutely incredible."
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"[Hoffman's] re-creation of the Sinatra sound is nostalgic."
- Chip Deffaa
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"Amazing talent, like Sinatra in his prime."
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"Hoffman sounds amazingly like the Chairman...It is hard to know who you are listening to."
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"A unique interpretation...an evening of great theatre."
- Michael Rothbard, IMAC Theater
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"A tremendously enjoyable show...A passionate tribute to his musical tribute."
- Numa Saisselin, Count Basie Theater
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READ WHAT THE HUFFPOST HAD TO SAY:
Cary Hoffman Shares his Wonderful Lifelong Obsession with Frank Sinatra in My Sinatra
Posted: 05/25/2017 1:00 pm
Cary Hoffman, the forthright, hilarious and entertaining writer/performer of My Sinatra became enchanted with Frank Sinatra's talent and charisma at the age of 12 when he began sleeping through the night with Frank's vocals as backdrop. The result? Sinatra's exquisite phrasing became engraved on Hoffman's DNA. Hoffman's one-man show, My Sinatra, tells his story -- the tale of a Long Island kid's implausible journey of self-discovery through another man's voice and personality.
Cary's early professional attempts at being Frank during his post-adolescent employment in the Catskills were unremarkable until someone explained the difference between him and Sinatra: that Frank sang about making love to a real live girl, something Cary might try. Later, Hoffman's narcoleptic manager actually stayed awake long enough to introduce Cary to Frank. Frank was kind and for 10 golden minutes gave Cary his secrets for being a great singer.
"One night in 1998, the year Sinatra died, I walked into The Red Blazer nightclub like a businessman with an attaché case to see someone in the Stan Rubin Band which was playing there. The next thing I knew I was on stage singing and my voice was still there! I continued singing Sinatra's songs at clubs around Manhattan. Then an agent heard me, told PBS about me and I did a special for them of me singing Sinatra songs in 2004."
"That started me doing Sinatra concerts all over the country. Curiously enough my younger brother predicted I'd have a singing career after Sinatra died and he was right. One night in Muncie, Indiana, I asked the audience how many people wanted to know why I wanted to sing like Sinatra and they did, which was the start of My Sinatra which I've been tweaking ever since."
People may come because they want to hear about Frank Sinatra but they leave loving Cary Hoffman! My Sinatra is a unique combination of heartfelt and funny, and the arresting life of Hoffman is juxtaposed with relatively unknown facts about Sinatra and the songs to which several generations fell in love -- music which resounds with everyone. As for offers floating around about taking My Sinatra to London, it all still sounds miraculous to Cary.
-Myra Chanin
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Cary rocked 10,000+ in NJ November 8!
The Devils were losing 1-0 when Cary crooned down the stairs to the lucky row of 30 fans who were about to win tix to the show. Just minutes after his Devils rendition of Fly Me to the Moon.. singing "Devils Score a Goal for me!" they tied it up and eventually won the game!
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Cary Hoffman of "My Sinatra": Let him be (perfectly) Frank
Posted by Mark Dundas Wood on Sunday, September 18, 2011
Off-Broadway's My Sinatra is performer Cary Hoffman's autobiographical exploration of a life-long obsession with Hoboken, New Jersey's most famous native son. Through song and narration, Hoffman explains to audiences at the Midtown Theatre (at the Ha! Comedy Club in Times Square) about how—while growing up as an introverted Jewish kid in the Queens, New York in the 1950s—he spent countless hours in his bedroom trying to find the musical key to the Frank Sinatra sound and attitude. Eventually suffering through the deaths of both his biological father and a suave, Sinatra-like stepfather, young Cary looked increasingly to the Chairman of the Board as a surrogate dad. In his late teens, Hoffman began his own show-business career at a Catskill Mountains resort, adopting the stage name Cary Ross.
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Crain's New York Business - He'll Do It His Way
Shane Dixon Cavanaugh August 29, 2011
Cary Hoffman lacks the look, the swagger and the insatiable appetite for booze and women of his hero, Frank Sinatra. But he and Ol'Blue Eyes do have one thing in common: the voice. When Mr. Hoffman, 64, belts out Sinatra classics such as "One for My Baby" or "Fly Me to the Moon"—as he has done on and off for the past 50 years—the vocal resemblance is uncanny. That talent has scored the Upper West Side resident gigs on PBS specials and a trip halfway around the world to perform for the president of Singapore.
Click here to read the full article
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Cary Hoffman pressed the NASDAQ button and opened the market August 12 at 9:30am and sang the following parody of Fly Me To The Moon for NASDAQ...
Fly me to the moon That's where the market's gotta go Let it hit the stars above For all the world to know Baby...hear my plea NASDAQ...get it up for me
And then he closed by saying Frank Sinatra would never tolerate a down market.
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Revisit the sound of Frank Sinatra with My Sinatra's Cary Hoffman
By Broadway.com Staff August 15, 2011 - 5:28PM
Frank Sinatra has one of the most distinguishable voices in music history, and now audiences are getting to hear it off-Broadway... sort of. Audiences are learning that performer Cary Hoffman has a magnificent talent for channeling the legendary singer. In his solo show My Sinatra, Hoffman tells theatergoers about his lifelong obsession with Ol' Blue Eyes as he performs many of Sinatra's classic hits. Broadway.com met up with Hoffman to talk about his special connection with the Chairman of the Board, and why Sinatra impersonators can't compare to his performance. Take a look below!
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Sinatra, Under His Skin - Cary Hoffman's Love Letter to Old Blue Eyes.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 Ted Merwin
Special To The Jewish Week
When does idolization cross over into obsession? Cary Hoffman, a shy Jewish kid growing up in postwar Queens, admired Frank Sinatra so much that he dreamed of becoming the singer himself. In Hoffman's thought-provoking one-man show, "My Sinatra," now playing Off-Broadway with musical direction by Alex Nelson, the performer interweaves the story of his infatuation with the singing of two dozen of the singer's standards. His voice is so uncannily similar to Sinatra's that few can tell them apart.
Hoffman, who is an executive producer of the TNT series "Men of a Certain Age," starring Ray Romano, has had a varied and extremely successful career in the music industry. He has written two Top 20 country hits, composed well-known advertising jingles, co-written (with Ira Gasman) a hit Off-Broadway revue called "What's a Nice Country Like You Doing in a State Like This?" and managed the career of R&B singer Luther Vandross.
Continue reading on TheJewishWeek.com
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Cary Hoffman in My Sinatra
Barbara Barton Sloane, NY International Travel Examiner
Cary Hoffman is finally achieving his dream with his autobiographical one-man memoir musical, My Sinatra, about his Sinatra obsession. Ironically, the story is eerily similar to Ray Romano's Men of a Certain Age on TNT, of which Hoffman is an Executive Producer.
Hoffman has performed the music of Frank Sinatra for the past eight years in over 55 performing arts centers around the world, including a performance for the President of Singapore. He is New York's premiere Sinatra interpreter. His compelling blend of vocal performance and stories led to a national PBS TV special which has aired in over 70 cities around the country and was viewed by more than 2 Million people.