Sunset Blvd Previews

[rjm516]

Posted: 4/1/16 at 7:02pm

Was anyone else there tonight? She was fantastic and the audience was so into it. It's not a very good show though but I think they did a decent job.

[meyerd584]

Posted: 4/1/16 at 8:03pm

Very excited to see it in two weeks. How are the sets? Obviously they are not including the infamous grand staircase, but are they passable or is it more bare-bones?

[scampsweep]

Posted: 4/2/16 at 10:14am

Please can you give us more details about the production in general. I'm seeing it on Wednesday. I saw the original about 12 times!!!! I know it's completely stripped back, but what was it generally like? On some sites, it's saying the running time is 2 hours ( but the original was more like 2hrs 40 mins). Which parts have been cut? Thanks for any info. 

[rjm516]

Posted: 4/2/16 at 1:26pm

The whole space is taken up by several industrial looking staircases going in various directions, so the characters move on them a lot. Besides the metal from them, a few pieces of furniture are brought in here and there, like a sofa is the main thing for Norma's house. At first I was upset not to have a crazy fancy set, but I think it could never really measure up to how grand it is supposed to be, so it kind of works this way.

Glenn is captivating. Her voice isn't great but for her age it's in decent shape. Funnily, her big powerful notes are the best part, and she really delivers on them somehow, and then it's the quieter moments that seem so much easier that the quality seems lacking. But her acting is the reason to see this and it's worth it. Max I thought was fabulous and the rest of the cast was whatever.

There are some strong songs as you know if you are familiar with the show, but what we could not get past was the heavily repeated recitative parts (can't think of how to describe it). Like the entire book almost is sung through, and they repeat the same horrible melodies for those lines and it just doesn't work for me at all. E.g., every time Joe and Betsy would meet, they'd talk to each other in the same melody, every time, and it was really actually annoying. Way too much repetition of melody. And the lyrics for most of the music that isn't Norma's big numbers are really atrocious too. But regardless of all its faults you still have to see Glenn Close in this role, just for history's sake. So, enjoy! 

[kp]

Posted: 4/2/16 at 1:31pm

I thought the set from the original Adelphi production captured the grandeur of how it is supposed to be. 

 

[scampsweep]

Posted: 4/2/16 at 1:48pm

Rjm516 : Thanks for the reply. Glad you enjoyed it, despite, as you say, the flaws! Is the running time only 2 hours, as advertised? Looking forward to seeing the matinee on Wednesday. (I assume Glenn is performing all of the shows?) 

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 4/2/16 at 2:53pm

No, it's a little more than 2 and a half hours. And yes, Glenn's supposed to do all the shows.

[scampsweep]

Posted: 4/2/16 at 5:08pm

Great. Thanks for the information. 

[Outoftowner2]

Posted: 4/2/16 at 6:22pm

Saw it tonight, she is wonderful!  

[jo]

Posted: 4/2/16 at 7:26pm

Thanks for sharing.

 

I wish I could see this.

 

I had seen SUNSET BOULEVARD in London with  Betty Buckley...and also with Elaine Paige when she took over the show.  I do love the musical score  ( my favorite ALW after ASPECTS OF LOVE)...as well as the film noir classic by Billy Wilder ( on which the show seemed to have been faithfully-based).  I never saw Glenn on Broadway but I do have the Broadway cast recording ( plus the London cast recording with Patti, an unofficial recording with Debra Byrne and Hugh Jackman) and heard the BBC-sponsored concert with Michael Ball and Petula Clark.  It is a great show and I am hoping that the buzz about a film adaptation does come true!

 

 

[10086sunset]

Posted: 4/2/16 at 7:27pm

Of all those who have played this role, Close has always been my favorite.

Hoping against hope this production makes it to Broadway.

[rjm516]

Posted: 4/2/16 at 7:48pm

Yes sorry I forgot to comment on the time. Started probably 7:35 Friday and got out I think 10:05 ish? We also waited at stagedoor for an hour before we gave up! And the crowd was actually too much to handle. I hate myself for wasting that hour :) 

[scampsweep]

Posted: 4/3/16 at 4:35am

Thanks. Looking forward to it.

