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Sunset Boulevard (musical)

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Sunset Boulevard
File:Sunsetlogo.JPG
Logo of original Broadway Production
MusicAndrew Lloyd Webber
LyricsDon Black
Christopher Hampton
BookDon Black
Christopher Hampton
Basis1950 film Sunset Blvd.
Productions1993 West End
1994 Broadway
Awards1994 Tony Award for Best Musical
1994 Tony Award for Best Original Score
1994 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical

Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Opening first in London in 1993, the musical has had several long runs internationally and also enjoyed extensive tours, although it lost money because of its extraordinary running costs. A star vehicle, many well-known actresses have played the leading character, Norma Desmond, and the show has seen its share of legal battles.

Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the fabled Los Angeles street. When young screenwriter Joe Gillis accidentally crosses her path, she sees in him an opportunity to make her comeback to the big screen. A unrequited romance and tragedy follow.

Background and history of productions

For many years, Lloyd Webber kicked around the idea of a musical version of Sunset Boulevard focusing on "the moment when Norma Desmond returns to Paramount Studios". He finally obtained the rights from Paramount and attracted Hampton and then Black to the project. After Aspects of Love had been produced in 1989, the team set to work on the new musical.[1]

Sunset Boulevard's West End production, directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Bob Avian, opened on July 12 1993 at the Adelphi Theatre with Patti LuPone as Norma Desmond, Kevin Anderson as Joe Gillis, and Daniel Benzali as Norma's ex-husband, Max. Reviews were mixed - many critics felt that the score was repetitive and more time had been spent constructing the mammoth set than working on the book. Still, it was an instant sell-out success and ran for 1,529 performances. Anderson left the London company in January 1994 to be replaced by the late Gerard Casey.

The American premiere was at the Shubert Theatre in Century City, Los Angeles, California, on December 9 1993, with Glenn Close replacing LuPone as Norma and Alan Campbell as Joe. Featured were George Hearn as Max and Judy Kuhn as Betty. Lloyd Webber had reworked both the book and score, tightening the production, better organizing the orchestrations, and adding the song "Every Movie's A Circus". This new production was better received by the critics and was an instant success, running for 369 performances. The Los Angeles production also recorded a new cast album that is well-regarded.

The musical opened on Broadway at the Minskoff Theatre on November 17 1994 with Close, Campbell, and Hearn recreating their roles from the Los Angeles production and Alice Ripley joining the cast as Betty. Also in the cast were Allen Oppenheimer as Cecil B. DeMille and Vincent Tumeo making his Broadway debut as Artie Green. The production opened with the highest advance in the history of Broadway ticket sales and ran for 977 performances. In a season with no other new musical productions of note, it won several Tony Awards, and Glenn Close - with no competition - walked away with the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.

LuPone, who initially had been promised the Broadway run, sued Lloyd Webber and received an out-of-court settlement reported to be very large. She wasn't the only actress to get paid for not playing - Faye Dunaway, set to replace Close in L.A., proved unable to meet the vocal challenges of the score and was let go. She also sued Lloyd Webber. Frank Rich, in his book The Hot Seat, noted that these lawsuits contributed to Sunset Boulevard setting the record for the most money lost by a theatrical endeavor in the history of the United States. Despite its record advance sales, weekly operating costs were so high that it could not pay back its initial investment, and its road companies generated large financial losses. Rich puts the final figure near or above US$20 million, making it what he termed a "flop-hit", as it ran more than two years.

File:PetulaSunset.jpg
Petula Clark recorded Norma's three major songs while appearing in the West End production

The London show was revamped to follow the lead of the New York production and starred Broadway and TV veteran Betty Buckley and John Barrowman. Michael Bauer, who had played DeMille in the original production replaced Benzali as Max, a role he played until the end of the London run (and subsequently on the UK tour). Buckley and the production garnered rave reviews. Buckley then followed Glenn Close as Norma Desmond in the second year of the New York production. Elaine Paige, who had been Buckley's understudy, took over as Norma Desmond in the West End production. Petula Clark filled in for Paige during her holiday in September/October 1995, before taking over the role the following January. The last "star" to take on the role of Norma Desmond in London was Rita Moreno who filled in for a vacationing Clark in September and October 1996. John Barrowman played Joe until 1995, when he was replaced by Alexander Hanson. Graham Bickley played the role for the final year of the London run.

