What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)? - Page 5
What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)?
#100What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)?
Posted: 6/19/12 at 8:57pmSome Like It Hot actually has a lot to adapt. Sugar notwithstanding. A better Wilder film to adapt that SB would have been Fedora.
"Through The Sacrifice You Made, We Can't Believe The Price You Paid..For Love!"
#101What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)?
Posted: 6/19/12 at 10:20pm
I don't know FEDORA, but I agree about SOME LIKE IT HOT. No reason it couldn't have made a great musical comedy (and, frankly, Robert Morse's performance in it was one of the funniest I've ever seen).
But besides the drag numbers, there's simply nothing going on in SUGAR as written. It's another "Why?" musical.
#102What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)?
Posted: 6/20/12 at 9:40am
There's also the whole question of how to adapt your source material. Today, it's generally more a process of slavish adherence to the existing story, with the lazy addition of redundant numbers (i.e. Shrek, Legally Blonde, 9 to 5, The Color Purple, etc.).
But, to return to the previously mentioned R&H, Oklahoma is more than just Green Grow the Lilacs with tunes (Peter Filichia, I believe, once did a good analysis of that adaptation).
To me, the best adaptations bring something new to the work - a new way to view the story, additional dimension to characters, even additional characters that help support the main story line.
Sunset Blvd does none of this; instead, it waters down the great movie to a flavorless, generic mush.
Updated On: 6/20/12 at 09:40 AM
#103What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)?
Posted: 6/20/12 at 5:31pm
Obviously, I agree, newintown. There's an excellent doctoral dissertation at UCLA that charts how Hammerstein slowly edged toward OKLAHOMA! structurally, beginning even before GREEN GROW THE LILACS premiered. The resulting musical was more a case of finding a narrative that fit the musical Hammerstein wanted to write than it was of the source material inspiring the new form that resulted. Either way, of course, the result was quite different from the source.
(I regret that I can't remember the name of the scholar who wrote the dissertation.)
#104What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)?
Posted: 6/21/12 at 3:22amI still really need to read Green Grow the Lilacs, if just to somehow understand what Sondheim meant about his comment about it being a gay Cowboy play (and he seemed to mean gay in the modern sense).
#105What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)?
Posted: 6/21/12 at 6:43pmPlease let us know when you read it, Eric. I've never encountered a copy.
#106What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)?
Posted: 6/22/12 at 12:15pm
Google Books will let you read parts of it...
Lilacs on Google Books
PattiLover
Stand-by Joined: 2/20/04
#107What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)?
Posted: 6/22/12 at 1:29pm
If there's one Billy Wilder movie that would make a fantastic Broadway adaptation and would add to the story, it's A Foreign Affair. It's not one of his most famous, but it's funny, dramatic and it would be impressive to see post-war Berlin on a Broadway is a natural choice to play the Marlene Dietrich part, and you could even make it a "jukebox" musical of Friedrich Hollaender songs - in addition to "Black Market" and "Illusions," you could easily add "Falling in Love Again," "The Boys in the Backroom" etc.
It's always been a movie that organically "sings" to me.
PattiLover
Stand-by Joined: 2/20/04
#108What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)?
Posted: 6/22/12 at 1:30pm
Sorry, should have said "Ute Lemper" is a natural choice to play the Marlene Dietrich part. How the heck do you edit posts?
#109What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)?
Posted: 6/22/12 at 6:28pm
Oh dear.
Whoever compiled this couldn't be more wrong:
http://www.ovrtur.com/production/2893900/credits
Unless there was a 2nd US NT of the original production that somehow sneaked its way across the country without my knowledge of its existence.
...and there were two Petula Clarks, one for each--the redesigned tour and the sneaky 2nd NT of the original. Ha.
Recreation of original John Cameron orchestration to "On My Own" by yours truly. Click player below to hear.
sephyr
Leading Actor Joined: 11/21/10
#110What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)?
Posted: 6/23/12 at 1:13am
So I saw a production of this show tonight at Tulane and it was so good. I really enjoyed the songs for the most part even though some could've been cut. The Norma Desmond character songs were my favorite, while some of the ensemble songs felt a little superfluous. But I really liked it for the most part, especially the end.
It was so great to see songs that I knew (With One Look, As If We Never Said Goodbye, Sunset Boulevard) in context and to find new favorites (Salome, New Ways To Dream, The Perfect Year). Norma was so over the top, I loved it. Most laughed during the final scene but I couldn't, it was so sad to me. I'd definitely go see it again.
#111What did you think of Sunset Boulevard (1994)?
Posted: 6/23/12 at 2:23amThanks Newintown--I just added from that a basic script to my Amazon list--I see in the 50s there was a whole illustreated version.
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