Broadway star Matt Doyle (Company, Little Shop of Horrors) is heading to Birmingham this autumn 2023, to star in Sinatra The Musical at Birmingham Rep.
Matt Doyle won the 2022 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Company. His other credits include Little Shop of Horrors, Spring Awakening, The Book of Mormon and War Horse.
The show is backed by Frank Sinatra Enterprises in partnership with Universal Music Group and is hotly tipped to get a West End transfer.
That goes double for the fact that Olivier and three-time Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall (Anything Goes, The Pajama Game) is directing and choreographing; and that the show is written by Tony Award winner Joe DiPietro (What’s New Pussycat?, Memphis).
This stage bio of legendary actor and singer Frank Sinatra will run at Birmingham Rep from 23 September to 28 October 2023.
The show was first announced back in March 2023, and is fully endorsed by the Sinatra family, with Birmingham Rep co-producing the show with Michele Anthony, Bruce Resnikoff and Scott Landis for Universal Music Group Theatrical, and Tina Sinatra and Charles Pignone on behalf of Frank Sinatra Enterprises.
The timing of the show coincides with the 70th Anniversary of Sinatra’s 1953 UK tour, which saw him perform in Birmingham.
Multi-award winning director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall is no stranger to the UK, having directed and choreographed the smash-hit London production of Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre for the last two summers.
Sinatra The Musical is the first of a series of new projects and initiatives developed by Frank Sinatra Enterprises in partnership with Universal Music Group, with the aim of introducing new audiences and fans to the singer’s catalogue and legacy.
To book tickets to see Sinatra The Musical at the Birmingham Rep click here.
More about tickets to Sinatra The Musical in London
The Quotes
Actor Matt Doyle said: “I have no doubt my Italian grandmothers would be profoundly overjoyed. This one is for Geraldine Padula and Nicoletta Macchia who raised my family and me on Frank’s music. I cannot begin to express what an honour it is to take on The Chairman of the Board’s incredible legacy.”
Director and Choreographer Kathleen Marshall said: “I am so excited to work with Matt Doyle again! Matt is an incredible actor and singer, and he has all the charm, charisma, sensitivity and depth to bring the story of Frank Sinatra’s life and artistry to Birmingham Rep.”
Tina Sinatra added: “Sinatra is the first book musical to take an honest look at my father’s life, so the question people kept asking — who could possibly play him? From the moment Matt Doyle swaggered into the audition room, he owned the role. Not only did he naturally possess Frank’s warmth and charm, Matt understood my father’s complexities. And once he began to sing, we knew we had found our Frank! In addition to his extraordinary talent, Matt also possesses an intuitive sensitivity about life that will help reveal the man behind the legend. I can’t wait to see him in the role at Birmingham Rep in the fall! I know Dad will be proud of him.”
More about the Creative Team
Joe DiPietro is the winner of two Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award and three Outer Critics Circle Awards. His musicals and plays have received thousands of productions across the country and around the world. His new comedy, Babbitt, starring Matthew Broderick, will premiere at La Jolla Playhouse this autumn. His most recent musical, What’s New Pussycat? played to critical and popular acclaim when it premiered at The Rep last year. His other shows include Memphis (2010 Tony Award for Best Musical); Diana (currently streaming on Netflix) Nice Work If You Can Get It (10 Tony Award nominations including Best Book of a Musical for DiPietro); The Toxic Avenger(Outer Critics Circle Award – Best Off-Broadway Musical); I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (longest-running musical revue in Off-Broadway history); as well as the much-produced comedies Clever Little Lies and Over the River and Through the Woods, amongst others.
Kathleen Marshall is a nine-time Tony Award nominee, winning three times for Best Choreography for the Broadway revivals of Wonderful Town, The Pajama Game and Anything Goes. She recently received an Olivier Award for her choreography of the West End production of Anything Goes. She has worked on more than twenty Broadway shows and she is the first woman who has directed a play, directed a musical and choreographed a musical on Broadway. Off-Broadway and regional credits include for the New York Shakespeare Festival, Second Stage, Transport Group, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Old Globe, Long Wharf, Paper Mill,Hollywood Bowl, Boston Pops, Signature Theatre and St. Louis MUNY. Kathleen served as the Artistic Director for City Center Encores! for four seasons, during which time Encores! received a special Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre. Her film and television credits include My Week with Marilyn (choreographer), Once Upon a Mattress, The Music Man (choreographer) and 2 Broke Girls. She has received three Drama Desk Awards, three Outer Critics Circle Awards, an Emmy nomination, the Astaire Award, the George Abbott Award, the Smith College Medal (her alma mater), the Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for the Arts and she has been named a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania.
