SUNSET BOULEVARD Ballopera to Play San Diego's Old Town Theatre

Cinballera Entertainment will bring Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard to the stage in a new adaptation combining cinema, ballet and opera at San Diego's Old Town Theatre.

The production, part of Cinballera's fourth season, was conceived by company founders Tiffany and Rebekah Brannan directly from Wilder's Oscar-winning 1950 film. The company describes the work as a “ballopera,” incorporating dialogue, classical singing, ballet and ballroom dancing into the story.

The production is separate from Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1993 stage musical adaptation of Sunset Boulevard.

Wilder's film follows faded silent film star Norma Desmond, whose dreams of returning to the screen draw struggling writer Joe Gillis into her increasingly insular world of Hollywood fantasy.

Cinballera's adaptation will feature a cast of five performers, with Old Hollywood-inspired staging and modern film technology used to create an immersive visual environment. The production will also incorporate classic film scores alongside its operatic and dance elements.

The show marks a return to the multidisciplinary approach behind Cinballera Entertainment, which combines its three primary artistic forms: cinema, ballet and opera.