The Toronto production opened in 1995 with Diahann Carroll in the lead role. Her performance was also praised by critics, although the production closed sooner than expected. It also starred Rex Smith as Joe, Walter Charles as Max and Anita Louise Combe as Betty.

In 1996, Debra Byrne as Norma and Hugh Jackman as Joe starred in the first Australian production of Sunset Boulevard. The production opened the newly restored Regent Theatre, Melbourne. In 2005, Judi Connelli starred in a new Australian concert version for The Production Company in Melbourne (State Theatre, with David Campbell as Joe) and in Sydney (Luna Park, with Michael Cormick as Joe and Anthony Warlow as Max), both for limited seasons. The show was revived briefly in Australia in 2006, in an even more scaled down version, with Judi Connelli again starring as Norma.

The excellent reviews Clark garnered helped launch a second national tour in the U.S. A first attempt starring Linda Balgord had been aborted due to exorbitant costs involved in transporting the set, so Lloyd Webber called in director Susan H. Schulman to design a scaled-down production, with Clark again in the lead opposite Lewis Cleale as Joe. This production featured Anthony Powell's Tony Award-winning costumes and a new, more tour-friendly set by Derek McLane. In 2004, Clark repeated her performance opposite Michael Ball at the Cork Opera House in Ireland for broadcast on BBC Radio. To date, with more than 2500 performances to her credit, she has played the role more often than any other actress.

In August 2001, a UK tour commenced in Plymouth starring Faith Brown as Norma, opposite Earl Carpenter as Joe. The show had a completely new set, much simpler than the original London set, but without compromising the quality of the show. Carpenter left midway through the tour. He was replaced by Jeremy Finch who had previously understudied the role. The tour finished in late 2002 in Manchester and had met with both excellent reviews and respectable ticket sales.

Synopsis

The story begins in 1949-50 with down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis having car trouble, on Sunset Boulevard, in front of former silent film star Norma Desmond's mansion. To keep the repossession agents at bay, he hides his car in Desmond's garage. After 20 years out of the limelight, eccentric Miss Desmond (she is attached to a stuffed chimp, a prop from an old movie) wants to make a screen comeback. Gillis comments, "You used to be in pictures, you used to be big," she retorts "I am big . . . it's the pictures that got small!" She invites Joe to live at the mansion if he'll edit her script, Salome, for director Cecil B. DeMille. Joe goes to the studio to borrow money to pay off his debts and meets sweet, pretty Betty Schaefer, who works with him on his own script and falls for Joe, leaving her boyfriend, Artie.

Norma has also developed feelings for the young screenwriter, buying him lavish gifts; she even attempts suicide when he goes off to a party. Joe finishes Salome, but the phone rings: The studio is calling, but it turns out that her car is wanted for a film, not her. Max, her ex-husband (and live-in butler), can't bring himself to give the ex-star this sad news. So, Norma happily meets DeMille, who is, of course, non-committal about Salome. Meanwhile, Norma has detected that Joe and Betty are lovers. She telephones the younger woman to confront her, but Joe grabs the phone from her hand, asking Betty to come see first-hand the hell he is living in. Betty arrives, and Joe tells Norma that he and Betty are getting out. Norma, furious and grief-stricken, shoots Joe dead. Descending into insanity, Norma mistakes her arresting officers for her beloved fans and studio executives. Thinking she is on the set of Salome, Norma descends the staircase with the immortal phrase, "...And now, Mr. De Mille, I am ready for my close-up."

