Frank Jr. does it his way, splendidly

Ten years ago, the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts opened in spectacular fashion with a performance by Frank Sinatra. On Monday night, the Center appropriately celebrated that anniversary with a program directly tied to Ol’ Blue Eyes, featuring Frank Sinatra Jr. and the singer who has followed most closely in Sinatra’s musical footsteps, Tony Bennett.

Sinatra Jr. was also present at the opening, as his father’s musical conductor. Then, as now, his own artistic persona tended to be overshadowed by his father’s vast accomplishments. That overshadowing has been exacerbated by the extraordinary similarity in vocal timbre between father and son.

But as the younger Sinatra’s splendid performance Monday made clear, he is an authentic singer in his own right, even when he offers a program devoted to the senior Sinatra’s classics. Among the highlights: “One for My Baby,” exquisitely communicating the song’s poignant message; a powerhouse rendering of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”; a briskly swinging “I’ve Got the World on a String”; and a climactic “New York, New York.” As a closer, he chose one of his father’s traditional final songs, “Put Your Dreams Away,” adding a line from “My Way” to end the set.

Amid all the Sinatra imitators and simulators, it was a distinct pleasure to hear a singer whose voice bears a natural, indelible connection with the original. And beyond that, a performer who -- despite these intimate connections -- brings insight and musicality to everything he sings.

Headliner Bennett, sounding in unusually fine form, surprisingly elected to omit songs from his current album, “What a Wonderful World.” Emphasizing the classic nature of the celebration, he opted to include material that has long been in his repertoire: a Fred Astaire medley, standards such as “The Best Is Yet to Come,” “I Got Rhythm” and “Smile.” Inevitably, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” found its way into the program and -- in spontaneous response to a request from the audience -- “Because of You.”