Sunset Blvd Changes Question- Page 5

[simon_wilkie]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 5:38pm

Sorry to post again- it gets worse lol. It's like watching Gary Beach's Roger DeBris playing Norma!

Nice production though. I think I prefer it to the UK Tour. I'll post pics of that in a bit when I can be bothered getting my camera out.

Simon

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 6:16pm

No need to apologize, Simon. You're exactly right!

[simon_wilkie]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 6:58pm

I have pics from the 2002 UK Tour, but don't know how to post lol!

If anyone wants to see them please let me know and we'll try and work out a way to put them up or send them to you.

Simon

Posted: 5/16/07 at 9:09pm

"It's a shame that production seemed cursed with the tragic death of the Musical director I think the night before it opened (or the night before previews started) - and then I think Byrne got sick or injured during her run. I just remember that they had all kinds of problems which coincided as the productions everywhere (NY, London, Canada, US Tour) all seemed to implode at the same time. "

What was the deal--the Canadian one was financed by Livent but this was still when they had money (I assume anyway)--but I know it closed earli too--i think they figured it would tour more after Van or something silly (I guess it just was too expensive). I know even when i saw Ragtime two years later at the Livent's Ford Theater in Vancouver everything you'd buy would come in leftover Sunset Blvd bags lol

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 9:13pm

There's a little documentary on youtube of the Australian production. I don't like the clips of Hugh singing the title song though. It's sort of... bad.

Posted: 5/16/07 at 9:22pm

Yeha he suffers a bit from the too put together feeling John Barrowman gives too still I bet he was great in person--I don't care too much for his singing voice in Oklahoma's cd for example but was thrilled by him when I saw him on stage.

About the set--it does seem that this was the apotheosis of the "megamusical with elabroate set" that the Brits had started and many (especially Americans) loved to complain about--Napiter being responsible for many fo them. However, while I don't usually liek literal sets I think seeing the baroque mansion for Sunset is wonderful and adds a lot--the only bti I thought was a bit too much, as I said, was the car for some reason. (I always wondered if the split level scnees influenced Gayle Edwards similar staging on a much smaller split level rising/loweing set for Whistle down the WInd)

[ahmelie]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 9:38pm

"The Andrew Lloyd Webber Memorial Pool." It sits on her property in northwestern Connecticut, a below-ground monument to the most painful theater experience she has known. "On blissfully sunny days in the woods, we toast Andrew Lloyd Webber by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Memorial Pool," Patti LuPone declared acidly. "The best thing that could have happened was getting fired from that show.'"

Everything I've read has told be that Patti was fired from the show, I've never read that she quit.

Updated On: 5/16/07 at 09:38 PM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 9:51pm

Who's Patti LuPone?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 9:56pm

She's the one who lost the Tony for Anything Goes.

Posted: 5/17/07 at 12:09am

Before you know who says I should buy the companion book on the musical I just ordered a very cheap copy from Amazon :P so there--and they'll prob explain, but what exactly did Chris Hampton do? Did he help shape the story--cuz it's virtually the original screenplay? Did he do the original lyrics and "Don Black" polished them? Or did they work together the way Black and Hart did on Aspects? I know Hampton isn't noted for lyrics in the past but they don't seem much above Black's usual mediocre level of work if he did help

[chernjam]

Posted: 5/17/07 at 12:13am

Eric - you wont regret the Sunset book - it's very well done - and will give you a full appreciation of the London production and touches on some of the early controversies....

As for Christopher Hampton - yes he was originally brought on as book writer and then as he and Don Black worked on things they split the credit and he did the lyrics with Black - as for th ebook -Hampton didnt have tons to do (and didnt do a lot to change or alter the story...)

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 5/17/07 at 12:17am

A few thoughts:

One of the changes that they made from London to Broadway that I didn't like was that they tried to "toughen up" the show. Joe asking for work and saying that he'll work on any piece of sh*t. I recall a few added "Bastards". Not in keeping with the spirit of the source material.

I thought that one of the reasons why the first national tour failed was that Norma wasn't played by a "Name." I remember reading that Betty Buckley thought that she'd be asked to do it and was surprised when she wasn't.

About the tour with Petula Clark, she was really, really, really not great. She was using this bizarre midwestern accent. As if Norma had no talkie film career because she sounds like an Okie. And I didn't think that her singing was all that great. Her elocution was horrible.

One thing they did that I always thought about doing with a Lloyd-Webber show is treating all of his recitive as dialogue. ("Aspects of Love," which is available for stock and amateur productions from the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, desperately needs this treatment.) One interesting thing about this treatment is that one of the songs, "Boy Meets Girl," was basically eliminated.

Posted: 5/17/07 at 2:12am

I've thought about that too--although I honestly go back and forth on liking or not liking the recitive in his shows--it's kinda the style many of them are written in.

