Technology brings Sinatra back to take another final curtain

Rare footage from the controversial crooner's family archives is to form the centrepiece of a new show at the London Palladium, where he made his first British appearance more than half a century ago.

His performance on screens up to 20 feet high will be accompanied by a live 24-piece orchestra and a company of dancers and singers.

The production is the brainchild of the American producer Joshua Rosenblum and his colleague James Sanna, who were too young to have ever seen Sinatra in his prime. But they believe the fan base for an artist who still sells two million albums a year is sufficiently strong for the show which previews from 17 February.

Mr Rosenblum said: "When we first approached the Sinatra family and suggested to them that we would like to do a live entertainment that would showcase the artistry of Frank Sinatra, they had never allowed that before.

"But we had a particular take which sold it to the family - that no one would play Frank Sinatra but Frank Sinatra. When they heard that, I think they were reassured."

The family handed the producers the keys to the singer's archive where they discovered previously unknown footage from an American television series aired in 1957 and 1958. Sinatra himself had brought in state-of-the-art cameras to shoot his performances on 35mm film which, after cleaning and restoration, has a clarity lost in surviving television recordings.

"It's quite remarkable. He was at the peak of his powers," Mr Rosenblum said.

The production is being led by the director David Leveaux, whose previous work includes the Greek tragedy Electra starring Zoe Wanamaker at the Donmar Warehouse and on Broadway. The choreographer is Stephen Mear, who has worked on the stage version of Mary Poppins and the National Theatre's Anything Goes.

Nearly all Sinatra's biggest hits, including My Way, New York, New York, That's Life and One For My Baby will be included in the show. The production will use other archive footage to tell the story of Sinatra's life, often in his own words.

However, it will not follow the warts-and-all trajectory of some previous documentaries and books which have closely chronicled the singer's connections with the mafia.

"We're not afraid of the complexities, but we're focusing on the man as an artist and the songs and the music. He was a phenomenal performer," Mr Rosenblum said.

"We don't shy from the warts but the truth is that this is not the best forum for examining a man's life in detail. We have the advantage of an orchestra so we're not going to waste a lot of time on that. We'll be looking at why there's this enduring passion for his music, his place in history."

Sinatra's first UK performances were at the London Palladium in 1950 and he returned there in 1975. His last performances in the UK were at the Royal Albert Hall in May 1992.

Mr Rosenblum said the UK was Sinatra's second-largest market after the US. "He spans generations."

An earlier version of the show ran at Radio City Music Hall in New York in 2003, when it sold out.