Yesterday, 23rd
April 2016, me and my Beezie went to London’s West End to see the 5-week run of
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard starring Hollywood’s Glenn Close. I have
to explain now that unfortunately due to Close’s indisposition (I am guessing
she was ill and not totally indisposed) she was not playing the role of Norma
Desmond this weekend and has been replaced by her understudy, Ria Jones. We
were initially extremely gutted about not seeing Close as we had paid a lot of
money and were so excited but it is one of those musical theatre things that
you just have to suck up and get on with. Understudies quite often do not get
the recognition they deserve; they are often playing other roles throughout the
performances and have to be aware of the key roles as well as to change at the
drop of a hat. I will go on to discuss Jones performance later but she was
phenomenal, I cannot fault her performance. Beezie described the evening as
bittersweet and this totally sums up the night, being upset about Close but
being privileged to see Jones’ portrayal of Norma Desmond. I do wish Close a
speedy recovery and hope she returns to the West End stage for others to enjoy.
Me and
Beezie had a wonderful time as always. Although Beezie was slightly hungover
following her partner’s 30th birthday party, a drive in the car with
a bag of crisps and putting the world to rights was just what the doctor
ordered (although I think a pint would have helped better). Full of laughter, I
can confirm that Beezie do like eggs, she really do. The most embarrassing thing
of the day was sat in the Tex-Mex restaurant Chiquito’s and during pudding (I
actually had a pudding, well half a pudding) for some unknown, strange reason
as I was eating the whipped cream off my hot chocolate I spat all the cream
over Beezie, the table, the wall and possibly the person on the next table.
This was so funny, I could not swallow the rest of the cream in my mouth, I
couldn’t speak and it was just a bad bad situation. Sorry Beezie for spitting
cream over you, its part of the London experience I guess though.
Sunset
Boulevard is based on Billy Wilder’s 1950 film of the same name. It follows the
story of has-been actress Norma Desmond who meets Joe Gillis, a struggling
writer. Desmond guilt trips Gillis into helping her edit the 6-book script for
a new film she has written, Salome, and living with Desmond and forcing a
relationship on him. Desmond clearly has some mental health difficulties and
set in 1949 these difficulties are not very well understood. Mental health is
one of the main themes running through the whole of the Musical and the final
scene really captures the psychological distress Desmond is experiencing and
how this affects those around her. This was the first time I have seen Sunset
Boulevard on the stage, although I know some of the famous songs from listening
to my Nanny’s musical theatre album many moons ago, a selection of Lloyd
Webber’s greatest hits, featuring two of Sunset Boulevard’s classics. After a
successful run at the Sydmonton Festival in 1991/2 Sunset Boulevard moved to
the West End at the Adelphi Theatre in 1993 running for 1,530 performances and
closing in 1997.The original London production was nominated for Best New
Musical and Best Actress in a Musical (for Patti LuPone as Norma Desmond) at
the 1994 Olivier Awards, winning neither, losing to City of Angels. The two
following two years Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige were also nominated for
their portrayals of Norma Desmond, again not winning. In 1994 Sunset Boulevard
transferred to Broadway with Glenn Close as Norma Desmond, winning 7 Tony’s in
1995, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Book, Best Leading
Actress (for Close), Best Featured Actor, Best Scenic Design and Best Lighting.
The 2009 London revival was also nominated for two Olivier’s winning neither
again. A West End production of Sunset Boulevard has not won an Olivier Award,
who knows it may be next year after seeing this short run.
This
production of Sunset Boulevard was at the London Coliseum, home of the English
National Opera (ENO), who featured on the Coliseum stage too. The Coliseum is
tucked behind Leicester Square and I have never been to the Coliseum before and
don’t think I have ever walked past it. From the outside it looks nice, but just
wait until you get inside. Creddida Pollock (Chief Executive of the ENO)
described the London Coliseum as “the grandest of London’s musical theatres.” I
cannot describe to you the inside of the Coliseum, it is so grand and I think I
may have to agree with Pollock on this, but please refer to the amateur
photography below. Described as ornate, the Coliseum, built in 1904, fills you
with a sense of historical weariness, the faces peering down at you from the
ceiling, the enormous auditorium with its four levels (seating over 2,500
people), numerous boxes and a pride of lions featuring around the walls. It is
a phenomenal theatre to be sat in, the stage is gigantic and it honestly is a
beautiful, historic and emotional theatre to be sat in.
As already
said Glenn Close was indisposed and unable to perform yesterday. Ria Jones is
the understudy for the role of Norma Desmond and she did not disappoint. There
had been issues with some audience members on the Friday evening performance
when it was first announced Miss Glenn Close was unable to perform and that Miss
Ria Jones would be taking on the role. People had walked out, wanted refunds,
demanding to see Glenn Close and booing the Coliseum. Although I was seriously
disappointed by this news on Saturday evening, it is to be expected from time
to time and it is a risk you take when booking your tickets in advance. I think
the audience over compensated slightly for the cheers of Ria Jones, but she was
none the less amazing. Her rendition of ‘With One Look’ was phenomenal; her
voice is so powerful it resonated around the whole Coliseum. Jones received a
longer than usual applause at the end of the song which was deserved. Her
acting as Desmond was emotional and authentic. You really feel for Desmond with
Jones portrayal yet want to scream at her to not be so possessive and misguided
or misinformed. Jones is no stranger to a leading role, playing iconic roles
such as Fantine, Grizabella, Narrator (Joseph) and Eva Peron, however I think
this is Jones’ massive big break in the West End and she also originated the
role of Norma Desmond at the workshop for Sunset Boulevard at the Sydmonton
Festival all those years ago.
