Sunset Boulevard cast- Page 2
Sunset Boulevard cast
10086sunset
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/8/16
#25Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/14/16 at 12:21pm
Bettyboy72 said: "I'm imaging this saves $$$ cutting rehearsal time and costs. Plus, Glenn probably feels safe with these principals. It's a short run and these folks can work together drama free without having to rebuild emotional trust. "
^This...All of this...
#26Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/14/16 at 12:27pm
Michael Xavier has a brilliant voice, but his acting was very mediocre. Siobhan was excellent, but no Betty can really be irreplaceable... Max has a fantastic stage presence, but every time I saw the show he never hit that note in "The Greatest Star of All". Glenn seems to be pretty fond of this cast, she remembered them very gracefully last night when she won the Evening Standard Award. That and saving money made the magic.
#27Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/14/16 at 12:32pm
Why isn't Sunset Blvd just a two-character show? Everything I've heard says that most of the characters are really unimportant...
http://puccinischronicles.wordpress.com
BroadwayConcierge
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
#28Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/14/16 at 12:43pm
Definitely wouldn't say they're unimportant. They certainly receive far less screen/stage time than Norma and Joe, but their presences are integral to the story.
#29Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/14/16 at 1:06pm
They're really confident that Close is all they need to succeed in an enormous theater. As if that turn and this show are truly legendary and universally beloved theatrical landmarks. This is a show with some fanbase that lost a lot of money the first time around, and it is a relic from a period of under-written excess on the stage.
RippedMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/14/05
#30Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/14/16 at 1:20pm
My interest in this just plummeted. This cast does not excite me in the least bit, and now we've got a leading lady who can barely hit the notes, and a show that is super scaled down production wise.... eh. I don't know. It's one of my favorite shows. But this just sounds dreary.
Buscee
Featured Actor Joined: 7/9/05
#31Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/14/16 at 3:00pm
No the USA is not a race, but the Broadway actors are all a part of Actor's Equity which is supposed to protect their members jobs. There was a time when only 2 actors from England could perform on Broadway as long as 2 American Actors were performing in England. That seems not to be the case. If you look at next season Miss Saigon is bringing in 4 British Actors, Sunset another 4, and it goes on and on. Usually permission is only granted if the performer is considered an "International Star". This is not the case here.
#32Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/14/16 at 3:12pm
Enough with the Glenn bashing and the singing commentary. From day one Glenn has addressed her singing deficits (she looked at the songs as monologues and then sung them.) She freely admits she doesn't hit all the notes, but brings the emotions. As with many of the best stage actors, she doesn't have the best singing voice but brings so much more.
To see an impeccable actress revisit a Tony winning role 20 years later is a rare gift. Especially an actress as fine as Close. If it makes you ill or disinterested, Jesus, then don't go and stop commenting. For the love of God, go comment on something you're interested in.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
#33Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/14/16 at 10:30pm
indytallguy said: "Wait. USA is a race now?"
No, but one might refer to the American race v. the British race. Not every country defines race biologically (and even biologists now say it is meaningless to do so).
The word can refer to an ethnic or nationalist group. In fact, go back a few years and you will commonly find European writers refering to the French race and the German race, etc. When Chicanos refer to "La Raza", they mean Mexican-Americans and their communities (which will include biological blacks, whites and Native Americans.)
qolbinau made a perfectly reasonable point, in my view. But if Close demanded the same three principals, AEA may have figured "Well, the chorus of 20 will be 20 more American jobs on Broadway."
#34Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 9:41am
I personally suspect that many of the folks with great disdain for Close are colored that way because of the Patti LuPone controversy. I could be totally wrong.
http://puccinischronicles.wordpress.com
#35Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 11:30am
I'm frankly surprised at the all British supporting cast here as well. THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG is also coming over with its all British cast. Ditto the leads for the Off Broadway SWEENEY. I do wonder if there will be any vocal grievances from the American actors union this season. I wouldn't blame them.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
#36Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 11:48am
I think most of the people commenting are just bored and have nothing better to do...you can skip this show and go wait in line to see Hamilton for the 30th time! Bye buh. More Sunset BLVD, for me...I am thrilled that a legend like Glenn Close is back on Broadway with a show I adore and a 40 piece orchestra. Would I like to have Judy Kuhn finally on Broadway as Betty? Sure, but I understand it won't happen. That's it. I already bought tickets, the good seats are disappearing fast. I love to be able to see Glenn Close in this, she acts the crap out of the role and I think her voice is great. Remember that Faye Dunaway wasn't able to sing the score and was let go. And Patti, although a great singer, she didn't convey much emotion and she didn't sell tickets, then destroyed a dressing room, which to me, is unacceptable no matter what happened before, just not professional behavior, and that was only what was reported, she was hell to work with. Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige also didn't have the same numbers that Glenn had. Producers are smart.
"People have their opinions and that doesn't mean that their opinions are wrong or right. I just take it with a grain of salt because opinions are like as*holes, everyone has one".
-Felicia Finley-
RockStarNYC
Understudy Joined: 11/27/11
#37Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 11:54am
As much as I would love to see American actors, in the role, allow me to play devil's advocate, as well as include some fact checking. The all British cast for The Play... is a strictly limited engagement, and for a very brief time. The same goes with Sunset's THREE actors (Let's not forget the star is an American). Sweeney has already announced that American actors will replace their British counterparts and I'd imagine the same will go for the TWO foreign actors in Saigon if, and likely when, they extend. In the meantime, I'm sure Equity members will still have performance opportunities here, as well as the UK, which has had its fair share of American actorsin roles there as well.
