An announcer steps onto the stage before the curtain rises at the Wilshire Theatre and informs the audience that recording devices and flashes are prohibited – and that the show is in no way associated with the Mafia or any other crime organizations.

“The Rat Pack: Live at the Sands” transports attendees to Las Vegas during the early 1960s for a performance of musical greats Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin. The show has both style and talent, rising well above the usual gimmicks of standard impersonation acts.

Sinatra (Stephen Triffitt) opens the show with “Luck Be a Lady,” and his voice resembles the real Sinatra so well that it could be mistaken for a lip-synched recording.

The setting also evokes the show’s older time period; an onstage orchestra begins its musical sets next to the hotel’s funky-lettered moniker. Lower on the stage, a decanter of hard liquor rests on a piano and is frequently visited by the performers. The Burelli Sisters, a trio of matching platinum blondes in flashy gowns, croon and dance around the main acts.

Davis (David Hayes) and Martin (Nigel Casey) come out later, and the show becomes more than a concert as the men embody their characters’ mannerisms and personalities.

The show, however, features many politically incorrect jokes about blacks and Jews, most of them at the expense of Davis. Even though the jokes were no doubt featured in the original performances 40 years ago, their use now proves a bit unsettling.

Davis is the most entertaining of the three; his flamboyant movements and attempts to upstage his contemporaries were welcome comic relief. He also shows his talent as a dancer, quickly changing shoes and beginning a tap number.

Martin’s performance centers on drunken antics, as he makes more and more visits to the liquor-laden piano and starts to break into comic monologues. Some moments were hilarious, such as when Martin missed his cue to begin the next song, but most jokes were hit-or-miss. One standout miss: He explains that he would like to live on Alcatraz “because it’s on the rocks.”

It is strange throughout to know that the interactions between the performers and the spontaneous jokes and duets are planned and rehearsed, but if viewers are willing to play along, “The Rat Pack” provides an entertaining night out on the Strip.

– Laura Picklesimer