Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and
Christopher HamptonChristopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is an Academy Award-winning British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for...
and music by
Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre, the elder son of organist William Lloyd Webber and brother of the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber...
. Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around
Norma DesmondNorma Desmond is a main character in Billy Wilder's film Sunset Boulevard.-Plot:An aging former star of silent movies, Desmond has withdrawn to her Gothic Beverly Hills mansion, off Sunset Boulevard, nursing dreams of a return to stardom while her grip on reality grows ever more tenuous over the...
, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the fabled
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
street. When young
screenwriterScreenwriters or scenarists or scriptwriters are people in a film crew who write/create the screenplays from which films and television programs are made....
Joe Gillis accidentally crosses her path, she sees in him an opportunity to make her comeback to the big screen. Romance and tragedy follow.
Opening first in London in 1993, the musical has had several long runs internationally and also enjoyed extensive tours, although it lost money because of its extraordinary running costs. A star vehicle, many well-known actresses have played the leading character, Norma Desmond, and the show has seen its share of legal battles.
Background
From approximately 1952 to 1956,
Gloria SwansonGloria Swanson was an American actress. She was most prominent during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille. She was also one of the first stars to challenge the Hays Code by producing the banned Sadie Thompson in 1928...
worked with actor Richard Stapley (aka Richard Wyler) and cabaret singer/pianist Dickson Hughes on a musical adaptation originally entitled
Starring Norma Desmond, then
Boulevard! It ended on a happier note than the film, with Norma allowing Joe to leave and pursue a happy ending with Betty. Paramount originally had given Swanson verbal permission to proceed with the musical, but there had been no formal legal arrangement. On February 20, 1957, Paramount executive Russell Holman wrote Swanson a letter in which he asked her to cease work on the project because "it would be damaging for the property to be offered to the entertainment public in another form as a stage musical." In 1994, Hughes incorporated material from the production into
Swanson on Sunset, based on his and Stapley's experiences in writing
Boulevard!. A recording of the entire score, which had been housed in the Gloria Swanson archives at the University of Texas, was released on CD in 2008.
In the early 1960s,
Stephen SondheimStephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre , multiple Grammy Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize...
outlined a musical stage adaptation and went so far as to compose the first scene with librettist
Burt SheveloveBurt Shevelove was an American musical theater playwright, lyricist, librettist, and director. Born in Newark, New Jersey, he graduated from Brown University and Yale . After serving as a volunteer ambulance driver in WWII, he began working as a writer, director and producer for radio and television...
. A chance encounter with
Billy WilderBilly Wilder was an Austrian-American journalist, filmmaker, screenwriter and producer, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
at a cocktail party gave Sondheim the opportunity to introduce himself and ask the original film's co-screenwriter and director his opinion of the project (which was to star
Jeanette MacDonaldJeanette MacDonald was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy...
). "You can't write a musical about
Sunset Boulevard," Wilder responded, "it has to be an opera. After all, it's about a dethroned queen." Sondheim immediately aborted his plans. A few years later, when he was invited by Hal Prince to write the score for a film
remakeA remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
starring
Angela LansburyAngela Brigid Lansbury, CBE is an English actress and singer whose career has spanned seven decades. Her first film appearance was in Gaslight , for which she received an Academy Award nomination as a malevolent maid, and she expanded her repertoire to Broadway and television in the 1950s...
as a fading musical comedienne rather than a silent film star, Sondheim declined, citing his conversation with Wilder.
When Lloyd Webber saw the film in the early 1970s, he was inspired to write what he pictured as the title song for a theatrical adaptation, fragments of which he instead incorporated into
GumshoeGumshoe is a 1971 film, and was the directorial debut of British director Stephen Frears.Written by local author Neville Smith, the film is set in Liverpool with Albert Finney playing the role of Eddie Ginley. Ginley is a bingo-caller and occasional club comedian who dreams of being a private eye...
. In 1976, after a conversation with
Hal PrinceHarold Smith Prince is an American theatrical producer and director associated with many of the best-known Broadway musical productions of the past half-century...
, who had the theatrical rights to
Sunset, Lloyd Webber wrote "an idea for the moment when Norma Desmond returns to Paramount Studios"; Lloyd Webber did no further work on the play until after 1989's
Aspects of LoveAspects of Love is a musical with a book and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart. It is famous for the song "Love Changes Everything."...
.
