Sunset Blvd.

Hey - I just had to watch this movie in my film class in college and loved it. Just wondering how the score/musical is and what ALW did with it. Anyone know any sights where i can see clips from the show or see pictures of the set and stuff. Thanks.

The score is derivative of some of his earlier stuff, repetitive(sp?) . I was disappointed as Sunset Boulevard is one of my favorite movies, but I cant stand Webber. Glenn Close is the silver lining in the otherwise mediocre cast recording. She is Norma Desmond. George Hearn is also a frightening Max, as he sounds just like Erich Von Stroheim. There are a couple sites you can visit with pics of the set, they look spectacular Im a huge All About Eve fan, but im scared to even go near Applause.

"Glenn Close is the silver lining in the otherwise mediocre cast recording. She is Norma Desmond."

Glenn was miserable as Norma. If you are going to buy a version, get the VASTLY SUPERIOR London cast recording with the divine Patti LuPone. Now SHE is Norma!

I love Patti. I really do, but I think she was in over her head with the role of Norma. For whatever reason she chose to play it cool and play all the dialogue moments exactly as they had been done in the film... extremely nonchalant and laid back... then when she sings she explodes and it causes a rather awkward imbalance of the material.

the revisions that were made for the LA and Broadway runs tightened the show and made everything flow much better so the LA CD is more enjoyable in my opinion for that reason alone. And then there's Glenn Close who delivers a knockout performance as Norma Desmond. She is a PSYCHO on this recording! I don't agree with the criticisms that Glenn is not a singer because at times she really does seem to be channeling a bit of Patti in her vocals. And she acts the hell out of any line she is given. Someone said it, I can't remember where, that no one can sing like Patti LuPone, but no one can play a psycho like Glenn Close and this is true. You can almost see the action and things that occurred on the stage just by listening to the recording because Glenn's performance is so over the top that it literally places images in your mind of what she must have been doing.

I love this show. I do understand that the music tends to be somewhat repetitive due, in part, to the large amount of underscoring, but for me it all just plays out marvelously. It's one of my favorite Webber shows and one of my favorite musicals period.

ALW wrote Norma as a belt singer (Patti LuPone). I don't know that I agree with that. I always thought Norma was more ethereal. There are about three motifs that are repeated over and over.

The set was the highpoint of the show. It moved forward and backward and up and down. It was a huge set, which dwarfed poor Elaine Paige when she was playing Norma.

You need to watch the movie "Jeffrey" where Nathan Lane plays a show tune singing priest: Sunset BOU-leevard.

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There IS a video, somewhere around, of the original Sydmonton festival production with Patti LuPone and Kevin Anderson, in addition to a great cast, workshopping the show in what looks like the corner of a room somewhere:) It's great, stripped bare of all the glimmer, you can see there's a really good plot and a lot of good music theatre.

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i always found it interesting to learn that sondheim originally had the rights but then gave them up to lloyd webber because sondheim felt that to musicalize this show it would have to be turned into an opera, and he didn't think that he could do that, so he let them go to someone else.

Definitely, Patti's singing is amazing. She is the only Norma that sings "With One Look" the way it was written. When Glenn signed on, ALW changed then ending of the song so that the range is much smaller -- the key changes for the very last section. I don't know if any of the other Norma's would have been able to pull the song off like Patti did . . . . maybe Betty.

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Sunset is one of my top 5 favorite shows. I don't find the score derivative from ALW's works in any way. And believe me, coming from someone who doesn't consider himself an ALW "fan," that's a compliment. I've always thought the score was perfectly blended into the action and (especially) the style and time period of the show.

Easily his best score.

How does the show work? In the movie the guy, the main guy, i forgot his name, dies in the pool. Do they do that on stage? How is it done?

Interesting, i read online that he falls into the orchestra pit at the end...sounds cool, wish they would do a revival of this show or at least a touring company.
check out www.theatre-musical.com - it's a great site.

Kevin Anderson is Joe in the Sydmonton production.

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To expand on the key changes between Patti/Glenn. Not only was the end of WOL changed, but both arias were dropped in key completely. And I hate the fact that all Normas I've seen or heard besides Patti yell out "this time will be BIGGER and BRIGHTER than we knew it..."

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