Sunset Blvd Changes Question- Page 8

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/5/07 at 11:49pm

I don't get it. I think I'm gonna need to see some screen caps.

[chernjam]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 12:17am

LOL - first off - watching Kathy Griffin's re-airing at 12 midnight...

As for the car-chase scene - that's the one area that was sadly comical in the 2nd tour. That's going to be an obstacle/ challenge for any future production of Sunset - how to stage that. The original production was neat - but confusing and way too expensive/technical and underappreciated (it's only 2 minutes and people didn't know what was happening...)

The flash of ALW brilliance was right when the "car chase" music hit the climax, the street sign from the movie flashing "SUNSET BLVD" filled the screen (in both the original and 2nd tour versions) for some reason it gave me goosebumps.

For you fellow Sunset lunatics - watch the movie with the CD on at the same time - pretty cool

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 12:28am

"For you fellow Sunset lunatics - watch the movie with the CD on at the same time - pretty cool"

Just like when you watch "Wizard of Oz" and listen to Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon"...

Posted: 6/6/07 at 4:51am

I didn't find the original car chase even slightly confusing--did most people? It was one of the highlights--scene wise--for me.

That book on Sunset is great and has more info than the Perry book. You can read some pages online (http://www.amazon.ca/gp/reader/031227453X/ref=sib_rdr_prev2_ex332/702-0035837-3538446?ie=UTF8&keywords=sondheim&p=S09Q&twc=7&checkSum=dmfl9rfG7y25on1OUE4e%2FURP6QqjjuDW9YXCwOMUeo4%3D#reader-page ) should get you to the first page on the musical talking about the Sondheim/Sheveloe/Hal prince early 60s version Prince proposed to Jeanette McDonald)

E

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 6/6/07 at 7:14am

How did they do it in the second tour? In the UK tour, it was people racing around in the dark with what looked like car headlights attached to wheeled zimmmer frames. It got a few laughs the night I saw it

Posted: 6/6/07 at 5:04pm

It's funny cuz in the Perry book Nunn and ALW are quotes as sayign that's preicsely how they never wanted to stage it.

E

[simon_wilkie]

Posted: 6/7/07 at 1:36pm

Yeah, the 2nd US Tour car chase looked very silly, it was like some silly go-kart contraption. How Lewis Cleale managed to keep a straight face night after night is beyond me. It's a shame because when he turns it around to put it in the garage it looks quite good.

As for the UK Tour, I found that quite inventive. I thought for a low-key production it looked quite clever, although I don't really get why it was dark in the middle of the afternoon in LA on that day!!!

[jo]

Posted: 6/7/07 at 3:11pm

WOW - I have just read through all the 8 pages of this thread!

As I have seen the show only in London ( once with Betty Buckley and John Barrowman and another time with Elaine Paige and also John Barrowman) I thought I would not have anything to say as the subject was supposedly comparisons of changes in the various productions. Little did I know that so much discussion has transpired on many aspects of the musical and the many productions.

This is my second favourite ALWebber show ( Aspects of Love being my top choice) and I have always loved revisiting the score. I have also enjoyed the original source material, the film noir classic from Billy Wilder with William Holden and Gloria Swanson.

May I share a few more facts/some buzz not yet mentioned --

*Michael Ball was the first to sing the songs of Joe Gillis when the musical score, first version, was premiered in the Lloyd Webber estate, Sydmonton, where ALW normally stages his new work ( mainly singing the parts). It was Michael who released the first version of the title song at the instance of ALW, before the cast recording of the London production was released in London.

*Michael, although rumoured for the original cast, never played the role onstage. Many years later, he sang the role in a semi-staged concert version in Cork, Ireland, with Petula Clark and Emma Williams ( original Truly in Chitty). As this concert was BBC-sponsored, it was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 ( and played for sometime under its LISTEN AGAIN facility). It is also interesting to note that he has the only male recording of WITH ONE LOOK ( in his musical album called THE MUSICALS), saying that it is an actor's song!

*The Broadway production continues to hold the highest advance in Broadway history at $ 37 million. Please correct me if this has been recently broken, though.

*The Australian production, plagued by a number of problems, never did get a cast recording. But an hour-long documentary was shown on Aussie TV and featured how the show was shaped into being ( casting, rehearsals, set construction, costumes, etc), including clips from the show, interviews with Debra, Hugh, and Trevor Nunn, and clips of some of the songs sung at the show and in rehearsal. One offshoot of the teaming of Debra and Hugh is a reprise of their collaboration, via a two-song medley sung as a duet in Debra's CD New Ways to Dream ( No One is Alone/Children Will Listen from Into the Woods). Another offshoot of this production was the eventual casting by Trevor Nunn of Hugh Jackman in the Royal National Theatre's OKLAHOMA! in London.