At that point Lloyd Webber "felt it was the subject [he] had to compose next", though by February 1990 he had announced plans to turn
Really Useful GroupThe Really Useful Group is an international company set up in 1977 by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It is involved in theatre, film, television, video and concert productions, merchandising, magazine publishing, records and music publishing. The name is inspired by a phrase from the Thomas the Tank Engine...
private so he could "make movies rather than musicals."
In 1991 Lloyd Webber asked Amy Powers, a lawyer from New York with no professional lyric-writing experience, to write the lyrics for
Sunset Boulevard. Don Black was later brought in to work with Powers; the two wrote the version that was performed that same year at Lloyd Webber's
Sydmonton FestivalThe Sydmonton Festival is a summer arts festival presented in a deconsecrated 16th century chapel on the grounds of Sydmonton Court, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Hampshire estate. Its purpose is to introduce new works to a private audience of individuals connected with theatre, television, and film in...
. This original version starred Ria Jones as Norma. It was not a success, though a revised version, written by Black and
Christopher HamptonChristopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is an Academy Award-winning British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for...
"met with great success" at the 1992 Sydmonton Festival.
Synopsis
The story begins in 1949-50 with down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis having car trouble, on Sunset Boulevard, in front of former silent film star Norma Desmond's mansion. To keep the repossession agents at bay, he hides his car in Desmond's garage. After 20 years out of the limelight, eccentric Miss Desmond wants to make a screen comeback. Gillis comments, "You used to be in pictures, you used to be big," she retorts "I
am big . . . it's the pictures that got small!" She invites Joe to live at the mansion if he'll edit her script,
SalomeSalome , the Daughter of Herodias , is known from the New Testament...
, for director Cecil B. DeMille. Joe goes to the studio to borrow money to pay off his debts and meets sweet, pretty Betty Schaefer, who works with him on his own script and falls for Joe, questioning her relationship with Artie, Joe's best friend and her fiance.
Norma has also developed feelings for the young screenwriter, buying him lavish gifts; she even attempts suicide when he goes off to a party. Joe finishes
Salome and the phone rings: The studio is calling, but it turns out that Norma's car is wanted for a film, not her. Max, her ex-husband (and live-in butler), can't bring himself to give the ex-star this sad news. So, Norma happily meets DeMille, who is, of course, non-committal about
Salome. Meanwhile, Norma has detected that Joe and Betty are lovers. She telephones the younger woman to confront her, but Joe grabs the phone from her hand, asking Betty to come see first-hand the hell he is living in. Betty arrives, and Joe breaks her heart by telling her he's a kept man and is planning to stay that way. As soon as Betty leaves, however, Joe tells Norma that he's leaving her as well and heading back to his hometown in Ohio. He also bluntly informs her that
Salome will never be filmed and all her fans have forgotten her. Norma, furious and grief-stricken, fatally shoots Joe. Descending into insanity, Norma mistakes her arresting officers for her beloved fans and studio executives. Thinking she is on the set of
Salome, Norma descends the staircase with the immortal phrase, "...And now, Mr. De Mille, I am ready for my close-up."
This time I'm staying, I'm staying for good; I'll be back where I was born to be... With one look, I'll be me!
Major characters
- Norma Desmond — a faded, eccentric, former silent screen star
- Joe Gillis — a struggling young screenwriter
- Max von Mayerling — Norma's ex-husband and butler
- Betty Schaefer — A budding writer and Joe's love interest
- Cecil B. DeMille — the famous director
- Artie Green — Betty's fiancee
- Sheldrake — a movie producer on the lot
- Manfred — an expensive tailor
Musical numbers
Act I
- Overture / I Guess It Was 5AM - Joe
- Let's Have Lunch - Joe, Actors, actress, scriptwriters, Artie, Sheldrake, Betty
- Every Movie's A Circus† - Betty, Joe
- Car Chase - orchestra
- At the House on Sunset - Joe
- Surrender - Norma
- With One Look - Norma
- Salome - Norma, Joe
- Greatest Star of All - Max
- Every Movie's a Circus (Reprise)† [Originally a reprise of "Let's Have Lunch"] - Actors, Actress, Waiters, Artie, Joe, Betty, Barman
- Girl Meets Boy - Joe, Betty
- Back at the House on Sunset - Joe, Max
- New Ways to Dream - Norma, Joe
- Completion of the Script - Norma, Joe
- The Lady's Paying - Norma, Manfred, Joe, Ensemble
- New Year's Eve - Joe, Max
- Perfect Year - Norma, Joe
- This Time Next Year - Ensemble, Artie, Betty, Joe, Cecil B. DeMile
- New Year's Eve (Back at the House on Sunset)- Joe, Norma
Act II
- Entr'acte - orchestra
- Sunset Boulevard - Joe
- There's Been a Call (Perfect year [Reprise]) - Norma
- Journey to Paramount - Joe, Norma
- As If We Never Said Goodbye - Norma
- Paramount Conversations - Betty, Joe, Norma, Cecil B. DeMile, Sheldrake, Max
- Surrender (Reprise) - Cecil B. DeMile
- Girl Meets Boy (Reprise)- Joe, Betty
- Eternal Youth Is Worth a Little Suffering - Norma, Astrologer, Beauticians
- Who's Betty Schaefer? - Joe
- Betty's Office at Paramount - Joe, Betty
- Too Much in Love to Care - Betty, Joe
- New Ways to Dream (Reprise)- Max
- The Phone Call - Norma
- The Final Scene - Joe, Betty, Norma, Max
†Not included on the World Premiere recording.
