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"Sinatra The Musical" will debut at the
Birmingham Rep on Sept. 23, coinciding with the 70th anniversary
of the "Come Fly with Me" and "New York, New York" singer’s UK
tour, during which he performed in the city.
The story begins on New Year’s Eve 1942, when the then
27-year-old Sinatra took to the stage at New York’s Paramount
Theatre with a performance that propelled him to success.
As he becomes a huge music star, "he struggles with balancing
the love of his wife, Nancy, against the demands and temptations
of being the most popular singer in America", producers said in
a statement of the show plot line.
The musical will look at the impact his affair with actress Ava
Gardner had on his career, and how he staged "the greatest
comeback in showbiz history".
"I am very proud of our new musical production and I'm
especially delighted that, for the first time, we're going to
give you a perspective on my father that you've never seen
before," Sinatra's daughter, Tina Sinatra said, in a statement.
Tony Award winner Joe DiPietro, known for "What’s New Pussycat?"
and "Memphis", has written the book.
"Growing up, there were two pictures hanging in my grandmother's
kitchen -- The Pope and Frank Sinatra. So to sit down with Tina
Sinatra and hear stories of her father which no one else knows,
and then to be able to put those stories on stage - well I think
it'll make for an unexpected and thrilling new musical,"
DiPietro said.
"We'll be showing you how the man became the legend and how the
legend was -- at the end of the day -- just a man."
Sinatra, whose instantly recognisable voice won him fans around
the world with classics like "My Way" and “Strangers in the
Night”, died in 1998.
"Sinatra The Musical", which has Olivier and Tony Award-winning
director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall at the helm, will
run until Oct. 28.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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