Patti LuPone in "Sunset Blvd."

[jeniferrenepatricia]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 1:20am

Did anyone get to see Patti LuPone as Norma Desmond? I saw Glenn Close, Elaine Page, and Betty Buckley play the part but never got a chance to see Patti. I recently purchased the London CD from Amazon and I think she sounds beautiful. Can someone refresh my memory why she didn't play the lead on Broadway?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 1:29am

She somehow pissed off Sir Andrew, and he went with a Movie Star.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 1:42am

Why do we have to bring this up every few weeks? Can't we just stick a Patti/Andrew Boulevard debacle thread at the top of the board and be done with it?
Updated On: 5/27/08 at 01:42 AM

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 1:50am

I don't it's ever been stated she pissed ALW off. Didn't he replace her behind her back (after the role was promised to her on Broadway) and didn't tell her? Hence her winning a million bucks from him.


Anyway. This DOES come up all the time. Updated On: 5/27/08 at 01:50 AM

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 2:15am

Patti's moved on. We should too.

[jeniferrenepatricia]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 2:32am

Sorry I asked....just curious.

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 6:17am

An actual search on this site would have answered your question. I'm a big fan of Miss Patti... and even I get tired of the "controversy". It's been debated over and over and over again. I'm amazed that even after 14 years, people still ask "what happened?" from RC in Austin, Texas

[ZiggyCringe]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 6:23am

LuPone got HORRIBLE reviews in London.

But the show was very, very different. It was extensively re-written for the LA/Glenn Close premiere, for the better.

On the plus side, Patti sued Lord Webber, and I think she made more money from "Sunset Boulevard" than any other show in her career.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 8:25am

In an interview, the guy asked her, "Did you buy a pool with your settlement?" to which she responded (jokingly), "Oh, honey, I got a lotta stuff with my settlement."

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 9:45am

I saw Patti LuPone in SUNSET BOULEVARD in London, and she was magnificent.

She was legally contracted to go with the show to Broadway, and then Webber and Paramount decided they would rather go with Glenn Close, who, even though she couldn't sing to save her life, received more favorable reviews in the L.A. tryout, and felt she would apparently be a better sell for this 'musical' because she was a movie star.

LuPone sued Webber and the producers of SUNSET for breach of contract and was awarded one million dollars in settlement.

The show went to Broadway with Close, who was absolutely dreadful and butchered what is in my opinion Andrew Lloyd Webber's most gorgeous score, and won a Tony Award for that performance because she was only up against one other actress that year (Rebecca Luker in SHOW BOAT).

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 9:49am

Ive got her on DVD doing the workshop at Webbers house and thought she was OK

I also watched her in London and thought she was pretty good (she was no Betty though)

I don't recall her getting terrible reviews in London

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 9:54am

WannaBe, I thought you were a young pup.
How old were you when you saw her in London?

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 9:55am

I was 13.

[JRybka]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 9:55am

I have only seen Petula Clark (who was amazing) and Elaine Paige (who was also amazing... although I heard a rumor they had to lower the staircase due her small size... as when she would come down the stairs all you saw was the turbin.....)

[D2]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 10:03am

Ms. LuPone gave one of the most nuanced, touching and vulnerable performances I've ever seen her give in SUNSET BOULEVARD in London. She really was magnificent in the role.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 10:43am

Though I didn't see La LuPone 'live', I have seen her in countless bootleg videos of the show with her and she was bland, bland, bland. She ripped into her songs 'live' in her typical form -- she didn't sing them but ripped into them.

Favorite bootleg is of one of a very early preview when they were still trying out different head-dresses for Norma's final staircase descent. In this one-performance-only she came down with this HUGE enormous Las Vegas showgirl-like head-dress. Like her Norma, it was simply ridiculous.

My favorite Norma? Why, Rita Moreno, of course!

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 10:48am

I really am alone, I suppose, when I say:

I love Glenn Close's voice so very much and could easily let her serenade me day and night.

[Justin D]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 10:51am

My fav on CD is Diahan Carrol

[choitoy]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 12:32pm

iluvtheatretrash, I'm with you in the Glenn Close camp.

And when i mean camp, I mean it in every sense of the word.

