“Sinatra: The Musical” at Aldwych Theatre
Louise Penn in the West End
★★★☆☆
25 June 2026
Classic crooner Bing Crosby famously said, “Frank is a singer who comes along once in a lifetime, but why did he have to come in mine?” Frank Sinatra was born in 1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey, the son of Italian immigrant parents, and Sinatra: The Musical opens with his historic 1942 concert at the Paramount Theatre where bobby-soxers screamed their appreciation.
Joel Harper-Jackson as Frank Sinatra.
Photo credit: Birgit and Ralf Brinkhoff.
Bank-rolled by an army of producers including Frank’s youngest daughter Tina and Frank Sinatra Enterprises, this biographical jukebox musical is never going to delve deep into the dark side of its subject. Mob ties are briefly mentioned, sexual indiscretions are presented as comedy (Lana Turner, Judy Garland, and even Marlene Dietrich become a twittery trio of songbirds passing through his bed).
Joel Harper-Jackson takes on the role of the man who was later dubbed “The Chairman of the Board”, joined by many of the supporting cast from the 2023 Birmingham Rep production. His vocal impersonation of Sinatra takes a little time to settle and doesn’t catch the emotional heft and magnetism of the original, but it is a valiant effort.
There are 28 songs during the show, many used to comment on the storyline. Frank sings “Nancy (With the Laughing Face)” to his daughter over the telephone, duets in a bar with Billie Holiday (Melissa Nettleford) on “One for My Baby”, and partakes in a trio where he sings “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” while wife Nancy sings “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning”, and new flame Ava takes up “I’m a Fool to Want You”.
The events covered in Sinatra: The Musical run from 1942 through to 1954, when the scrawny boy from New Jersey finally makes good after a career slump that nosedives him into drink and self-pity. When he meets starlet Ava Gardner (described in the book here as “you in a skirt”) he is smitten and all those flings while his wife was on the other coast cease to matter.
Melissa Nettleford and Joel Harper-Jackson.
Photo credit: Birgit and Ralf Brinkhoff.
As Nancy Sinatra, Phoebe Panaretos is little more than a cypher but manages to reconcile the heartache of betrayal with a continuing pride and love for her errant husband. We only see Little Nancy of the three children, played on press night by Mia Savident. As Ava, Ana Villafañe contributes steel and sensibility, warning Frank, “If you hit me, I will hit you harder, and I’ll sleep with whoever I want”.
Sinatra: The Musical has a great songbook to choose from, but we rarely see Frank recording, singing in concert, or building himself as a craftsman. The show opens with “All of Me”, a great song slightly undercooked here and builds through those personal and professional milestones. The Act Two opener is part of “My Way”, framed by headlines briskly celebrating his career slump, and “New York, New York” comes at the curtain call to send us home happy.
Frank Sinatra was a “great family man”. So we are told, but there is no real evidence for it. He is kind to his friends – but also drives his anxious agent George Evans (Lee Zarrett) into the ground with the pressure of managing his missteps and Sicilian temper. He is driven as an actor but is dropped from his contract and needs to campaign to get back in – Columbia eventually takes a chance on From Here to Eternity.
A sense of the tumultuous relationship between Frank and Ava doesn’t quite come across. He was charismatic, she was beautiful. They should sizzle off the stage, but she’s off filming so much things fizzle out. And apart from noting his admiration for the voice of Billie Holiday, there’s little about the technique of becoming – as his mother Dolly (Jenna Russell) puts it – “Frank f**ing Sinatra”.
If you’re a fan of Sinatra you will know all the plot points here, and you can enjoy the songs. If you are coming here curious to learn more about the man and the legend, Joe DiPietro’s book comes up a little short. If you want eye-catching costumes (Jon Morrell’s hats for Helen Colby’s Hedda Hopper are a delight) and choreography (director Kathleen Marshall), then you’ll be entertained.
