Other articles by Kathleen Allen:

Young at art Grilling isn't just for meat; here's the how-to for vegetables There's no saving the world from Van Slyke's corny humor 'Jewtopia' outrageous, offensive and hilarious Winners from last week; this week, we're noshingTucson Restaurant Review : Pizzeria VivaceScordato's 3-month effort produces perfect pizza crust 'Rum & Coke' deserves an audience Last week's so-sweet winners; this week, it's your fave liquid Not your everyday goy meets girl love story

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Yes, we know. Comparisons are odious.

But "The Rat Pack, Live at the Sands" begs you to make them.

The road show, which opened Tuesday, is a re-creation of an evening on the stage of the Las Vegas hotel when Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. took time out from filming "Ocean's 11" to perform.

They made bad, often racist, more often sexist jokes. And they sang and danced.

It was 1960 and the shows came to define cool.

The set of "The Rat Pack" includes oversize pictures of the three men. So you sort of expect the three portraying them to look like them.

They do. Kinda. Not much.

But one could overlook that if the music styling, and the voices, evoked the spirits of Martin, Sinatra and Davis.

And sometimes they did — especially when David Hayes as Sammy Davis Jr. did a poignant rendition of "Mr. Bojangles."

But the show didn't start out that way. It opened with Stephen Triffitt as Frank Sinatra singing "Luck Be a Lady." If you've ever heard Sinatra sing it, you know he means it, he feels it, when he sings "Let's keep this party polite / Never get out of my sight / Stick with me baby, I'm the guy that you came in with / Luck be a lady tonight."

You don't get that sense with Triffitt's version. Sure he's attempting to copy Sinatra's style, but he wasn't rooted in the song the way Sinatra was.

Nigel Casey's Dean Martin lacked the smooth voice of the singer, but he embodied Martin's devil-may-care, joke-at-any cost attitude, making him a favorite with the crowd.

Hayes' voice and style were reminiscent of Davis, but Davis glided across a stage. When he moved, it was music. Hayes had the voice but lacked the moves.

Still, what magnificent music. Backed by a tight orchestra, the trio sang such treats as "New York, New York," "It Don't Mean a Thing" and "Everybody Loves Somebody." You couldn't ask for a more delicious lineup of tunes.

But we could have done without the patter. Sure, it was re-creating the evenings at the Sands with the Rat Pack, but Ku Klux Klan jokes aimed at the Davis character are even more uncomfortable now than they were then.

And the thing about the patter among Sinatra, Davis and Martin is that it was spontaneous. When Davis quipped, "I like to work with the elderly," referring to Sinatra and Martin, it was an off-the-cuff remark that sounded witty back then. In this production, such throw-away lines come off as contrived and awkward. Chalk that up to what appears to be the performers' lack of comfort and belief in the material. Well, most of the performers — Casey's Martin was able to buy into the dialogue and make us believe it was spontaneous and witty.

The music will hook you, however. Just don't try to compare the performers to the originals.