Expected musical film and other information

In July 2005, Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group announced that a film version, with Glenn Close reprising her role, was to be produced with an expected release date of 2006. However, as of 2006 the projected date for release of the film has been put back to 2008, possibly due to the release of Webber's film version of The Phantom of the Opera, according to the IMDB. [2]

Sunset Boulevard ranked fifth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals" (wherein Nation refers to the United Kingdom). [3]

Major characters

  • Norma Desmond (a faded, eccentric, former silent screen star)
  • Joe Gillis (a struggling young screenwriter)
  • Max von Mayerling (Norma's ex-husband and butler)
  • Betty Schaefer (Joe's new girlfriend)
  • Cecil B. DeMille
  • Artie Green (Betty's old boyfriend)
  • Sheldrake (A movie producer on the lot)
  • Manfred (An expensive tailor)

Musical numbers

(1993 London production)

Act I

  1. Overture / I Guess It Was 5AM
  2. Let's Have Lunch
  3. Sheldrake's Office
  4. On The Road/The House On Sunset
  5. Surrender
  6. With One Look
  7. Salome
  8. Greatest Star of All
  9. Let's Have Lunch (Reprise)/Girl Meets Boy
  10. The House on Sunset
  11. New Ways to Dream
  12. Lady's Paying
  13. The House on Sunset
  14. Perfect Year
  15. Dialogue After The Perfect Year
  16. Artie Green's Apartment
  17. This Time Next Year
  18. The House On Sunset

Act II'

  1. Entr'acte
  2. Sunset Boulevard
  3. The Perfect Year
  4. Journey to Paramount
  5. As If We Never Said Goodbye
  6. Surrender (Reprise)
  7. Girl Meets Boy (Reprise)
  8. Eternal Youth Is Worth a Little Suffering
  9. Too Much in Love to Care
  10. New Ways to Dream (Reprise)
  11. Sunset Boulevard (Reprises)
  12. Greatest Star of All (Reprise)

(1994 L.A. production)

Act I

  1. Overture / I Guess It Was 5AM
  2. Let's Have Lunch
  3. Every Movie's A Circus
  4. Car Chase
  5. At the House on Sunset
  6. Surrender
  7. With One Look
  8. Salome
  9. Greatest Star of All
  10. Every Movie's a Circus (Reprise)
  11. Girl Meets Boy
  12. Back at the House on Sunset
  13. New Ways to Dream
  14. Completion of the Script
  15. Lady's Paying
  16. New Year's Eve
  17. Perfect Year
  18. This Time Next Year
  19. New Year's Eve (Back at the House on Sunset)

Act II

  1. Entr'acte
  2. Sunset Boulevard
  3. There's Been a Call/Journey to Paramount
  4. As If We Never Said Goodbye
  5. Paramount Conversations/Surrender (Reprise)
  6. Girl Meets Boy (Reprise)
  7. Eternal Youth Is Worth a Little Suffering
  8. Who's Betty Schaefer?
  9. Betty's Office at Paramount
  10. Too Much in Love to Care
  11. New Ways to Dream (Reprise)
  12. Phone Call
  13. Final Scene

Awards

Tony Awards

  • Best Musical
  • Best Score of a Musical
  • Best Book of a Musical
  • Best Scenic Design
  • Best Lighting Design
  • Best Featured Actor in a Musical - George Hearn
  • Best Actress in a Musical - Glenn Close

Outer Critics Circle Awards

  • Outstanding Broadway Musical
  • Outstanding Actress in a Musical - Glenn Close

Drama Desk Award: Outstanding Actress in a Musical - Glenn Close

Drama Logue Awards (Los Angeles production)

  • Outstanding Production
  • Outstanding Original Music
  • Outstanding Direction
  • Outstanding Writing
  • Outstanding Scenic Design
  • Outstanding Costume Design
  • Outstanding Lighting Design
  • Outstanding Performance - Glenn Close
  • Outstanding Performance - Alan Campbell

L.A. Drama Critics Circle Awards

  • Outstanding Scenic Design
  • Outstanding Lighting Design
  • Outstanding Costume Design
  • Outstanding Sound Design
  • Outstanding Lead Performance - Glenn Close

Ovation Awards

  • Best Musical
  • Best Scenic Design
  • Best Costume Design
  • Best Lighting Design

Notes

  1. ^ Information from Lloyd Webber's site on the genesis of the musical but This article disputes his version.
  2. ^ Information about the expected film version of the musical
  3. ^ BBC listener poll

References

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