While I only have the LuPone cast recording to go by, I found her kinda one note and listless on the recording (I also found Kevin Anderson's Joe kinda the same way, though I love his voice more than Alan Campbell's). She's been sounding like a Patti drone for her last few recordings, and she's missing that extra "zing" that her "Evita" and "Anything Goes" recordings have.

Glenn Close, while I admit is not the greatest singer, I thought was great in the role on record (again, I didn't see her live). I think the point of Norma is that she's not supposed to be all that nuanced vocally, as she was a SILENT screen star, and thus is supposed to be prone to over the top, larger than life gestures, and the reason why she got kicked to the curb in the movie biz was because audience tastes have changed, or that she doesn't have a really good voice for the movies. She also really brought out the "campy" elements of the show, which lightened up what other wise is a pretty dark and dour show.

I agree that Diahann Caroll (whom I did see) was good at Norma, and I liked her interpretation. She seemed to bring a regalness to the role in her interpretation, where she is a grand dame that is past her prime, but you can see what once made her grand, and it's even more heartbreaking that she is trying to relive her glory days.

I also saw Petula Clark in the stripped down touring production, and I thought she was too campy (I know that I just put that down as a plus for Glenn Close, but there is a line I have to draw somewhere).

And don't forget that Patti wasn't the only one screwed over in the Sunset debocle. Fay Dunaway (who I would have loved to see try her hand at Norma) was also pushed aside because of Glenn when she was supposed to take over the LA production when Glenn moved to Broadway, but then Webber decided to close up shop in LA instead, leading to another breach of contract lawsuit. I think if those two lawsuits didn't happen, "Sunset" might have recouped itself, or at least not be so far in the hole when it closed, though it was an expensive production to run.

[philly03]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 1:02pm

And didn't they kick Kevin Anderson out early? Or he left early after hearing Patti didn't get Broadway. Somewhere along those lines, because apparently he wasn't even told about his not going to Broadway. And I'm suprised that they didn't have Patti originate it on Broadway, considering it had enough 'hype' around it being the next big ALW musical, and then when ticket sales got low bring in Glenn. For whatever reason, they thought that Betty and Elaine Paige would bring in big ticket grosses, which just didn't really happen for the most part. It really wasn't a sell-out after Glenn left (I think her last performance was like July 1), and I think I read somewhere that they had to sell at the bare minium 80% of the theatre, or else it really couldn't pay for the running costs that week. And as seen in the grosses, http://tinyurl.com/5b582p , it wasn't doing that business after the summer of '96.


And with Elaine Paige, they had to raise the stairs each by I think it was 1 or 2 inches because of her small figure was apparently barely noticeable with the railing. Well, that's what Alice Ripley said when I asked her.

And I agree with choitoy on the recoupment issue. Certainly those really pushed it back, but had the ticket prices been as high as they are today($70 was the top ticket!), it probably would have pulled out -- barely or something closer than what it was.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 1:15pm

The raising of the stairs for Elaine Paige was common knowledge at the time -- even Elaine mentioned this in numerous interviews, as was the obvious choice to intentionally emulate Gloria Swanson.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 1:19pm

I cannot wrap my mind around people saying that Glenn Close was awful and butchered the score. I thought she was brilliant.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 1:25pm

I have yet to see a production, sadly, but I also prefer the Close recording. I think she sounds great and, yes it isn't vocally stringent enough to be compared to uh Maria Callas, but to me one can hear her acting.

I love this show.

Alan Campbell's nice too.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 1:53pm

I agree. One of the best things about the LA cast recording is that you can almost see Glenn as Norma even when you can only hear her. Some how she does manage to let you "hear her acting". It's awesome.

[Figaro2]

Posted: 5/27/08 at 2:03pm

I was very lucky to have see Patti three times as Norma and was entranced by her performance, a powerhouse performance which received extremely good notices from the UK press, the only negative was that many thought she was too good looking as Norma and could see why Joe would be captivated by her.
We have been so fortunate here in the UK to have seen Patti in The Cradle will Rock, Les Mis,Sunset, At the Donmar and Masterclass and I so hope Gypsy.
Her time in Sunset was a very bad experience for her and It was hugely reported here especially in the Daily Mail. Ive all the cuttings if I can scan I will, great reading.
I so hope she wins this year's Tony so she can put to rest the upsets in her career and see what a Legend she truely is ..
Just loved Sunset especially New Ways to Dream and Surrender.