Productions
Original London Production
Sunset Boulevards original
West EndWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland". Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking world...
production, directed by
Trevor NunnSir Trevor Robert Nunn CBE is an English theatre- and film director.-Early years:Nunn was born in Ipswich, England to Robert Alexander Nunn, a cabinetmaker, and Dorothy May Piper...
and choreographed by
Bob AvianBob Avian is an American choreographer and a theatre producer and director.Born in New York City, Avian's spent his early career dividing his time between dancing in such Broadway shows as West Side Story, Funny Girl, and Henry, Sweet Henry and working as a production assistant on projects like I...
, opened on July 12, 1993 at the
Adelphi TheatreThe Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
with
Patti LuPonePatti LuPone is an American singer and actress, perhaps best known for her Tony Award-winning performances as Eva Perón in the 1979 musical Evita, and Rose in "Gypsy", and in her Olivier Award-winning performance as Fantine in the original London cast of Les Misérables.-Personal life:LuPone was...
as Norma Desmond,
Kevin AndersonKevin C. Anderson is an American actor.Anderson was born in Gurnee, Illinois, the son of Joseph Anderson. He belongs to the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, which has also featured John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, and Laurie Metcalf....
as Joe Gillis, Meredith Braun as Betty Schaefer, and
Daniel BenzaliDaniel Benzali is a Brazilian-American actor of television, film and theater.- Biography :Benzali was born in Rio de Janeiro to Brazilian Jewish parents...
as Norma's ex-husband, Max. Billy Wilder and his wife Audrey were joined by
Nancy Olson-Career:Olson was signed to a film contract by Paramount Pictures in 1948 and, after a few supporting roles, producers began to consider her for more prominent parts. She was up for the role of Delilah in Cecil B. DeMille's 1949 film Samson and Delilah, for which Olson later said she was not suited...
, who had played Betty Schaefer in the original film, at the opening night performance. Of it, Wilder observed, "The best thing they did was leave the script alone," and of Patti LuPone he exclaimed, "She's a star from the moment she walks on stage."
Reviews were mixed: Many critics felt that the score was repetitive and that more time had been spent constructing the mammoth set than working on the book. Still, it was an instant sell-out success and ran for 1,529 performances. Anderson left the London company in January 1994 to be replaced by Gerard Casey.
Los Angeles Production
The
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
premiere was at the
Shubert TheatreShubert Theatre or Shubert Theater may refer to:Theatres*Shubert Theatre , New York City, built in 1913.*Shubert Theatre , Connecticut, built in 1914.*Shubert Theatre , California,...
in
Century City, Los Angeles, CaliforniaCentury City is a 176-acre commercial and residential district on the West Side of the City of Los Angeles. It is bounded by Westwood on the west, Rancho Park on the southwest, Cheviot Hills and Beverlywood on the southeast, and the city of Beverly Hills on the northeast...