#38Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 12:00pm
Well yes, that's the deal under the AEA / British AEA exchange. I think American AEA needs to perhaps fight harder to ensure that the parts American actors get to do in the UK aren't just replacement roles in long running musicals (like SAIGON and BOOK OF MORMON). For the trade to be fair, American actors should be invited to create roles in new productions in the West End.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
#39Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 1:37pm
I think you can be fairly confident Queen Alice that American Equity are continually fighting for the interests of their members; and that any concessions given to UK Equity for Broadway roles are matched in number (and stature) for peformances in the West End. Famously the case with Sarah Brightman/Michael Crawford in 1988 (allegedly the reason Aspects of Love opened in the same year in London with 2 American principles) but less obvious direct exchanges of talent are continually evident.
London has seen complete US casts of: Kiss of the Spider Woman, Hair, Show Boat, August Osage County, This is Our Youth amongst others as well as American leads and recasts in Book of Mormon, Caroline or Change, MF with the Hat.. Admittedly mostly movie/tv stars but not always. I'm sure it works out in the wash. Or a very complicated spreadsheet..
#40Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 2:13pm
The examples you site though UKpuppetboy are mostly not recent at all. I'm sure American Equity monitors it closely as well, and it would be interesting if they make public the actors being exchanged.
“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.”
#41Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 5:50pm
Tbh I was in New Zealand working on a movie for most of this last year so apologies that it wasn't more upto date. I had a few more recent examples: Jesse Eisenberg, Matthew Perry and Zach Braff (fair enough as it was in their own plays), Donna McKechnie (The Wild Party), Eva Noblezada (Miss Saigon and Les Mis), Jon Jon Briones (Miss Saigon), Trevor Dion Nicholas (Aladdin), Christopher Fitzgerald (Barnum Chichester - bit more random), Kristen Beth Williams (Top Hat), Heather Headley in The Bodyguard, the principles of The Scottsboro Boys (Young Vic and West End). Mormon's casting of the 2 leads with Americans has been on going since it's premiere.
Honestly it is a fairly constant presence - and almost always a welcome one.
#42Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 6:09pm
What is with Americans and English actors? They are so prevalent today, in the theater and on television. I was kinda shocked to learn that quite a few actors on The Walking Dead, set in the American South, were actually British. That probably accounts for the spotty southern accents one hears from time to time (looking at you, Morgan).
#43Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 6:33pm
" That probably accounts for the spotty southern accents one hears from time to time (looking at you, Morgan)."
I see your Walking Dead, and I raise you Kinky Boots and The Secret Garden.
And so long as I live I'll never understand Hugh Laurie's accent in House.
#44Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 6:53pm
Is Hugh's accent good or bad? To the non-American, his accent is so close it's hard to believe he isn't even American lol.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
#45Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 9:43pm
QueenAlice said: "The examples you site though UKpuppetboy are mostly not recent at all."
Recently: Andy Karl in Groundhog Day.
Currently: Michael C. Hall in Lazarus. Amber Riley in Dreamgirls.
Upcoming: Nathan Lane in Angels in America. Cherry Jones in The Glass Menagerie.
#46Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 10:06pm
qolbinau said: "Is Hugh's accent good or bad? To the non-American, his accent is so close it's hard to believe he isn't even American lol."
Well, I'm a native speaker of American English, and I had seen many episodes of House before I even found out he wasn't American, so I'd say he did pretty well. :) He perhaps had a slightly peculiar way of talking, but it didn't register as a non-American accent to me at all.
#47Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 11:28pm
Bettyboy72 said: "Enough with the Glenn bashing and the singing commentary. From day one Glenn has addressed her singing deficits (she looked at the songs as monologues and then sung them.) She freely admits she doesn't hit all the notes, but brings the emotions. As with many of the best stage actors, she doesn't have the best singing voice but brings so much more.
To see an impeccable actress revisit a Tony winning role 20 years later is a rare gift. Especially an actress as fine as Close. If it makes you ill or disinterested, Jesus, then don't go and stop commenting. For the love of God, go comment on something you're interested in."
I won't see it with British actors taking over American roles. Name me one show with characters that are British that would be done in London with an American Cast.
And Betty, I'll comment on what I want to.
#48Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 11:35pm
ukpuppetboy said: "I think you can be fairly confident Queen Alice that American Equity are continually fighting for the interests of their members; and that any concessions given to UK Equity for Broadway roles are matched in number (and stature) for peformances in the West End. Famously the case with Sarah Brightman/Michael Crawford in 1988 (allegedly the reason Aspects of Love opened in the same year in London with 2 American principles) but less obvious direct exchanges of talent are continually evident.
London has seen complete US casts of: Kiss of the Spider Woman, Hair, Show Boat, August Osage County, This is Our Youth amongst others as well as American leads and recasts in Book of Mormon, Caroline or Change, MF with the Hat.. Admittedly mostly movie/tv stars but not always. I'm sure it works out in the wash. Or a very complicated spreadsheet.. "
In most of the examples you mentioned American actors were hired to do American roles . Name me one time an American actor was hired to do a British role in London.
#49Sunset Boulevard cast
Posted: 11/15/16 at 11:46pm
South Fl Marc said: "Name me one time an American actor was hired to do a British role in London."
Bradley Cooper as John Merrick in The Elephant Man.
