What Do You Think About Sunset Boulevard?- Page 2

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 8:58am

There is a Patti LuPone recording of the show....
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000001E3D/qid=1145105998/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/104-9604139-3047137?s=music&v=glance&n=5174 Updated On: 4/15/06 at 08:58 AM

[jasonf]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 10:47am

It's a show with four good songs and then ENDLESS recitative that repeats ad nauseum - the only show that offends worse in this case is Aspects of Love.

I will give the show about four good songs though...

[nelliecollins]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 1:12pm

Sunset Blvd. is one of my all time favorites. I saw the tour with Linda Balgord and Ron Bohmer (who was particularily excellent) and Lauren Kennedy 3 times - loved it. I'm a huge fan of the film as well.

I'm not a huge ALW fan (but I'm not a hater either), and in theory I wouldn't like a show with so many reprises... but that didn't seem to bother me in the least with this one.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 1:55pm

My one problem with the few ALW shows that I have seen is that the spectacle seems to get in the way of the show.

I become so focused on the physical components - the moving sets, watching how everything behind the curtain really works, that I really loser interest in the performances.

To me, both Phantom and Sunset, two of his better known shows, suffer from this same flaw. I would like to see either of them on a scaled back stage, where the actors/singers are the focus, not the sets. Perhaps I would not feel like I am watching a formula quite so much.

I did like Evita and Joseph, but those were earlier works.

I thought both Phantom and Sunset were just silly, formula-based shows. Imagine phantom in a run-down movie house, that might me interesting to me (as someone who worked in a run-down movie house that had originally been used as live theater). Sunset, who knows.

But, to each his/her own.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 2:06pm

Well this was the show that made me become an ALW hater.

I wasn't as taken with CATS of PHANTOM as others were, but I liked a lot of the music in SONG AND DANCE and ASPECTS OF LOVE. But SUNSET pushed me over the edge.

My unanswered question is WHY do people think this is a good musical?

Is it the story? It has been lifted - at times word for word - from the screenplay (which is a deserved classic) but nothing of value has been added by the authors of the musical.

Is it the set? I have said before and will say again a good show does not NEED a huge set. (Witness the success of the current SWEENEY.) And SB would never work without it.

There are a few nice songs in the SB score but because Webber didn't have time to write an original score he recycled most of it from his trunk. Consequently nothing really fits together and there is no coheseiveness to it. And the lyrics are horrible: no depth, not plot advancement, no character development.

When I read a thread where people claim this is a great show I can only assume they haven't seen the original film (if they had they would see how badly bastardized the musical version is)
or they have not seen many musicals.

I have a friend in Croatia who loves this musical. Now he has never seen it, but rates it as his favourite musical of all time. But I was to later he doesn't know MY FAIR LADY or GYPSY. Doesn't like SHOW BOAT or OKLAHOMA! or RAGTIME or CHICAGO. He is not really a fan of musicals: just a fan of ALW.

So, to all SB lovers..please tell me WHY you think this is a good musical?

[smiles]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 2:54pm

I heard that people were thinking of making it into a movie....

[jimnysf]

Posted: 4/15/06 at 4:23pm

I saw it in LA when Ms. Close played Norma, prior to Broadway. Then I caught the much scaled down tour in San Francisco which starred Petula Clark. I thought Petula was the better Norma. That being said, no one can touch Gloria Swanson's Norma in the original film.

[jo]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 8:31pm

Aspects of Love and Sunset Boulevard are two of my favourite Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals.

I saw Sunset Boulevard in London twice ( once with Betty Buckley and once with Elaine Paige, both with John Barrowman). Of course the story was based on the film classic ( which I have also seen) but I don't see anything wrong with that. The stage production and score represent the musicalization of a great screenplay ( recently voted one of the top ten screenplays of all time) and it worked very well for me. It is a dramatic stage production ( especially the acting side) and it is an excellent musical score ( songs and recitatives and reprises included).

I've also heard the Michael Ball/Petula Clark/Emma Williams concert version aired on BBC ( I wish I had seen the staging in Cork, Ireland). What a pity that Michael did not create the role instead of Kevin ( as Michael sang the songs at Sydmonton first and eventually released the title track).

I wish I had also seen the Australian production - I had seen a copy of the documentary shown on Australian TV. There were clips of Debbie Byrne and Hugh Jackman rehearsing and performing in the roles and I think I would have loved that production, too.

I have the CDs of the original London production ( Patti Lupone and Kevin Anderson) and the LA production ( with Glenn Close and Alan Campbell). I am glad I also saw the video of Glenn performing the two most famous songs from the show during the ALW Celebration. What a performance!

If only the movie production would start rolling soon!

[mcphan19]

Posted: 4/17/06 at 12:41pm

sunset is among my top three all-time favorite shows/scores (Les Mis and Phantom being the other two) and I got to see the show four times - twice with Betty Buckley (in NY, once with Brian Batt and the other with Alan Campbell), once with Elaine Paige (again in NY, even got to meet her at the stage door) and once with Petula Clark in the Second US Tour. I've also heard the BBC concert version, which was great (would have loved to have seen it though). I have all the (legal) cast recordings and singles, including some of the more rare singles such as the Betty Buckley 4 track CD only sold at the Minskoff (best $10 I've ever spent), the Glenn Close "Perfect Year" single, and the Debra Byrne "As If We Never Said Goodbye" single.

As for why I think it's a great musical, of course the story itself is brilliant, and the score complements the characters (although I will admit the score is more noticably repetitive due to the sameness of the lyrics - all ALW shows have a degree of repetitiveness and recycled melodies). But I digress. The sets don't necessarily make the show (the scaled down version worked just as well as the full sets), but I think it's the performers and their own interpretations of the characters is what makes the show great.

I do hope the movie version is in the works, but I worry that it will be miscast with "big name" actors or (gasp!) younger unknowns to attract the younger audiences (which is the only explaination of the casting of the Phantom movie).