, on December 9, 1993, with
Glenn CloseGlenn Close is an American actress and singer of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as deranged stalker Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction...
as Norma and Alan Campbell as Joe. Featured were
George HearnGeorge Hearn is an American actor and singer, primarily in Broadway musical theatre.-Early years:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Hearn studied philosophy at Southwestern at Memphis, now Rhodes College before he embarked on a career in the theater, training for the stage with actress turned acting...
as Max and
Judy KuhnJudy Kuhn is a Tony Award and Laurence Olivier Award nominated American singer and actress.-Life and career:Born in New York City, Kuhn's training as a classical soprano was at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, from which she graduated in 1981.It is erroneously believed that she earned her first...
as Betty. Lloyd Webber had reworked both the book and score, tightening the production, better organizing the orchestrations, and adding the song "Every Movie's A Circus". This new production was better received by the critics and was an instant success, running for 369 performances. The Los Angeles production also recorded a new cast album that is well-regarded. It is also the only unabridged cast recording of the show, since the original London recording was trimmed by over thirty minutes.
Original Broadway Production
The musical opened on
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
at the
Minskoff TheatreThe Minskoff Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 1515 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan, It is now showing Disney musical version of The Lion King....
on November 17, 1994 with Close, Campbell, and Hearn recreating their roles from the Los Angeles production and
Alice RipleyAlice Ripley is a Tony Award-winning American actress, singer and songwriter.-Early life:Born of five children in San Leandro, California, Ripley grew up in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Her parents divorced and both later re-married...
joining the cast as Betty. Also in the cast were Allen Oppenheimer as
Cecil B. DeMilleCecil Blount DeMille was a legendary American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies.-Early life:...
and Vincent Tumeo making his Broadway debut as Artie Green. The production opened with the highest advance in the history of Broadway ticket salesand ran for 977 performances. Billy Wilder was in attendance on opening night and was coaxed onstage by Close for the curtain call. In a season with only one other musical nominated for Best Musical, the production won several Tony Awards;
Glenn CloseGlenn Close is an American actress and singer of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as deranged stalker Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction...
, with only one other nominee as Best Actress in a musical, won the Tony for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.
Patti LuPone, who initially had been promised the Broadway run, sued Lloyd Webber and received a settlement reported to be $1 million;
Faye DunawayFaye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
, set to replace Close in L.A., was let go because Lloyd Webber felt her singing voice was not up to the role. She also sued Lloyd Webber.
Frank RichFrank Rich is a center-left New York Times columnist who focuses on American politics and popular culture. His column ran on the front page of the Sunday Arts & Leisure section from 2003 to 2005; it now appears in the expanded Sunday Week in Review section.-Early career:Rich graduated from Harvard...
, in his book The Hot Seat
, noted that these lawsuits contributed to Sunset Boulevard
setting the record for the most money lost by a theatrical endeavor in the history of the United States. According to The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
, operating costs soared far beyond the budget, and the "Broadway production has earned back, at best, 80 percent of the initial $13 million". For example, during the week of July 2, 1995, "it cost $731,304 to run Sunset Boulevard, including... advertising fees of $138,352 (which had been budgeted at $40,000 a week)." The road companies also generated large financial losses. Rich puts the final figure near or above US$20 million lost, making the show what he termed a "
flop-hitFlop-hit, a term coined by American critic Frank Rich in his book The Hot Seat, refers to a theatrical production that appears to be a hit but turns out to lose money ....
," as it ran more than two years.
1994 London Revamp
The London show was revamped to follow the lead of the New York production and starred Broadway and TV veteran
Betty BuckleyBetty Lynn Buckley is a Tony Award-winning American theater, film, and television actress and singer.-Early life:Betty Lynn Buckley was born in Big Spring, Texas and raised in Fort Worth, the daughter of Betty Bob , a dancer and journalist, and Ernest Lynn Buckley, a retired lieutenant colonel in...
and
John BarrowmanJohn Scot Barrowman is a Scottish-born British American singer, actor, dancer, musical performer and media personality, with dual citizenship in the UK and the US....
. Michael Bauer, who had played DeMille in the original production replaced Benzali as Max, a role he played until the end of the London run (and subsequently on the UK tour and the BBC concert.) Buckley and the production garnered rave reviews. Buckley then followed Glenn Close as Norma Desmond in the second year of the New York production.
Elaine PaigeElaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school and made her first professional appearance on stage in 1964...
, who had filled in when Buckley was ill in 1994, took over as Norma Desmond in London in 1995 before joining the Broadway production for the end of its run between 1996 and 1997.
