'Sinatra The Musical' review — this slick, entertaining showbiz tale is top of the heap

Read our review of Sinatra The Musical, starring Joel Harper-Jackson, now in performances at the Aldwych Theatre to 10 April 2027.

Summary

• Sinatra The Musical has its West End premiere at the Aldwych Theatre
• The show follows Frank Sinatra's struggles in the 1940s and big comeback
• Joel Harper-Jackson gives a stellar vocal performance as Sinatra
• Kathleen Marshall's production is entertaining and has ravishing design

It would be easy to assume that Frank Sinatra, a true entertainment icon, was always part of the show business canon, however Sinatra The Musical shows that that wasn’t always the case. From the late 1940s to the early 1950s, when Sinatra was in his mid-to-late 30s, he was on a rapid downward trajectory, and it looked as if his time as “King of the bobby-soxers” and most popular entertainer in America was going to be a flash in the pan.

Directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, this show (which premiered at Birmingham Rep in 2023) provides highly diverting escapism, especially for those who can spend hours pouring through online archives of magazines from the Golden Age of Hollywood. In fact, it's the musical theatre equivalent of a glossy fan magazine filled with full-colour images and tantalising pull quotes. If the content is on the glib side and doesn't give the most rounded picture, it’s a slickly produced one that’s high in entertainment value and features tremendous big-band virtuosity from musical supervisor Gareth Valentine and his band, supporting familiar standards like “Fly Me to the Moon”, “You Make Me Feel So Young”, and “That's Life”.

Book writer Joe DiPietro, a Jersey boy who was raised on Sinatra’s music, provides a narrative that isn't a hagiography. We see Sinatra forging a reputation for being difficult to work with and bed-hopping with Lana Turner, Judy Garland, and Marlene Dietrich, before leaving his wife Nancy (Phoebe Panaretos) for raven-haired bombshell Ava Gardner (Ana Villafañe). It’s all Frank-focused, a little like the Fanny Brice-centric Funny Girl if Nicky Arnstein were the protagonist.

Joel Harper-Jackson might not be a close physical match for the real Sinatra but he successfully creates a character who is a heel but essentially worth rooting for, as well as giving a stellar vocal performance. His crooning is dismissed by Benny Goodman as a “circus act” for screaming fangirls, and his character development is ultimately signified by his growth as a musician. Nancy refuses to be a doormat and Ava knows that her career is dependent on her beauty and is determined to milk it for all it’s worth. Both women are capable of giving as good as they get and have convincing chemistry with Harper-Jackson.

The production values and the smoothness of Marshall’s staging counts for a considerable amount. Jon Morrell’s rainbow of 1950s-style cocktail dresses are almost as ravishing as the ones currently seen in High Society at the Barbican, and set designer Peter McKintosh provides an array of sliding set pieces representing mid-century modern aspiration. The Californian post-war optimism is further boosted by Bruno Poet’s lighting (with some moments that are pretty blinding).

Jenna Russell is very funny as Sicilian-New Jersey matriarch Dolly Sinatra (though she doesn’t get much to sing), escorted by Marty Maguire as her taciturn spouse Marty. Almost every ensemble member gets to do a turn as a showbiz figure, including Adam Davidson as the tapping Gene Kelly, Becky Anderson as the sultry Lana Turner, and Helen Colby as the gossip-mongering Hedda Hopper in an array of flamboyant hats. It may well be annoying for some but for others it’s a fun panorama.

Sinatra’s mafia connections are only very briefly touched upon (the show suggests that his involvement was due to boyhood loyalty). The fact that he insisted on working with integrated bands and refused to play in segregated states is of course admirable but is crowbarred in in a virtue-signalling fashion, and Little Nancy is cloying. Sinatra didn’t deny his Italian heritage, which led to him being “othered”, though, as his own idol Billie Holliday (Melissa Nettleford) reminds him, “You’re a white boy. You’ll be fine.”

Culminating in Sinatra's Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor for From Here to Eternity (a role for which he aggressively lobbied) and return to the A-list, it leaves off before Guys and Dolls, High Society, and Pal Joey (so don’t expect songs from those films). But with “New York New York”, penned about 25 years later, as the encore, the show ends on a high. It’s unlikely to have the staying power of Jersey Boys, but it comes pretty close to being “top of the heap” as far as nostalgic jukebox musicals go.

Sinatra The Musical is now in performances at the Aldwych Theatre to 10 April 2027. Book Sinatra The Musical tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Sinatra The Musical (Photos by Brinkhoff-Moegenburg)