The music of Frank Sinatra & Michael Bublé; Front Row Theatre Company; Sutherland Arts Centre; 21st June, 2026
Reviewed : 21 June, 2026
Exactly twelve months ago, Front Row Theatre Company wowed its inaugural audience with audience with its first concert Come Fly with Me based on songs made famous by Frank Sinatra and Michael Bublé. A year later, with a further eight concert programs to its credit, Front Row Theatre is firmly established as a vibrant musical fixture in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire.
Come Fly With Me is the third Front Row’s 2026 line up. It follows Piano Man a tribute to the music of Elton John and Billy Joel, There’s No Place Like Homes with songs made famous by Judy Garland and Liza Minnell and Once Upon a Time, a program of children’s classics that exemplifies this fledgling company’s community focus.
Michael Astill, the director of Front Row, is well known to musical theatre audiences in the “Shire”. It was he, with the accomplished Lizzie Moncrief at the piano, who led the very elegant gentlemen who invited the audience to “fly” with them. Michael was joined by Anthony Gibra, Tom Ragen, Andrew Schimmer and young baritone Alexander Billet to take the audience through an impressive line-up of nineteen songs. From the title song to old classics like “Luck be a Lady” and “The Way You Look Tonight” to later favourites like Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “Send in the Clowns”, the five guys wowed the audiences with their control, power and their charismatic showmanship.
There were moments of regret in “Cry Me a River” and moments of acceptance in “One More for My Baby and One More for the Road. There were moments of fun in “The Lady is A Tramp” and a little touch of the macabre in “Mack the Knife”. Whether alone, in pairs or altogether, they “flew” the audience to the Moon then back to New York, did it their way and left the everyone “Feeling Good”.
Front Row Theatre Company is a boutique, community-focused company dedicated to “placing the audience at the heart of everything”. Founder of the company Michael Astill explains that the name “Front Row” symbolises the company’s commitment to immerse the audience “in the action, to feel every note, word and gesture up close” … just as if everyone is sitting in the “Front Row”.
To that end, Front Row is committed to presenting a “carefully curated concert series” that reflects the diverse interests of its audience, young and old. It also provides professional opportunities for known and up-coming performers to extend their experience in programs that vary from pop to pantomime!
Coming up at the end of this month is “Any Dream Will Do” featuring the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, then “Happily Ever Laughter”, a brand-new family pantomime at the end of August.
Join Michael Astill and his company by helping him “create a place where performers can shine, stories can come to life and audiences become part of the magic”.
Check out details at frontrowtheatreco.com.au
Also published in Stage Whispers magazine