[Will42]

Posted: 4/4/16 at 8:31am

Does anyone know if they are doing day seats for Sunset Blvd like they have done in the past with Sweeney Todd? 

Posted: 4/4/16 at 9:15am

Someone on twitter said Joe is nude at the top of Act 2????!!!

Posted: 4/4/16 at 10:03am

I just might have to take a trip across the pond!!! LOL!!!

 

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 4/4/16 at 10:59am

No day seats.

Not nude. He emerges from the swimming pool wearing a swimsuit, he puts on a robe and takes the swimsuit off - but you can't see anything...

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/4/16 at 11:15am

Joe wore a skimpy swimsuit in that scene in the  scaled down US tour with Petula Clark as well.

[rjm516]

Posted: 4/4/16 at 11:49am

Funniest thing Friday night - when Joe climbs out of the pool at the top of Act II in just that tight swimsuit, someone in the balcony started applauding and then a few more joined in and everyone laughed.

[nataliealana]

Posted: 4/4/16 at 3:08pm

Saw this on Saturday and loved it. Glenn Close has an incredible stage presence.

[scampsweep]

Posted: 4/7/16 at 1:27pm

Saw the matinee yesterday and, well, tbh, I was somewhat disappointed. I saw the original at the Adelphi many times, the U.K. tour and also the Kathryn Evans revival a few years back and enjoyed all of the versions. 

The main disappointment was actually Glenn Close. I know she has received unanimous rave reviews, but I was massively underwhelmed, even with her acting. i wasn't expecting fantastic singing (she clearly finds this score difficult now), but I was expecting a masterclass in acting. I actually found Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige's versions much superior. Close completely flubbed lines two or three times, especially during her final 'mad' scene and she rambled slightly to 'get it back', but it was very noticeable. 

 

The introduction of the ghost of young Norma just didn't work for me. The montage at the end (whilst Betty was on the road to Norma's) showing, I assume, the random thoughts of Joe towards Norma and her actions worked well though. 

The pared-down production itself works well and the music sounded beautiful. In my opinion, however, the reviews completely flattered Close. I didn't see her as a star turn at all (certainly not in the league of Staunton's performance in Gypsy). I wanted to like her, but was unmoved and slightly 'so what's all the fuss about?' at the end. She was well-received, though, and got a standing ovation - but I just couldn't really see why. I really felt I had seen better Normas. 

 

 

[The Scorpion]

Posted: 4/9/16 at 3:06pm

For me, actually, the production was better than I expected. I was really worried that Glenn Close's voice would not have held up twenty years later (I didn't have a problem with her voice in the first outing; it sounded fine for the character, and she didn't butcher the score like later Normas like Petula Clark, where the keys were drastically lowered). But that concern was unfounded; her voice is not as strong as 20 years ago, but there is not too much of a change and I was relieved that the two big numbers, WOL and AIWNSG, remained in the keys they were in when Glenn did it last time. They only decided (for some reason) to lower 'The Perfect Year'. Glenn's performance was not as manic or crazy as last time round - the New York Times reviewed her Broadway performance as involving "breathtaking risks, venturing so far out on a limb at times that you fear it will snap"...I don't think you could say that about this far more (unexpectedly) restrained performance. I wonder whether that was a decision on Close's part or Price's.

Michael Xavier was an excellent Joe, and so unlike any previous one in the role, that every line was delivered intelligently and unexpectedly, which almost made it like watching this show for the first time round. Which is unfortunate, because, although this is one of my favourite shows, I think it sags and has longueurs in the non-Norma scenes. 

It was clear Fred Johanson possessed a very rich voice, quite possibly one of the best of any actor to play Max. Unfortunately he had a big crack on the big note ('Fade' in his Act 1 number on the night I saw it. Never mind. I saw Johanson play the role previously in the stunning Gothenburg Opera production from five years ago, which in my mind beats any production I have seen of this show, including the Trevor Nunn original (look it up if you don’t know it; the production values were great and it was designed heavily with the Billy Wilder film in mind). I was delighted to see the ENO had decided to source some of the elements of this production from the Gothenburg Opera one, including not only the Isotta Fraschini car, but also some (though not all) of the atmospheric film projections. What would have made this my ultimate Sunset Boulevard was if they could have just imported that entire production; it would surely have cost less than the Adelphi one.