If you took it out of Aspects, for instance, there are some spots where I'm not sure I'd knwo whether it was an actual song or a recitive--if that makes sense--Sunset has bits like that too (the difference is easier for a show like Whistle Down the Wind).

So you CAN perform Aspects?

Posted: 5/17/07 at 7:20am

OK so this led to me to look into some of my programs I had... And an odd question

I dont' seem to have my plabill or program for when I saw Sunset with Caroll at the Ford in Vancouver (they must be at my parents with many of my programs) BUT I did find my playbill to when I saw Aspects of Love when I was only 12 at the premiere of the Robin Phillips version in Edmonton (of all places-where I grew up) which eventually toured N America I think even with Sarah Brightman at one point. An exceptionally kind person here recently sent me the souvenir program as I never got one (I don't think they had one yet).

I don't remember much about Phillips' much more abstract/intimate staging except that it absolutely blew me away at that age. Regardless the two main leads--Alex and Rose were played by Ron Bohmer and Linda Balgord! Two names I didn't really know too well, but I foudn Bohmer's website and...

Of course they were the two leads in the first, flop major tour of Sunset Blvd. Is this just coincidence? it seems odd that they'd tour in the two subsequent N America productions of ALW shows together...

Here's his Aspects page http://www.ronbohmer.com/photo.html#aspects and here's his Sunset page http://www.ronbohmer.com/sunset.html

(OK I'm sure this is no revelation to anyone else--just funny as I put two and tow together)

[Sant]

Posted: 5/17/07 at 8:02am

Sarah Brightman never toured with ASPECTS OF LOVE. She did play Rose on Broadway in attempt to boost the ticket sales.

Posted: 5/17/07 at 8:24am

My mistake--I had heard somewhere she was in the RObin Phillips production for a bit--it's hard to get info on that tour

E

[chernjam]

Posted: 5/17/07 at 12:40pm

Eric -

I think you're right about the Canadian tour - Livenet initially was doing Toronto, vancouver and then it was going to be it's own tour of the US - hitting some of the ones the First US Tour was going to miss. In fact, when the LA production closed, they had said that it was this tour that would make Sunset's "return" to LA.

Have to disagree with people on Petula though - I wasn't expecting much from the production or her as an actress and was blown away by both - like I've said earlier - almost feeling in some ways it was better than the original

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 5/17/07 at 1:11pm

In some ways, the Petula's tour was better than the original. But I still feel she sucked every ounce of sympathy out of her character, turning her into a spoiled, manipulative child. I couldn't decide if she was trying to act younger, or simply trying to show that Norma "acts" even in real life. In either case, I didn't think she was successful, and neither did the audience...there were audible giggles in places there should definitely not be.

[simon_wilkie]

Posted: 5/17/07 at 4:35pm

I'd agree with Mother's Younger Brother about Petula. I just can't take her seriously in the role. It's like watching a parody of Norma as I've said previously. Although about her "okie" accent- that was the only part of her interpretation that I liked. It's a sad fact that numerous gods and goddesses of the silent films- some of the greatest actors ever- lost their jobs because of their accents. Not many people offer this as a possibility of why Norma lost her job. Petula did it and Faith did it to the best of my recollection. But the rest of Petula's performance I honestly find cringe-worthy, sorry. It's just IMO of course!

Simon

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 5/17/07 at 5:39pm

Sarah Brightman DID tour in Aspects of Love.

I saw it in Los Angeles. It was a kind of white box production that put me and many others to sleep.

Brightman was about as convincing a Rose as Clark was playing Norma.

Updated On: 5/17/07 at 05:39 PM

Posted: 5/17/07 at 6:47pm

That would most assuredly be the RObin Phillips production (he loves whites) though I personallyw as enthralled by it--but I have a huge soft spot and draw to Aspects...

E

[chernjam]

Posted: 5/17/07 at 10:16pm

I too loved the Robin Phillips production of Aspects...

Don't know about Brightman touring though - I was pretty sure it was Linda Balgord and Ron Bohmer for the whole tour, but I could be wrong.

[peterjoshua]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 12:50pm

Well... just my 2 cents, but I agree that Petula's performance was too broadly comic and made the audience a lot less sympathetic toward Norma. Regarding her accent, the thing I remember more than anything else is how over-pronounced all her R's were, like she was having to try way too hard to sound American.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 1:01pm

Shoot! I wish I had all the time in the world to format and post those performance clips of Petula. Her Norma is simply hilarious in the 2nd US National Tour. Just watching her gesture the lyrics is hands-down hilarious -- along with that thick faux American accent.

Great comparing her two Normas --- the Trevor Nunn version and the Susan Schulman version. Obviously, the Trevor Nunn version was the better one (to me, at least).

[ElFantasma14]

Posted: 5/18/07 at 3:13pm

Just got the OLC in the mail today. I love it, only it is packaged very old-fashioned like, as in a thick double-cd case instead of a compact dual-cd thing like most are today. Are they planning on remastering the London Cast Recording with new packaging any time soon?