Petula ClarkPetula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
filled in for Paige during her holiday in September/October 1995, before taking over the role the following January when Paige departed for the United States. The last "star" to take on the role of Norma Desmond in London was
Rita MorenoRita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the first and only Hispanic female and one of ten performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony and at the time the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award.-Early years:Moreno was born Rosita Dolores Alverío in...
, who filled in for a vacationing Clark in September and October 1996. John Barrowman played Joe until 1995, when he was replaced by
Alexander HansonAlexander Hanson is a British stage actor who most recently starred in the high-profile West End revival of The Sound of Music as Captain Georg Von Trapp. He was brought in to replace Simon Shepherd, who bowed out of the show during previews.-Personal life:Hanson is an alumnus of Guildhall School...
.
Graham BickleyGraham Bickley is an English actor. Trained at The Liverpool Theatre School, Bickley has performed in the West End for the last twenty five years in productions including They’re Playing Our Song, Pirates of Penzance, and as principal lead in Jukebox, Which Witch, Maddie, The Pajama Game Les...
played the role for the final year of the London run.
International productions
The
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
production opened in 1995 with
Diahann Carroll-Early years:Carroll was born Carol Diahann Johnson in The Bronx, New York, to John Johnson and Mabel Faulk. Her family moved to the Harlem neighborhood of New York City when she was an infant...
in the lead role. Her performance was also praised by critics, although the production closed sooner than expected. It also starred
Rex SmithFor the baseball player, see Rex Smith Rex Smith is an American actor and singer.-Music career:...
as Joe,
Walter CharlesWalter Charles is an American actor and singer.Charles made his Broadway debut in Grease in 1972...
as Max and Anita Louise Combe as Betty.
A German production of the revamped musical opened December 7, 1995 at the newly-built Rhein-Main Theater in
NiedernhausenNiedernhausen im Taunus is a community in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany, with almost 15,000 inhabitants.- Location :...
, starring
Helen SchneiderHelen Schneider is an American singer and actress working mainly in Germany.Born the daughter of Dvora und Abraham Schneider , she studied piano before starting to perform as a singer in venues in New England and New York.Between 1978 and 1984 she achieved some success as a rock singer in...
and
Uwe KrögerUwe Kröger is one of the most famous musical stars in the German-speaking countries of the world. Besides starring on stage, Kröger has taken part in numerous galas and concerts, as well as making a few television and film appearances...
in the lead roles. The role of Norma Desmond was later played by
Daniela ZieglerDaniela Ziegler is an acclaimed German actress and singer, most notable for replacing Helen Schneider as Norma Desmond in the German language production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical Sunset Boulevard....
and Christina Grimandi, before Schneider once more played the lead. The show ran with moderate success until it closed in May 1998. During the last few months, Schneider was replaced by Sue Mathys as Norma Desmond.
In 1996,
Debra ByrneDebra Anne Byrne is an Australian entertainer.Byrne made her television debut on Brian and the Juniors, an early predecessor of Young Talent Time, which was hosted by a young Brian Naylor. She stayed with the show for 12 months. In 1971 she was cast as one of the original six Young Talent Time...
as Norma and
Hugh JackmanHugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre and television. He has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...
as Joe starred in the first
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n production of Sunset Boulevard. The production opened the newly restored
Regent TheatreThe Regent Theatre is a 2162 seat theatre in Melbourne, Australia. It is listed by the National Trust of Australia and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.-History:...
, but closed down even sooner than the Canadian production due to Debra Byrne's poor health.
A low budget production played for a time in Spain in 2000, with heavy alterations to the book and using a combination of the original score and the subsequent revision that appeared in the Los Angeles production.
A year-long Dutch tour commenced in
HollandRotterdam
The Hague
Haarlem
Dordrecht |} Holland is a name in common usage given to a region in the western part of the Netherlands. The name 'Holland' is also often informally used to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands...
on October 10, 2008, with
Simone KleinsmaSimone Kleinsma is an acclaimed and award winning musical theatre actress based in Holland.-Personal life:On June 5th, 1990, Simone married Guus Verstraete, a Dutch television director...
and
Pia DouwesPia Douwes is a Dutch musical theatre actress who is very successful in Europe.- Biography :Douwes was born in Amsterdam, North Holland, to an arts dealer and a social worker and the grandniece of Doris Day...
alternating as Norma. Kleinsma went on to win the Best Actress Award for the role in the 2009 Dutch Musical Awards.
