Frank Sinatra bio musical in London is an insult and not ready for Broadway

Two hours and 45 minutes, with one intermission.At the Aldwych Theatre in London, UK.These vagabond shoes were longing to stray.But my sneakers reluctantly remained at the Aldwych Theatre for the second act of the new musical “Sinatra” in London’s West End.Sadly, the best was not yet to come.Ol’ Blue Eyes is given the ol’ cruise ship treatment in the sorry Frank Sinatra bio show directed by Kathleen Marshall, who also helmed the Tony Award-winning Broadway revivals of “The Pajama Game” and “Anything Goes” an eon ago. Perhaps contentedly stuck in the past, Marshall stages “Sinatra” as if it’s a musty old jukebox trifle — or, well, an aughts one: sans modern flair, chock-full of hokiness and making no convincing attempt at drama.    “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical,” which also premiered at the Aldwych back in 2018 before heading to New York, was far from perfect.

But, sporadically, it gave me chills watching a regular girl evolve into a superstar.Turner momentously recording “Private Dancer” couldn’t be further apart from the biggest applause at the “Sinatra” performance I attended: When Frank’s parents (Jenna Russell, bizarrely, and Marty Maguire), contorted into the comic relief, hammily sang “You Make Me Feel So Young” as if they were Edna and Wilbur Turnblad in “Hairspray.”That is the highlight, such as it is, of the musical ostensibly about one the greatest singers of all time. Even with Frank Sinatra Enterprises and his daughter Tina Sinatra on the producing team in London, there is no chance this show in its current state could succeed on Broadway.New York and New Jersey would riot.While an American’s the boss, the Chairman of the Board is a Brit.

That’s Joel Harper-Jackson, a fine enough performer whose chief virtue is his Sinatra soundalike voice.He sings the classics smoothly and I get the sense he is trying to rise above an impression, although he doesn’t quite manage that ascent.It doesn’...