Nicole Scherzinger to star in West End Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy- Page 13

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/11/23 at 12:42pm

[GiantsInTheSky2]

Posted: 10/11/23 at 1:18pm

Since someone else has brought it up - I wonder if there has/will be any modifications for Rachel Tucker’s performance. 

[JasonC3]

Posted: 10/11/23 at 1:29pm

Mskuphantm said: "Started to think about this production a bit more.... as far as the re-imagining goes. Norma could easily have been a top model selling products using her body and face, then social media influencers took over and she lost her career, so now she is going back to get back what she lost in her way."

That's great, but that's not Sunset Boulevard, a name that has clear connotations because of its source material.

[BETTY22]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 12:23pm

Nicole was off last night.

Show cancelled - understudy no ready. 

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 12:53pm

JasonC3 said: "Mskuphantm said: "Started to think about this production a bit more.... as far as the re-imagining goes. Norma could easily have been a top model selling products using her body and face, then social media influencers took over and she lost her career, so now she is going back to get back what she lost in her way."

That's great, but that's not Sunset Boulevard, a name that has clear connotations because of its source material."

Curious how you feel about...any Shakespeare production that distorts time and setting. This level of puritanism is something! And for Sunset Boulevard of all shows... lol

[Mskuphantm]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 12:53pm

JasonC3 said: "Mskuphantm said: "Started to think about this production a bit more.... as far as the re-imagining goes. Norma could easily have been a top model selling products using her body and face, then social media influencers took over and she lost her career, so now she is going back to get back what she lost in her way."

That's great, but that's not Sunset Boulevard, a name that has clear connotations because of its source material."

You're absolutely correct.  This is a reimagining of a musical by a director who has a clear vision of how he wanted to present this show, to where ALW is even on board, to allow them to cut songs, add dialogue etc.  Source material from the movie, which at the core is about a woman who was at top of her career,  replaced/faded away, the plot is still there.  It's changed, it's what is being performed, I was offering a thought on how people can take this piece when there are those who are hung out on the peculiarness of certain things that were changed.  This is an art installation of the musical open to different interpretations for this current show, not the Original Sunset, this is its own version.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 1:09pm

But the problem is that it’s only its “own version” to a point. Because as much as everyone wants to say it’s this or it’s that or it takes place in this time period or no time period - the script (as still presented) sets it in a distinct time period telling a distinct story involving historically real people, locking it into that time. So this is where Lloyds vision becomes muddled because he desperately wants it to take place in a sort of purgatory where nothing is real yet at the same time showing us the real world in 2023 with laptops and twerking and Nicole tongue popping and dancing saying she’s MC Hammer. 

And whenever I discuss what I perceive as the flaws of this production, I always need to add the fact that I DID enjoy it. It’s just having seen it a couple times (and seeing Rachel Tucker in a couple weeks) the flaws become more evident.

 

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 1:10pm

Jordan Catalano said: "But the problem is that it’s only its “own version” to a point. Because as much as everyone wants to say it’s this or it’s that or it takes place in this time period or no time period - the script (as still presented) sets it in a distinct time period telling a distinct story involving historically real people, locking it into that time. So this is where Lloyds vision becomes muddled because he desperately wants it to take place in a sort of purgatory where nothing is real yet at the same time showing us the real world in 2023 with laptops and twerking and Nicole tongue popping and dancing saying she’s MC Hammer.

And whenever I discuss what I perceive as the flaws of this production, I always need to add the fact that I DID enjoy it. It’s just having seen it a couple times (and seeing Rachel Tucker in a couple weeks) the flaws become more evident."

Norma Desmond is not a real person...

[JSquared2]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 1:17pm

BETTY22 said: "Nicole was off last night.

Show cancelled - understudy no ready."

 

She wasn't "off" -- she's sick.

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 1:18pm

Oh really??? Wow thank you I didn’t know that. 
 

Cecil B DeMille was a real person. Rudolph Valentino was a real person. Douglas Fairbanks was a real person. 

