BWW Interviews: Handy Takes 'Big' Role to a Small Stage in SUNSET BOULEVARD

"I am big. It's the pictures that got small." - Norma Desmond

In the case of the Stage North Stage's production of SUNSET BOULEVARD, it's not the pictures that got small. It's the theater space.

The show is set to open 8 p.m. Oct. 2 and runs through Oct. 19 at the Garden Theatre (1187 North High Street) in downtown Columbus.

When it was performed on Broadway and in London's West End, the show was performed with a lavish set that included a mansion, a movie soundstage and an Isotta-Fraschini automobile. The challenge for director Scott Hunt was to take the oversized musical and shrink it down to size for the Garden Theatre.

"It's a challenge to take a show that was originally 25 instruments, 25 actors and hydraulic sets and pare it down to a version that's realistic for a Short North Stage," Hunt says. "In doing so, we came up with some really interesting ideas to tell the story."

While he couldn't reconstruct the mansion that appeared on the Broadway or West End productions of SUNSET, Hunt found other ways to bring the mammoth Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical to life. Much like they did with their production of THE WHO'S TOMMY, the Short North Stage uses elements of film, projection screens and a subtle use of a color palate to stage the musical.

"We're trying to blend as many elements of film into this play which takes place in the golden era of film to tell the story to the audience," Hunt says. "It's a refreshing way to deal with some of these major musicals. Without vast millions behind you where you can create spectacle out of moving set pieces, you're creating a spectacle out of the actors on stage. You get to retool the approach and make it more intimate and more actor-centered. Luckily I have a group of talent to do that with."

One such actress is Gina Handy who takes on the role of Norma Desmond. Handy plays a reclusive silent film star who pines for a return to the spotlight. She sees a young screen writer, Joe Gillis (played by Chris Shea) as her ticket back to the limelight as well as a love interest.

"I don't think I've ever played someone as complex as Norma Desmond. She has so many layers," Handy says. "The most difficult part is finding where her honest moments are and where her reality is."

"There's nothing small about Norma Desmond in any way shape or form," Hunt adds. "Gina's vocals are the best I've ever heard on this music. I can say that 'With One Look' and 'As If We Never Said Goodbye' are going to be the highlights of the show."

Although Handy has never seen a production of SUNSET, she fell in love with the original cast recording in college.

"(Desmond's) two big songs 'With One Look' and 'As If We Never Said Goodbye' are on every alto audition book," Handy says with a laugh. "'With One Look' establishes where she is. You learn where her mind set is now. It's definitely her defining moment."

Shea, a Shakespearian actor with a wealth of experience with musicals, is also a perfect fit as Gillis, the narrator of the story. A former newspaper reporter from Dayton, Gillis also longs to be successful, only as a screenwriter. With his own debts mounting, he sees a chance encounter with Desmond as a way to pay off his bills.

"Chris is the perfect actor to tell the story. Joe is a window into the story as well as he often tells us what to feel about the story," Hunt says. "I have complete confidence in his ability to engage the audience from beginning to end and take them on this journey with him."

The show's spotlight spreads far beyond the relationship between Desmond and Gillis. Playing key supporting roles are Christopher Moore Griffin (Max von Mayerling), Cassie Rea (Betty Schaefer), Edward Carignan (Artie Green), Doug Joseph (Cecil B. DeMille) and Ryan Stem (Sheldrake). Rounding out the supporting cast are Vera Ryan Allen, Jeff Fouch, Nick Hardin,

Nick Lingnofski, Linda Kinnison Roth, Peter Thoma and Brooke Walters.

"I feel truly blessed to have such an ensemble of actors helping to communicate the vast numbers of characters in SUNSET," Hunt says.

SUNSET BOULEVARD will be performed 8 p.m. Oct. 2-4, Oct. 9-11, and Oct. 16-18 with 3 p.m. matinees on Oct. 5, 12, and 19.