The Swedish premiere took place at the Värmlandsoperan in September 2009, to mostly positive reviews. The role of Norma Desmond was played by Swedish actress
Maria LundqvistMaria Lundqvist is a Swedish actress.-Films and TV-series:*Svensson Svensson - The movie*Sally*Sjön*Före stormen*Familjehemligheter*Sprängaren*Paradiset*Kvinnor emellan...
.
US Tours
The first national US tour starring
Linda BalgordLinda Balgord is an American Broadway actress and singer, most notable for playing Norma Desmond in the 1996 US tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical Sunset Boulevard, being the last actress to portray Grizabella in the original Broadway run of Cats and originating the role of Queen Elizabeth I...
was aborted after only a handful of venues due to exorbitant costs involved in transporting the set, so Lloyd Webber called in director
Susan H. SchulmanSusan H. Schulman is an American theater director.Intent on a career as an actress, Schulman studied drama at Hofstra University in Hempstead, Long Island, New York in the 1960s. She attended Yale University on a playwrighting fellowship, graduating with a Master's Degree...
to design a scaled-down production, with Petula Clark once again in the lead opposite
Lewis ClealeLewis Cleale is an American theatre actor and singer. He is originally from Houlton, Maine.A graduate of the University of Miami's School of Music , Cleale made his Broadway debut in the 1995 Johnny Burke revue Swinging on a Star, for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination as Outstanding...
as Joe. This production featured Anthony Powell's Tony Award nominated costumes, a slightly modified libretto by Schulman and Don Black and a new, more tour-friendly set by Derek McLane. The revised production, opening in Pittsburgh about a year after the closing of the original tour in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
, went on the road for almost two years, though it avoided the cities covered by the previous tour.
2001-2 UK Tour
In August 2001, a UK tour commenced in
PlymouthPlymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
starring
Faith BrownFaith Brown is an English actress, singer, comedienne and impressionist.-Background and Early Career:Born as Irene Monica Carroll, Faith Brown began her career as a singer at the age of fifteen, backed by a local group. She later became the resident cabaret singer in Liverpool's Rialto Ballroom...
as Norma, opposite Earl Carpenter as Joe. The production had a completely new set, much simpler than the original London set, but without compromising the quality of the show and the overall production remaining more faithful to the original staging than the previous US tour with Petula Clark. Carpenter left midway through the tour and was replaced by Jeremy Finch, who had previously understudied the role. The tour finished in late 2002 in
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
and met with both excellent reviews and respectable ticket sales.
Concert Productions
In 2004, Petula Clark reprised her role as Norma opposite
Michael BallMichael Ashley Ball is an Olivier Award winning English actor, singer, and radio and TV presenter who is best known for the song "Love Changes Everything" and musical theatre roles such as Marius in Les Misérables, Alex in Aspects of Love, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Edna...
at a concert production of the show that ran for two nights at the Cork Opera House in Ireland, which was later broadcast on
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
Radio. To date, with more than 2500 performances to her credit, she has played the role more often than any other actress.
Another two day concert engagement took place in 2004 in
SydneySydney is the largest city in Australia, and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney has a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.34 million and an area of approximately 12,000 square kilometres. Its inhabitants are called Sydneysiders, and Sydney is often called "the Harbour City"...
by the Production Company;
Judi ConnelliJudi Connelli AM is an award-winning singer and actress.She is best known for her career in opera and stage musicals...
starred as Norma, Michael Cormick played Joe and
Anthony WarlowAnthony Warlow is an Australian opera and musical theatre performer, noted for his character acting and considerable vocal range from ....
was Max. The Production Company staged a slightly more elaborate version of the concert for a week in Melbourne during 2005. Connelli again starred as Norma, and David Campbell took the role of Joe. The State Theatre was sold out for every performance.
2008 Newbury and London Revival
An eight week engagement of a minimalist production, in which the actors used musical instruments, enjoyed a good run at the
Watermill TheatreThe Watermill Theatre is a privately owned repertory theatre. It is a converted watermill with gardens beside the River Lambourn, in Bagnor, near Newbury, Berkshire, England...
in
NewburyNewbury is a civil parish and the principal town in the west of the county of Berkshire in England. It is situated on the River Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal, and has a town centre containing many 17th century buildings...
over the summer of 2008. Directed and choreographed by
Craig Revel HorwoodCraig Revel Horwood is an Australian dancer, choreographer, and theatre director in the United Kingdom.-Biography:Born in Ballarat, Australia, Horwood started his career as a dancer in Melbourne, then moved to London to take advantage of the greater opportunities available there.In his biography,...
