Marquinhos Gallogerinos enjoys a special night out with music at its heart…
On Wednesday evening we were invited to a special charity gala performance of Sinatra The Musical (Aldwych Theatre) with the proceeds benefitting Nordoff and Robbins, the UK’s leading music therapy charity. It turned out to be quite a night in the company of the great and the good. No sooner had I settled into my seat when (Sir) Rod Stewart and wife Penny Lancaster arrived and sat close by. I don’t get start struck but I did start humming one or two of his hit songs. The musical stars in the stalls were matched note for note by the brilliant cast who brought the show to life with purpose and verve. This is a show about Frank – the highs, the lows the misdemeanours – and not an easy jukebox musical making it that much more engaging and enjoyable.
It begins on New Year’s Eve 1942 when anunknown skinny fella of Italian American descentwalked onto the stage of The Paramount TheatreNew York and started singing. It would be trite to say the rest is history because this production will be a revelation to many for all sorts of reasons.That beginning is the first of them, a start that would change the man forever. His dulcet tonesand smooth intonation led to him becoming knownas ‘The Voice’. The adulation that followed led to almost instant stardom and all the trappings. As hebegan recording he was constantly in the spotlight. Real lights, real cameras, no social media! The teenagers loved him, even the mums loved him.
A few years earlier he had married childhood sweetheart Nancy (Sinatra, née Barbato) and unsurprisingly the fame and fortune made him very desirable. The relationship began to go south as his career went into the stratosphere. Enter Hollywood movie star Ava Gardner and their passionate, high-profile affair. Photographed wherever they went, soon the tongues were wagging about every move they made. Unrelenting were the rumours of his associates and other personal scandals that by the late 1940’s his career was plummeting. But you can’t keep a good man, or ‘Voice’, down and like Muhammad Ali he made the comeback of comebacks that has gone down in the annals of showbiz history which included an Oscar-winning performance in the film From Here to Eternity.
Quite a life and quite a show. Writer Joe DiPietrodeserves credit for putting the story together and the cast come up with portrayals that ripple with energy and passion. Ana Villafañe is superb as the glamorous Ava, displaying a deal of hutzpah and star arrogance determined to maintain her status as the real ‘star’ in this relationship. Meanwhile Phoebe Panaretos delivers a heartrending portrayal of first wife Nancy– they had three children together(Nancy, Frank Jr and Tina) – resilient and loyal with a quiet dignity. A compelling characterisation. Stepping into the shoes of a great is a daunting experience and Joel Harper-Jackson nails it as Sinatra. Such was the quality of his vocals that when I closed my eyes it sounded like the man himself up there. Standout numbers being That’s Life, Fly Me to the Moon and of course My Way, which provides a fantastic opening to Act II. A mention too for Jenna Russell who is hilarious as Frank’s mum Dolly while the young girl playing daughter Nancy is a star in the making.
Director & Choreographer Kathleen Marshall strikes the perfect balance between bio and concert and when the audience stood at the end to join in with New York New York it felt like we were reliving the atmosphere of New Year’s Eve of 1942 all over again. And let’s hope they raised lots of money for Nodoff and Robbins who “…use music to enrich people’s lives,” doing it their way.
Sinatra The Musical – www.sinatramusical.com
By Marquinhos Gallogerinos
Photo credit: Brinkhoff/Moegenburg