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9 / 10
The scenery may have shrunk, but that face - oh, that face - looms larger than ever. So does the ego that animates it, both indomitable and irreparably broken. 'With one look,' indeed, to borrow a song lyric that describes such unsettling presence. That outrageous, over-the-top, desperate old lady shedding sanity on the stage of the Palace Theater still has the poetry in her gaze to break every heart.
9 / 10
There aren't many circumstances in which I'd use the phrase 'bare bones' to characterize a musical that boasts, among other big gestures, a 40-piece orchestra-incidentally, it's said to be the largest to play on Broadway in 80 years. Yet 'stripped down' and 'spare' are the words that come to mind when considering 'Sunset Boulevard,' the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that this month returns powerhouse star Glenn Close to Broadway as silent-screen recluse Norma Desmond, a role that earned her a Tony 22 years ago. This revival, directed by Lonny Price and now open at the Palace Theatre, was staged last year in London by the English National Opera. The entire West End cast has made the journey to New York, and be assured: aside from the enormous orchestra-and perhaps a bulbous chandelier that makes the one from 'Phantom' seem like a toddler's night light-there's little here to distract from Close's mesmerizing Norma, or Lloyd Webber's pop friendly score.
| 1993 | West End |
Original London Production West End |
| 1993 | Regional (US) |
Los Angeles Production Regional (US) |
| 1994 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 1995 | Canada |
Toronto Production Canada |
| 1996 | US Tour |
1st National Tour US Tour |
| 1998 | US Tour |
2nd National Tour US Tour |
| 2004 | London Fringe |
London Concert Revival London Fringe |
| 2016 | West End |
English National Opera West End Revival West End |
| 2023 | West End |
West End |
| 2024 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical | Mark Henderson |
| 2017 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical | Sunset Boulevard |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Sunset Boulevard |
| 2017 | Theatre World Awards | John Willis Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater | Glenn Close |
