Sinatra the Musical - Birmingham Rep

I'm there tomorrow (well, today now!). I'll report back 😁

I’m there Wednesday too looking forward to it a friends went last night said it was fabulous….. I loved what’s new pussycat ! Still can’t believe it never got to west end was pure quality

5-star performances from Matt Doyle as Frank and Ana Villafañe as Ava Gardner, and a fabulous orchestra. Phoebe Panaretos and Dawn Buckland also very good as Nancy and Mrs Sinatra respectively.

It's a 3-star show overall though, standard bio-musical fare with few surprises and lacking a bit of theatricality. There are too many songs (although some nice lesser-known inclusions) and it feels overlong (19.35-22.15).

But worth it for Matt who is pure Broadway and sounds like a dream. And there's a surprisingly wonderful duet with Ryesha Higgs' Billie Holliday in the second act which is a standout moment.

Could be better but certainly enjoyable. 😁

In Birmingham for now - I can’t imagine it won’t head south speedily.

Hmmm. I think that sums up my reaction to this. Matt sang amazingly, but sadly we mainly got snippets of songs again and again and it wasn't really until the end of act 1 that he got a big number, which he smashed, obviously.

The main problem here is that it's all just a bit dull. Not a lot happens. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that man works his way up singing career, has lots of affairs, and is successful with some bumps in the road.

I think the problem may well be the fact it's got the blessing of his family, so it's very sanitised. There are even odd bits shoe-horned in where we get told nice things about him, e.g. that he gave loads of money away, and a really weird bit of dialogue using terms you wouldn't have heard back then about racial oppression where we are told, very quickly but very clearly, just how much an ahead-of-his-time Liberal good guy our Frank was. There are also slightly awkward attempts to show the women as emancipated and powerful when they really just revolve around Frank sleeping with them and don't serve much other function.

But in general, I didn't care about Frank, I was oddly unmoved and a bit bored really. I can't see this transferring - it's just not exciting or spectacular enough. The staging is pretty functional overall. The pluses are the band, who sound great, and Matt (although all the cast are fine, it's not their fault they aren't given much emotional depth to work with).

To rescue this I'd ditch the "snippets of songs" approach and give Matt some more big numbers to dazzle with. It needs more grit and more juicy incidences, and less Frank being self-pitious and being told how he needs to shape up for about 45 minutes. I don't think that'll happen in an authorised biopic though. I can't see some more previews solving the clear problems here.

But I've never worked in theatre and am generally wrong about all my predictions (apart from my prediction Lord of the Rings would resurface as actor-musician one day, which was a clear win) so who knows.

The person I went with agreed with my view, but many sitting around me were impressed. But we don't get many world premieres of musicals in Brum and my experience of regional theatre audiences is they are more forgiving than West End critics are. 3 stars, but not far off a 2.

Darn. I was hoping this would be like Audra McDonald in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, a masterful mix of storytelling and song. It is so rare that we get a compelling mix of both in these bio shows.

Everything I’m hearing about it is disappointing. A real shame.

It’s unlikely to get a west end theatre if the response isn’t a lot more positive. Maybe they’ll just take it to Vegas or something.

Or did you mean see if Jonny Vegas wanted to do the role next?

Saw this tonight, it’s a great showcase for Matt Doyle who’s hardly offstage and sings and acts up a storm. I couldn’t take my eyes off those Ol’ Blue Eyes. I think the biggest problem is it focuses on Frank’s affair and neglect of his wife and child, which means you don’t overly care about him. Which, considering he’s the main character, is a bit of a red flag. Doyle even plays him rather sleezily at times. But overall, I would say, see it for Doyle as he’s a superstar in the making.

I want to try and get to see this as its not far from me. But I don't see how a show about one of the most famous singers ever who lived a full life and featuring lots of other legendary characters can come across as slow moving. I'll wait to see a few more reviews before deciding.

He was mixed up with the Mafia wasn’t he? Does that get mentioned?