Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
MrMidwest
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/8/05
#1Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Posted: 11/4/12 at 3:14pm
Just in case somebody hadn't seen it before.
Faye meets her waterloo in Lloyd Webber
"The gods who nurse this universe think little of mortals' cares. They sit in crowds on exclusive clouds and laugh at our love affairs. I might have had a real romance if they'd given me a chance. I loved him, but he didn't love me. I wanted him, but he didn't want me. Then the gods had a spree and indulged in another whim. Now he loves me, but I don't love him." - Cole Porter
egghumor
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/9/11
#2Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Posted: 11/4/12 at 4:25pm
Highly interesting statement from Ms. Dunaway, thanks! I saw her interviewed about it soon thereafter and while I can't recall the exact adjective she used to describe him, I do remember clearly that she underscored it this way:
Dunaway: Andrew Lloyd Webber is a 'horrible' [fill in your own harsh adjective there] man. Everyone knows it."
#2Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Posted: 11/4/12 at 8:14pm
Guess who recorded that very clip himself, back in the day? 
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was such a delicious drama to us theatre queens.
Recreation of original John Cameron orchestration to "On My Own" by yours truly. Click player below to hear.
The Scorpion
Leading Actor Joined: 1/3/07
#3Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Posted: 11/5/12 at 3:22pm
This is what Andrew Lloyd Webber had to say on the debacle retrospectively in an interview dating from 2000:
"[...] when [...] Faye Dunaway left SUNSET BLVD, it was not a capricious decision by myself alone. I was not even part of the company at the time, but I was asked to have breakfast with the creative team and the American producer. Everyone was very worried -- and I know that both Trevor Nunn and the musical director David Caddick had her best interests at heart. It was felt that it was difficult to go forward. But the baggage of the decision stuck to me. And I wasn't even supposed to be in LA at the time, I only went there because my REQUIEM was being performed in the midwest. I took the plane back and there was a phone call from her waiting. I hardly knew her, but if she was that upset about it I suppose I should have called her back and called Trevor and everybody. But I had just got off the plane and I was absolutely knackered, and I decided to deal with it in the morning. The next day of course she had given a press conference and it was all over the media!"
Personally, I don't buy his excuses... Of course the decision stuck to him -- his name was above the show's title as composer AND producer! He's never been one to accept the blame.
Updated On: 11/5/12 at 03:22 PM
#4Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Posted: 11/5/12 at 8:13pmFaye Dunaway is so eloquent.
morosco
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
#5Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Posted: 11/5/12 at 8:48pmKnackered. Is that what you kids are calling it nowadays?
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#6Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Posted: 11/5/12 at 11:44pmI thought she was kinda swell in the interview clip.
Twitter @NamoInExile
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#7Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Posted: 11/6/12 at 8:11am
Webber really did flail with that show. Abruptly firing Faye, shutting down the L.A. production, and moving the entire thing (with Glenn Close) to Broadway, usurping both LuPone and a second American (New York) cast.
Lots of news clips and interviews of puzzled (and occasionally angry) people, at the time.
Faye handled it as well as anybody could, under those circumstances.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#8Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Posted: 11/6/12 at 4:01pm
Faye was "damn mad!" Actually, she was very well spoken and justifiably bewildered. She has a reputation to uphold so she addressed the press.
Patti busted up the dressing room-not quite as eloquent.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
#9Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Posted: 11/6/12 at 5:59pm
The difference is that Faye is an Academy Award winner(which is much more "high profile" at a worldly level) and she doesn't have mental problems and she has some class, unlike Patti LuPone.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and his team are very clever and weren't able to find the right star for this show, until Glenn Close came along, who was truly "Norma Desmond", could act and sing the role like no one else. Patti is an excellent singer, but she wasn't the right one for this role. Faye acted the part very well, but she simply couldn't hit the notes and the director decided to get rid of her, which is cruel, but everyone in show business knows that that is the way it goes.
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-
#10Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Posted: 11/6/12 at 6:07pm
Patti LuPone doesn't have mental problems, and if ALW was clever he wouldn't have made two 'mistakes'. This kind of fiasco is unheard of..
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Updated On: 11/6/12 at 06:07 PM
egghumor
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/9/11
#11Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Posted: 11/6/12 at 7:02pmI seem to recall another interview where Faye Dunaway said: "I'm not mad at Andrew Lloyd Webber... I'm mad at the Dirt!"
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#12Faye Dunaway's 1994 press conference on the Sunset Boulevard debacle
Posted: 11/6/12 at 7:04pm
:::The difference is that Faye is an Academy Award winner(which is much more "high profile" at a worldly level) and she doesn't have mental problems::::
I'll have what he's smoking.
Twitter @NamoInExile
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