SARAH BRIGHTMAN To Star in Australian SUNSET BLVD. — Page 4

rosscoe(au) said: "As someone who saw Debra in the original Australian production, she should shut her mouth. Her alternative Maria Mercedes was stunning in the roll and should have been cast as Norma for all shows."

Isn't Maria phenomenal hey! Sylvie Paladino would also be a hoot!

A friend and I were joking the other day upon hearing the remarks by Debra (haven't followed up the truth of their existence though) that with all due respect to Debra and what she was going through at the time of her run in Sunset, what's the point of moralising about having the right voice if you're not gonna show up and people aren't going to hear it? 🤷🏻‍♂️

There's her Carrie Pipperidge in the 1987 'Carousel' studio cast recording:

Updated On: 10/14/23 at 05:06 PM

FANtomFollies said: "I completely forgot about that Carousel recording. She sounds so gorgeous I wish I could hear her sing 'If I Loved You'."

From later in her career, and a bit more operatic in style, but here you go!<

Updated On: 10/15/23 at 10:20 PM

There’s not really anything in the script that I can recall that dictates Norma must be American. Plenty of the stars of the Silent Era weren’t. Wilder even offered the role in the film to Pola Negri at one point.

I had the pleasure of attending a Sarah Brightman concert some many years ago. Enjoyed it much more than I anticipated I would. Wish I could see her "Sunset Blvd" performance in Australia, but alas.

SweetLips22 said: "I am sure that I remember reading many moons ago that Ms Brightman went to an Italian? vocal coach who completely transformed that way that she produced each note.

You could see that she changed the shape of her mouth, making it more rounder as she sang, and actually produced a different sound because of how she breathed and placed each note. This affected her diction.

I would line up in a heart beat to see this train wreck because there is no doubt in my mind that Ms Brightman lives in cloud cookcoo land and because of this she is perfect for the role of Norma, regardless of how she sings it."

Correct. Disclaimer: I've been a die-hard Brightman fan for about 29 years, I still enthusiastically listen to anything she releases, and I still attend her concerts, but I can still view her with constructive criticism.

She used to sing classical or operatic music very "naturally," ("Requiem," "Phantom," etc). In the mid-90s it seems she wanted to be taken more "seriously," and studied with the aforementioned Italian vocal coach. This noticeably changed her diction and live singing style, in my opinion, for the worse. To the point where I find several of her live videos very difficult to watch, beginning around 1998 - "Gala Christmas In Vienna," "Sarah Brightman In Concert At The Royal Albert Hall," and the Andrew Lloyd Webber 50th Birthday at the Royal Albert Hall.

Her big career surge beginning in 1997 with her hit "Time To Say Goodbye" spawned studio albums which are very nice to listen to, because she's heavily edited and controlled. Same thing with her major world tours around that time. They were visually impressive shows, but appear heavily lipsynched, until the end of each concert, when she switched to live vocals for selections from "Phantom" and her hit "Time To Say Goodbye." Suddenly the very affected vocals came into play, and she no longer stayed perfectly in time with the musicians on stage.

Her most recent concerts involve her standing in the same spot, center-stage, with carefully controlled lighting and not even any improvised audience banter. She literally reads any spoken dialogue to the audience from a script projected on teleprompters on the stage floor.

As curious as I am to see what she does with Norma Desmond, and as exciting as it is for her to take on this role, I have no idea how she's going to physically, vocally and technically pull this off. She's also been asked many times over the years if she'd return to the stage in a musical role, and has always been adamant that she's moved beyond a run in any stage musicals. I'm confused why she's doing this now, and why Australia?

I guess we'll find out in a few months!

Is this a traditional product or Jamie's?

It looks like Kristen Blodgette is going to be the MD on this, based on the video they just released. She was WONDERFUL when she did the revival on Broadway, I wish she would be doing it again this fall in New York.

Ooooh. I'd love to see Tina in it!

I wonder if this production will come to North America. Toronto? LA?

First performance is tomorrow night! Is anyone here making the trip? I've got tickets for Thursday.