TAP dancer Jesse Rasmussen of Wolli Creek wanted to see the legacy of the Rat Pack live on.
He and two mates decided to evoke that old- school flair and love of tap dancing into a new show — The Tap Pack — which is returning to Sydney for a season at the Hayes Theatre, Potts Point, starting on Friday, August 1.
"We have been tap dancers and performers since we were kids and grew up watching the great dancers from that era like Sammy Davis jnr," he said.
"We are all professional singers and came together to make a show that took that flair from the Rat Pack and gave it a modern twist."
The Tap Pack could be described as combining old-school flavour with today's pop culture, classic music and dance.
The all-Australian production features five male performers who have slick routines and classic songs.
Rasmussen grew up on the Gold Coast where he started tap dancing at 10.
He travelled the country at 17 when he was cast in Hot Shoe Shuffle — and came to Sydney.
Rasmussen, 27, has competed on Channel Ten's So You Think You Can Dance and later choreographed on the program.
He said the idea to create The Tap Pack came from the ambition to create something new and put on a world-class cutting edge show.
"We didn't want to wait around for a phone call for work and decided to make our own destiny," Rasmussen said.
"It started out as an idea to create five new characters in the image of the Rat Pack, but tell a new story."
The Tap Pack will be touring Australia with theatres booked in many regional towns.
Rasmussen said their promoters had their sights set on Europe and Las Vegas.
The most well-known Rat Pack (after Humphrey Bogart’s death) comprised Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis jnr, Peter
Lawford and Joey Bishop — actors and singers who appeared on stage and film together in the 1960s. Pack also known as the Clan