*RUG has announced that a film version will be made, but it seems to be in limbo at the moment. The buzz is that while Paramount Pictures has given approval of the rights to film it ( they own the rights to the original Billy Wilder movie), it seems that the studio does not want to be involved in financing it ( leaving it to ALW to pursue the financing). The last time ALW said something about the project( sometime this year) was to mention that he might be casting Hugh for the movie version. But that rumour has been there for sometime, so who knows?

*Someone has mentioned that this seems to be Joe's Story rather than Norma Desmond. Well, he does narrate the story ( from the dead )...Also, in the original movie, the name of William Holden preceded that of Gloria Swanson in the billing.

I am hoping that given the timing of many movie musicals now, that Sunset Boulevard will finally find its musicalized version on screen. It would be a very interesting subject to the movie-making industry - as it is really an indictment on Hollywood, in that particular era of movie-making

Jo

[chernjam]

Posted: 6/7/07 at 4:37pm

Jo

I think the advance was 37.5 million dollars on Opening Night - and what ticks me off - they never reference it when they talk about a show opening with a record advance of 20 million dollars. Nothing - Lion King, Producers, has come near that advance... and that was quite an impressive feat.

True - the extravagant costs (the break even for the show was something like 600,000 a week) really doomed the show. Considering the lowest it fell was in the 400,000 range during the winter months of 1997 - it could have continued running had they been a bit more fiscally prudent. For example, the car driving Norma to Paramount cost a ton of money to make it a replica of the car in the movie. Considering it was onstage for 20 seconds and from the rear of the theatre, it didn't matter what it looked like.

But they were a little punch drunk at that point. The LA opening erased all their worries about the mixed reception the London production received - and so they got more and more crazy in their spending.

I still miss Sunset. It truly was a thrilling theatrical event to experience live. And it's sad, but I doubt we'll ever see an extravagant set like that on broadway ever again. Norma's mansion makes The Phantom look like a studio apartment...

Jim

Posted: 6/7/07 at 5:27pm

Right partly of course cuz Norma's mansion was built and designed down to the last detail--very few of Bjornson's sets in Phantom are that "realistic"

Jo--great thoughts and I'm glad you found the thread!

It's funny reading Perry's book how ALW likes to go on over and over again about what a smal show this is even downplaying hwo elaborate the set is--maybe he was already worried? In London originally you didn't even see Norma's car did you?
E

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/7/07 at 5:37pm

I don't understand why the car cost so much. Crazy For You had a neat looking car. I'm sure it wasn't outrageously expensive.

[chernjam]

Posted: 6/7/07 at 5:49pm

I forget the exact ammount for the car - it was in one of the hundreds of articles I had when the show opened, but it was pretty ridiculous for the ammount of time it was onstage.

Its funny, in London, it never appeared on stage, just a shadow of a car from offstage. Someone told them after the World Premiere that they had to go all out and the car needed to be onstage. Seems ridiculous to me but perhaps thats all hindsight

I wonder, originally they had said they were going to keep one of the sets - curious if they ever did...

[chernjam]

Posted: 6/7/07 at 5:49pm

I forget the exact ammount for the car - it was in one of the hundreds of articles I had when the show opened, but it was pretty ridiculous for the ammount of time it was onstage.

Its funny, in London, it never appeared on stage, just a shadow of a car from offstage. Someone told them after the World Premiere that they had to go all out and the car needed to be onstage. Seems ridiculous to me but perhaps thats all hindsight

I wonder, originally they had said they were going to keep one of the sets - curious if they ever did...

[chernjam]

Posted: 6/7/07 at 5:50pm

I forget the exact ammount for the car - it was in one of the hundreds of articles I had when the show opened, but it was pretty ridiculous for the ammount of time it was onstage.

Its funny, in London, it never appeared on stage, just a shadow of a car from offstage. Someone told them after the World Premiere that they had to go all out and the car needed to be onstage. Seems ridiculous to me but perhaps thats all hindsight

I wonder, originally they had said they were going to keep one of the sets - curious if they ever did...

Posted: 6/7/07 at 5:55pm

I don't even remember the car in Vancouver... Surely it was there but. Some impression lol (I love elaborate scenic effects but I think things liek actually have a full car on stage often are less interesting than doing something like having a shadow)

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 6:03pm

I just got my Betty Buckley New Ways to Dream CD. It's pretty cool. I love her "As If We Never Said Goodbye" when she does that "...goodbyyyyyye've spent so many mornings..." thing. She does goodbye/I've as one word with no breath in between. It's neat.