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 1:30pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Oh really??? Wow thank you I didn’t know that. Cecil B DeMille was a real person. Rudolph Valentino was a real person. Douglas Fairbanks was a real person."

Yet folks still reference "I'm ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille" in the year 2023. I understand that the show has a projection that sets the time, but like Lloyd's A Doll's House, the production is very clearly not meant to illicit the 1950s. Again, the sheer rejection of anachronism being something that's been employed in theatre since Chekov is so wild to me. It's not the execution here that people are even complaining about, it's the simple fact that it's used at all for this story that's getting under people's skin. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 1:32pm

DeMille is a character in this musical, he’s not just simply referenced. His existence is a major plot point. His filming a movie at Paramount that Norma visits the set to is a major part of the story. I don’t know what you’re talking about. 

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 1:35pm

Jordan Catalano said: "DeMille is a character in this musical, he’s not just simply referenced. His existence is a major plot point. His filming a movie at Paramount that Norma visits the set to is a major part of the story. I don’t know what you’re talking about."

Then read my reply again? I'm talking about people having an issue with anachronisms even being used in this production. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 1:37pm

And I’m talking about what worked for ME and did not work for ME when watching this. I didn’t talk about what worked for YOU. 

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 1:38pm

Jordan Catalano said: "And I’m talking about what worked for ME and did not work for ME when watching this. I didn’t talk about what worked for YOU."

And I'm commenting on the general notion that this production falls short because of it's use of a common theatrical device. It wasn't about YOU, love.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 1:39pm

Oh, love. That’s nice to know, love. Thanks so much for your response, love.  

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 2:25pm

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 2:41pm

As someone who has seen many of his production, Jamie Loyd's productions are best enjoyed when they are viewed as 'alternate reality' universes.  His anachronisitc choices are metaphoric. I understand this is jarring for a recent work like Sunset Boulevard, but do we still give this much thought when Shakespeare is set in the fture but the characters continue to refer to historic 16th century people and swords?  

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 3:01pm

QueenAlice said: "As someone who has seen many of his production, Jamie Loyd's productions are best enjoyed when they are viewed as 'alternate reality' universes. His anachronisitc choices are metaphoric. I understand this is jarring for a recent work like Sunset Boulevard, but do we still give this much thought when Shakespeare is set in the fture but the characters continue to refer to historic 16th century people and swords?"

We don't, that's exactly my point. Thank you for putting a finer point on it more eloquently than I could. 

[Seb28]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 5:23pm

Anachromism, placing something or someone in an incorrect historical time. This is per definition a mistake. If you want to do this to a story, you can rewrite it, like Madame Butterfly and turn it into Miss Saigon. Adjust its time period, lyrics and details accordingly. Letting a Japanese Geisha in a story that takes place in 1904 sing she's Vietnamese and in war during the fall of Saigon in 1975 would just be dumb. That has nothing to do with "metaphors" or "alternate universes". It's just lazy, incorrect and talentless directing. Nearly all lyrics in Sunset Boulevard are about the silent film era. "We didn't need words, we had faces", "I can say anything I want with my eyes", "no words can tell the story my eyes tell", "It's the pictures that got small, talk, talk, only words", and also many scenes, such as the whole Salome scene with the head on the plate and the Maharadja in Max' song who hang himself, etc, are all references to an era. Most scenes are also about movie sets and script writing, old Hollywood. It is the whole storyline about how Joe and Norma meet and how Betty comes into the story and about the history of Max. 

To me, "current times jokes", such as sashimi jokes in the Little mermaid, Twerking and Mc Hammer jokes in Sunset Boulevard, but also breaking the 4th wall by implementing personal situations of the actors deliberately in the show as a joke are extremely disrespectful, but this director takes this disrespect to a whole new level. Is it really that important to him to use a laptop as a prop? Which doesn't serve anything to the story and which is very time specific? Is trying to be obstructive, rebellious or jarring the only reason? That's not very inspiring. I see no other purpose of a laptop. If you want to create an alternate universe but insist on using the original lyrics and story, do it. Don't just add some incorrect modern, very time and place bound products for the sake of it. That's just today's universe. Good directors can look beyond that.

