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The Aldwych Theatre spent much of the last decade as home to Tina, the smash bio musical about Tina Turner. And this summer the theatre will see another new musical about a different American singing titan move in to replace it.
Sinatra the Musical has possibly the most self-explanatory name in theatre history, but it case you can’t guess, it concerns crooner, actor and general icon Frank Sinatra. We’re long past the We Will Rock You/Mamma Mia! era of extrapolating silly new plots from a musician’s greatest hits, and so aside from said hits we get a biographical story set in 1942, at a pivotal time in Sinatra’s life and career.
Having recently departed the popular Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Sinatra’s career seems to have hit the skids, as has his marriage to Nancy Sinatra thanks to an affair with rising Hollywood starlet Ava Gardner. But a New Year’s Eve concert at the Paramount Theatre in New York offers him the chance for a ‘comeback’ that will in truth be the launchpad for one of the greatest careers in popular music history.
Helmed by top Broadway director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall and with a book by playwright Joe DiPietro – best known for the hit musical Memphis – Sinatra the Musical had tryouts in Birmingham in 2023 and has been made with the blessing of the Sinatra estate. This does mean that the odds of it saying anything particularly controversial about Ol’ Blue Eyes are pretty low, but the 1942 settings is certainly avoidant of Rat Pack cliches that have already been done to death.
Of course the main thing is we get the songs. Obviously Sinatra hadn’t actually recorded most of his great standards in 1942, but Sinatra the Musical is very wisely choosing to ignore this and will be wall to bangers that almost certainly includes ‘My Way’, a song he didn’t record until 27 years later. There’s no word on casting yet, but Broadway star Matt Doyle played Frank to great acclaim in Birmingham and it wouldn’t be a shock if he was invited back.
Sinatra the Musical is at the Aldwych Theatre, booking Jun 3-Apr 10 2027. Tickets go on sale Fri Jan 30.
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