I actually preferred some of the direction in this to the Trevor Nunn original – one thing that particularly springs to mind is that it now makes sense to me why the people on Stage 18 applaud Norma after she delivers her Act 2 anthem, because she is now addressing that song to individual members of the film crew. In the Trevor Nunn production, I never understood why everyone just stood still and watched her sing that song and then applaud her, as I didn’t get whether she was delivering a speech to everyone (she didn’t seem to be addressing them) or if she was in a reverie (in which case what on earth were they applauding?). I'm not sure I was so keen on the montage sequence in the transition between the phone call and Betty's arrival at the mansion. Did we really need to be reminded of what had happened up to that point? And I doubt that's what Joe would be going through in his mind at that point.

Two changes in the material specifically for this production – Lloyd Webber tweaked the music for the overture by prolonging one note and shortening the one that falls immediately after (the ones that accompany the words “frightened I might fall” later on – imagine that becoming “friiiiiightened I might fall&rdquo. I’m not sure what the purpose of this was; apparently ALW has been meaning to do this for ages. Don Black has also made one lyric change – the first instance of ‘sound advice, good advice, let’s throw it away’ in TMILTC is now ‘turn around, walk away (or something like that), it’s the only way’. I like the change, but of all the things he could have changed, this is surely one lyric which doesn’t need as much attention as some of the other howlers in this show (one that grated on me this time was ‘a masterpiece can never pall’ – the stress on the first word was all wrong. Maybe change it to ‘Such works of art can never pall’ or something like that?).

Does anyone know whether Michael Xavier ends up flashing the orchestra when he changes out of his trunks after delivering the title number? I’m assuming he has something else underneath those trunks!

Am I right in thinking that the costumes Glenn wears are the ones from two decades ago (i.e. they haven’t made them again)? If so, is the reason that we didn’t get to see her New Ways to Dream costume because they weren’t saved? That costume was much missed, as was the leopard skin one. She seemed to have the others though.

Hearing that score with an opera-sized orchestra, though – so good! I loved it, overall. I think Glenn’s performance was better 2 decades ago but this is definitely worth a visit and is not the half-hearted pale imitation I feared it might be! Can't wait to again in a couple of weeks.
 

Updated On: 4/9/16 at 03:06 PM

[Posner11]

Posted: 4/13/16 at 4:27pm

Glenn Close - utterly stunning - a powerhouse performance yet haunting and touching  - truly a performance to remember and shows the stage craft some actors have.

Fred Johanson - Max - a great foil  to Glenn and again made Max more believable and central to the show than Max is normally.

Michael Xavier - yes know he can do it all but makes Joe a right smug character rather than the supposed weary desperate broke writer. he does have chemistry with Glenn however when there is none between him and Siobhan Dillon.

Some of the staging very clever other bits just didn't work  - the star central performance is the reason to see this show

Very glad to have had the chance to see Glenn in this role and theres no way anyone else would be acceptable in the film which will hopefully get green-lit now.

[vassey]

Posted: 4/17/16 at 4:17pm

Glenn Close OWNED that stage - I've never seen anything like it. Despite being over 20 years older, she sang the role as well, if not better, than the album. Her take on the role is different - Norma is trapped as being a 16 year old at times, emotionally immature. 

The overture has changed - the notes are played differently (a slight rise and fall in tempo at one point), "Completion of the Script" is trimmed, TMILTK has a new line (I THINK this was in the Watermill revival), and the shooting has a synth drone after it....

The set was perfectly suitable - the addition of the real car was unexpected but welcome!! The projections were 'unusual' at times-  but mostly worked. (Not sure about the photoshopped image of Glenn from 1994 turning up at the send of Act 2?. What happened to the photoshoot image of young Norma done for all the Normas back in the Original Production?)

Glenn got FOUR standing ovations at the end, and TWO during the show. Im amazing, never seen anything like it!

 

[devonian.t]

Posted: 4/17/16 at 4:30pm

All those standing ovations- sounds like audience self-indulgence to me.  Lots of self-congratulation on having snagged tickets to the "event" show.