“Frank and Me” at Triad is a Love Letter and Comeback Story for Director Linda Miller
Vocalist, Actress, Playwright and Director Linda Miller is behind the four-person play that pays tribute to Frank Sinatra and his fabulous songbook, with co-stars Jim Barone, Robert Levey II and Susan Mitchell.
| 02 Jan 2025 | 03:17
The four person cast of “Frank and Me,” includes (from left) Linda Miller, Jim Barone, Susan Mitchell and Robert Levey II. (
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Director and actress Linda Miller and actor Jim Barone playing Sinatra at the Triad Theater. (
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Sixteen year old Robert Levey (right) stars as the young Frank Sinatra at the Triad Theater with actress and director Linda Miller. (
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Linda Miller vamps with a top hat while puffing on a long stemmed cigarette holder. (
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Director, playwright and actress Linda Miller, decked out in a blue sequin dress, says she is a lifelong fan of Old Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra. (
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It’s not quite fair to say Frank Sinatra is having a moment....but then again, why not? The Apollo Theatre recently hosted a large evening for investors and theatre executives to get a preview of a new play about Old Blue Eyes hoping for Broadway. A large (979 page) autobiography of him, by James Kaplan, is considered one of the best of the celebrity genre. A recent one-woman play in Los Angeles was called “Ava,” about Ava Gardener, the woman Sinatra never stopped loving. And hey, a gold-seated commode in a hotel suite reserved only for him at the former Golden Nugget Casino in Atlantic City, went for $4,200 in 2020.
And now comes a small personal show called “Frank and Me,” which opened Dec 12 (Sinatra’s birthday, in 1915) at the Triad Theatre on the Upper West Side. Its played several performances–next up, Dec 22–and could be extended should the audiences keep coming. Two drink minimum in a cozy setting. The force behind this is actress-singer-director Linda Miller, who has taken the show other places, most recently The Atlantic Shore. (The Chairman of the Board—as he was known—was, of course, born in Hoboken.) Her shows were always sellouts which has led to this visit in the Triad on the Upper West Side theater.
So why her ongoing love affair? “All my life I loved Frank Sinatra,” says Miller. “As a teenager I saw that he had no racism in him and was speaking out for equal rights. Not to mention that voice! I go to high schools and give presentations on music legends. The students don’t even know who he is. I have a goal to keep him alive. We are not so much impersonating him as honoring him.” The “we” encompasses Miller and three others. What you won’t see in this one are the controversies, including his Mafia ties, the JFK love-hate relationship, or even the Ava Gardner connection.
“I think we all have faults, and he chose to be around some very shady characters,” Miller acknowledges. “It was part of his heritage. But I wanted to do something bright and light and happy and good.”
The show also includes impersonations of Ella Fitzgerald and Rita Hayworth, both who did duets with Sinatra. And his daughter Nancy’s walking boots are recalled, even though her dad was not a fan of the coming music revolution that has daughter strode right into with her
“He hated pop music and called them degenerates,” says Miller. “But he did the famous duet with Elvis (portrayed well here by Jim Barone) when the rock star came back from the army.” As for the young Frank himself, “we have a 16-year-old who is amazing,” says Miller. “I auditioned more than 200 young men for that role. They came from everywhere.” That teenager, Robert Levey, is the one you’ll come out talking about. Even those who are not Sinatra fans will likely be entertained, and possibly educated, a bit here.
[If you missed the limited engagement shows at the Triad this month, all is not lost. “We have gotten interest in extending it in the Spring,” said Miller’s assistant and photographer Debra Smalls.. “We have also booked several one night performances from promoters who have seen it who have venues in Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.]
“We would love to come back to the Triad,” Smalls said. “Linda has had a long business and friend relationship with the owner Peter Martin. We love the Triad.”
The show is 70 minutes and starts with “Luck Be A Lady,” then goes into “Come Fly With Me” which most will recognize.
The fact that Linda Miller is up and working is, in itself, cause for celebration. Ten years ago, she was going across the street between a matinee and a nighttime show, and was literally run over by a truck. “The driver ran the light,” she recalls. “It’s a miracle I am alive. I had 17 broken bones. And have had 28 surgeries.”
A tough guy—with a good heart—named Sinatra would be proud of her.
Michele Willens’ ‘Stage Right or Not’ airs weekly on NPR affiliate robinhoodradio.