Behind the scenes of ‘Robin and the 7 Hoods,’ a swinging new musical at the Old Globe

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A new musical opening Friday at the Old Globe theater in San Diego arrives with an old name.

As a story in Sunday’s Arts & Books section explains, 19 songs from the celebrated Oscar-winning songwriting team of Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen -- including such Rat Pack anthems as ‘Come Fly With Me,’ ‘The Tender Trap,’ ‘High Hopes’ and ‘All The Way’-- have been used to provide the backbone of ‘Robin and the 7 Hoods.’

The title itself comes from the 1964 Frank/Dino/Sammy comedy about feuding gangsters in ‘30s Chicago, but the new story, written by Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes, is set in the early ‘60s, around the time period that the songs were written in.

Find out more about the work and the man driving the creative process, director Casey Nicholaw, by reading the story here.

-- Christopher Smith