Michael
Xavier plays Joe Gillis. Xavier (what an ace name) was great, good singing
voice, making the title song seem more of a part of a thriller than a musical.
He really transforms the role of Gillis throughout the production; from the
struggling writer we all have sympathy for to the obnoxious and selfish man by
the end of Act 2. Xavier has an amazing body which helps watching him at the
beginning of Act 2 as he gets out of the swimming pool. I don’t mean to sound
like a pervert but he is at one point naked facing the orchestra during the
second act and I am sure I saw a violinist shoot a look. The lovingly loyal butler
Max is played by Fred Johanson and me and Beezie loved him. Although not the
biggest singing role in the musical he is a great character, with a history
too. Johanson gives the loyalty and love of Max to Norma, particularly in the
finale you can see the empathy and eternal love he has for her. Siobhan Dillon
plays Betty Schaefer, again a character that does not feature heavily within
the show, her voice was musically beautiful and her song with Xavier, ‘Too much
in love too care’, the true love song of the musical often forgotten due to
Desmond’s songs, was beautiful to watch and listen. I absolutely loved the way
we saw Norma seeing herself, as well as other characters reflecting back in
their mind. The use of an ensemble actress to play a younger Norma was really
effective, seeing how she once was and how people used to see her. This
production of Sunset Boulevard has been directed by Loony Price.
With music
composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and book and lyrics by Don Black and
Christopher Hampton, Sunset Boulevard has to be Lloyd Webber’s and Black’s
greatest work together to date. The music and lyrics gave me feelings of
macabre and have a mixture of humour, emotion, love and suffering. Anyone who
loves a disco funk soundtrack may be disappointed with Sunset Boulevard however
the score and soundtrack is wonderful. Classics include the title song, ‘With
One Look’ and ‘As if we never said goodbye’; often these three songs are the
most associated with the musical. ‘Let’s Have Lunch’, ‘Girl Meets Boy’, ‘New
Ways to Dream’, ‘Perfect Year’, ‘A Little Suffering’ and the aforementioned
‘Too much in love too care’ are also immense additions to the score. The
fantastic talent of Lloyd Webber is greatest seen with his Overture, Entr’acte
and underscores. The talent of Lloyd Webber is magnified with the 48-piece ENO
on stage throughout the production, with orchestrations by David Cullen and
Conducted by Michael Reed. The ENO were disguised by the semi staging of Sunset
Boulevard but were visible. I have been to musicals with an 8 piece orchestra
which were great, however when you have forty eight pieces playing a score like
Sunset Boulevard it is overwhelming. I have never had so many goose pimples in
one production, it is fantastic and I sang the whole way back from leaving the
Coliseum to Newbury Park, sorry Beezie.
James Noone,
an American set designer, was the creator of this semi-staged version of Sunset
Boulevard. I understand why they call this a semi-staged production but I think
this undervalues the work of Noone and the effect his staging has. With the
carefully planned positioning of the ENO, with the conductors stand
transforming to a car bonnet, from the amazing and beautiful amalgamated chandeliers
to represent Norma’s house, with the laddered walkways that looked like
spaghetti junction and the fake Xavier gracefully gliding down from the gods.
It may have been semi-staged but I guarantee you it was by no means half the
effort. Noone’s set would have been nothing without the talent of 6-time
Olivier award winner for lighting, Mark Henderson (lighting designer), winning
this year for Gypsy. His lighting around the chandelier was to die for. His
creation of a car chase and the lighting on the conductor was creative and
surreptitious. The light on Norma Desmond prior to the as if song received an
applause, the only time I have seen an applause of this magnitude for a
lighting effect. I honestly felt like I was in front of the queen, the lighting
was royal and majestic.
Costuming
was fantastic, and Anthony Powell took on the task of designing the iconic
costumes of Norma Desmond. There were four main costumes that made my jaw drop;
I wanted one in every colour. The first time we see Norma she is in an animal
printed, crazy patterned, bronze and gold, kimono thingy. The second costume we
see is at the New Year’s Eve party for two. You could hear how heavy this sequined,
jewelled, diamante dress was. I think Jones wasn’t walking slowly and
majestically on purpose she just didn’t have a choice as it was too heavy. It
was an epic dress, the lights bounced off the dress like a thousand glitter
balls descended into the air. The third outfit, myself and Beezie laughed at,
bearing in mind we were the only two out of over 2,500 people to laugh and we
were given some disapproving looks. Although it was a fantastic costume I would
not be seen dead it in. With a deformed black bird on her head, she looked like
Close did in some parts of the real life 101 Dalmatians film. The final outfit
we see Desmond in is also wonderfully worn; on the imaginary set of Salome,
Desmond looks amazing. Honestly I want Powell to design me some costumes.
Amazing!
Sunset
Boulevard is currently playing at the London Coliseum, home of the English National
Opera, until 7th May. Who knows who you will see in the role of
Norma Desmond, lucky for those who see the wonder that is Glenn Close, but do
not be disappointed if you see the understudy Ria Jones, the term understudy is
not an efficient term for Jones, she is no way under anything in fact she is a
wonder to see in the role of Desmond, she will have your hair standing on end
throughout, especially with her ‘With One Look’. This is such a limited run and
tickets are still readily available for the weekday event, limited on weekends
and sold out for the last day. This is something that really cannot be missed.
I would be so tempted to go back and see it all again. I am off to see War of
the Worlds on Friday so will be posting again next weekend. Please get in touch
until then @AaronBurgess89
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