Review Roundup: SINATRA THE MUSICAL at the Aldwych Theatre

What are theatre critics saying about Sinatra the Musical?

London Box Office

“A thoroughly terrific evening of traditional musical theatre entertainment”

★★★★

Reviewer: Stuart King

"Directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, SINATRA maintains a lively pace from the outset with Joel Harper-Jackson in the title role onstage virtually throughout (save a few costume changes) in the production which opens with a show-stopping moment at The Paramount, NYC. Fans of Ol' Blue Eyes will be quick to note the similarity in tonal qualities, fluidity of delivery and louche stylings achieved here by the singer/actor. For me, perhaps his usual rock-tenor voice struggled a smidgen reaching the lower range growls in Sinatra's timbre but otherwise, this was a performance of confidence and considerable charm — irrespective of the great man's notoriously fiery temper, and serial womanising, which by no means is glossed-over in the show."

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The Guardian

“Life of a legend brims with hits but never gets under his skin”

★★★

Reviewer: Emma John

"Sinatra’s producer daughter Tina, who helped shape the story, wanted her father to be better understood. But a reluctance to embrace too much darkness lends a sense that things just happen to our hero. It’s at odds with the comeback narrative and the stubbornness we’re told he’s inherited from his Italian mother – Jenna Russell, who can steal a scene with just a single line delivered on a telephone. We do get some colouring in on Sinatra’s progressive values, and the sense of anti-immigrant discrimination that drove him, but the script often feels less three-dimensional than the video-assisted set design. Happily, Kathleen Marshall’s production, complete with a fine ensemble and some joyful choreography, doesn’t stint on the big hits – on opening night you could literally hear the audience swoon."

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WhatsOnStage

“Come fly with the music, but don’t expect fireworks”

★★★

Reviewer: Alun Hood

"Joel Harper-Jackson in the title role can now be accurately termed a quadruple threat, in that not only does he sing, dance and act, he also does an uncanny vocal impression of the great Frank. At present, though, he seems hemmed in by having to slavishly replicate Sinatra’s iconic sound, and feels a bit too sunny and, well, nice to convince as the tough, driven Italian-American whose sheer charisma and determination as much as his irrefutable talent elevated him from working-class New Jersey to international superstardom. It’s a surprisingly passive central performance that only really ignites when he’s singing. Famous contemporaries of Sinatra’s – Lana Turner, Nat King Cole, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland – make perfunctory appearances throughout Kathleen Marshall’s high-gloss staging but add little beyond providing useful reference points. "

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The cast of Sinatra the Musical. Photography by Birgit and Ralf Brinkhoff

The Telegraph

“Delivers the hits – but has one major flaw”

★★★

Reviewer: Marianka Swain

"Yet Joe DiPietro’s clunky book never invests these colourful characters with real emotional depth. Instead, they spout expository facts and, painfully, greet one another with full names for our benefit (Sinatra to a persistent tap dancer: “Gene Kelly, hi!”). Interesting ideas whizz past, such as Sinatra’s lingering ties to the mob, his call for racial integration and his development from teen-idol crooner to a serious artist who invests feeling into his songs. Thankfully, the terrific performances elevate the material. Joel Harper-Jackson is an effortlessly charismatic, if aptly obnoxious, young Sinatra, and his singing is impressively close to the real thing: soaring musicality, immaculate phrasing and soulful delivery. But it’s the formidable women who really dominate: Phoebe Panaretos’s fiercely uncompromising Nancy, Ana Villafañe’s worldly-wise Ava, Jenna Russell’s ball-busting Italian mamma, and Melissa Nettleford, as Billie Holiday, nailing the smoky torch song One for My Baby."

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The Standard

“ ‘Old Blue Eyes’ musical is frankly disappointing”

★★

Reviewer: Nick Curtis

"A lot of money has been spent here, but for what? To furnish a vehicle for the hits, which are duly trotted out, though often jarringly reframed for two mismatched voices. Come Fly With Me becomes a Hollywood shagathon. My Way is repurposed to plumb Frank’s lowest ebb. The mawkish deployment of Nancy With the Laughing Face (about his daughter, not his wife) made me slightly sick in my mouth. New York, New York accompanies the curtain call. These remain, mostly, great songs. But who wants to hear them in a rickety, partial and hagiographic stage musical that whitewashes a complicated and frankly unpleasant individual? Frankly Unpleasant: now that’s the Sinatra musical I might pay to see."

Read the review here.

Still unsure whether you want to watch Sinatra the Musical? Check out our 5 Reasons to Watch Sinatra the Musical. And take a look at our list of Theatre Shows to Watch in London This Summer for more inspiration.

Sinatra the Musical Tickets