[OhHiii]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 6:04pm

Seb28 said: ""To me, "current times jokes", such as sashimi jokes in the Little mermaid, Twerking and Mc Hammer jokes in Sunset Boulevard, but also breaking the 4th wall by implementing personal situations of the actors deliberately in the show as a joke are extremely disrespectful, but this director takes this disrespect to a whole new level."

Disrespectful to WHO?! Begging you to explain why you’re taking this production as a personal affront when the friggin writer of the show has been effusive in his praise for it. You haven’t even seen the thing. Are you saying it’s disrespectful to the audience? What does that even mean? I’m sorry that this production is challenging you on this level.  It’s a divisive production, I get it. But the expressions of disgust for some of the choices in this are precisely why Lloyd did them. They flip the story on its head so you look at it through an alternative reality, modern lens. I’d that doesn’t resonate for you, cool. But that doesn’t mean directors shouldn’t take big swings like this because some of you are gonna stamp your feet and whine about it.

[Seb28]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 6:35pm

OhHiii said: "Seb28 said: ""To me, "current times jokes", such as sashimi jokes in the Little mermaid, Twerking and Mc Hammer jokes in Sunset Boulevard, but also breaking the 4th wall by implementing personal situations of the actors deliberately in the show as a joke are extremely disrespectful, but this director takes this disrespect to a whole new level."

Disrespectful to WHO?! "

To the story he is trying to tell. Deliberately taking people out of it. Out of the desired universe. That shows zero respect for the storyline or material, and therefore the audience, which is not taken seriously.

OhHiii said: "But the expressions of disgust for some of the choices in this are precisely why Lloyd did them."

I know and it shows. It does nothing to serve the story. And it's not an alternate universe. It's the silent film era (which all the lyrics say) combined with some 2023 props and jokes. That's not an alternative universe/modern lens. It's uninspired.

 

 

Updated On: 10/12/23 at 06:35 PM

[binau]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 7:02pm

That’s not my experience. In my experience it’s more ‘disrespectful’ (it’s not really just being melodramatic) for someone to expect that I have to sit there bored out of my mind watching a traditional production of sunset with a bloated inconsistent score and boring staging. I like that Jamie Lloyd found a way to fix the show for me to make me feel entertained, shocked and thrilled. It does look like Jamie Lloyd doesn’t trust the material but that’s because it’s not something to trust in my opinion lol. if I want the real sunset boulevard I’ll watch the film instead. 

[Seb28]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 7:09pm

binau said: "bored out of my mind watching a traditional production of sunset. I like that Jamie Lloyd found a way to fix the show for me to make me feel entertained, shocked and thrilled. It does look like Jamie Lloyd doesn’t trust the material but that’s because it’s not something to trust in my opinion lol."

Yes, you really dislike the show. Seeing it being butchered and liking that they are deliberately taking people out of the story by jokes not related to it can be better described as "enjoying seeing something you dislike getting trashed", instead of "trusting it".

Wicked is like that for me. The more they ruin a production or movie about it and the more they take me out of the story by unrelated pop culture jokes, the more entertained I will be.

 

Updated On: 10/12/23 at 07:09 PM

[JasonC3]

Posted: 10/12/23 at 7:52pm

Guardian US-three stars

"Sunset Boulevard review – Nicole Scherzinger dazzles in Jamie Lloyd’s radical rework"

"Lloyd brings hipster edginess, style and unpredictability to this revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical – though it’s more surface-level than penetrating closeup"

"For some, it may be the show of the year. For me it was emotionally empty. Either way, few people will walk out indifferent."

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/oct/12/sunset-boulevard-review-nicole-scherzinger-jamie-lloyd-savoy-theatre

Updated On: 10/12/23 at 07:52 PM