, the cast featured
Kathryn EvansKathryn Evans is a British stage actress. She trained at the Royal Ballet School and Arts Educational.She is best known for taking over the lead role of Eva in Evita. She later appeared in many West End Theatre shows including Anything Goes, Aspects of Love, Mack & Mabel and The Fix...
as Norma and
Ben GoddardBen Goddard is a founding partner of the public affairs firm. He is widely regarded as the godfather of issue advocacy advertising and is credited with creating the genre of national issue advocacy advertising with the Harry & Louise campaign in the early 1990s.He is the Chairman of the...
as Joe. A West End transfer of the Watermill production began on 4 December 2008 prior to an official opening 15 December at the
Comedy TheatreThe Comedy Theatre, is a West End Theatre, and opened on Panton Street in the City of Westminster, on 15 October 1881, as the Royal Comedy Theatre. It was designed by Thomas Verity and built in just six months in painted stone and brick. By 1884 it was known as just the Comedy Theatre...
, with Evans and Goddard reprising their roles. The production received rave reviews and extended its run to September 2009. However, the production closed just after initially planned on 30 May 2009.It had originally been booking until 19 September 2009. There are plans for a UK Tour and also talks of bringing the production to Broadway
Planned film adaptation
Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures Corporation is a Worldwide American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, California. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is the world's oldest existing American film studio; it is also the last...
and the Relevant Picture Company announced in 2005 that they are developing a new film adaptation of the musical. The release was originally planned for 2006. This was postponed to 2008, but production has now been delayed to at least 2010, because of the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike. On August 5, 2007, The Telegraph reported that several actresses are being considered for the role of Norma Desmond, among them
Glenn CloseGlenn Close is an American actress and singer of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as deranged stalker Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction...
, who played the role on Broadway,
Elaine PaigeElaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school and made her first professional appearance on stage in 1964...
, who played the role in London and later on Broadway,
Meryl StreepMary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. She is widely regarded as one of the most talented and respected movie actors of the modern era....
,
Liza MinnelliLiza May Minnelli is an American singer and actress of film, stage and television. She is the daughter of entertainer Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
and
Barbra Streisand Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, film and theatre actress. She has also achieved note as a composer, liberal political activist, film producer, and film director. She has won two Academy Awards, ten Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, and a Peabody all by the age of...
.
Awards and nominations
Tony AwardThe Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are for Broadway productions and...
s
- Awards
- Best Musical
- Best Score of a Musical
- Best Book of a Musical
- Best Scenic Design
- Best Lighting Design
- Best Featured Actor in a Musical - George Hearn
- Best Actress in a Musical - Glenn Close
- Nominations
- Best Actor in a Musical - Alan Campbell
- Best Costume Design
- Best Choreography - Bob Avian
- Best Direction of a Musical - Trevor Nunn
Outer Critics Circle Awards
- Outstanding Broadway Musical (winner)
- Outstanding Actress in a Musical - Glenn Close (winner)
Drama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Award, presented since 1955, is the only award that recognizes excellence in shows produced in all sectors of New York theatre, including Broadway, off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway and legitimate not-for-profit theaters. It is widely considered one of the top American theater awards...
- Outstanding Actress in a Musical - Glenn Close (winner)
Drama Logue AwardsThe Drama-Logue Award was a theatre award established in 1977, given by the publishers of Drama-Logue newspaper, a weekly west-coast theatre trade publication. Winners were selected by the publication's theatre critics, and would receive a certificate at an annual awards ceremony...
(Los Angeles production)
- Outstanding Production
- Outstanding Original Music
- Outstanding Direction
- Outstanding Writing
- Outstanding Scenic Design
- Outstanding Costume Design
- Outstanding Lighting Design
- Outstanding Performance - Glenn Close
- Outstanding Performance - Alan Campbell
L.A. Drama Critics Circle Awards
- Outstanding Scenic Design
- Outstanding Lighting Design
- Outstanding Costume Design
- Outstanding Sound Design
- Outstanding Lead Performance - Glenn Close
Ovation AwardsThe Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the Los Angeles Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. They have been called the "...highest-profile contest for local theatre..." by the Los...
- Best Musical
- Best Scenic Design
- Best Costume Design
- Best Lighting Design
External links