Sunset Boulevard CD - remastered editions...

[chernjam]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 7:50am

Figured I'd take this diversion out of the Aspects thread...

Anyway - from what I can see (and from what friends in the UK tell me), there was not a remastering of the World Premiere Recording, but there was a remastering of the American Premiere Recording.

Cannot imagine why - The American Premiere Recording had gotten such kid glove treatment with something like a 100 piece orchestra - recorded over two days or something in Los Angeles. I cannot imagine it sounding that much different or anything new that would have been recovered on a re-mix, but maybe someone else has heard the new one and can report their findings.

(interesting tid bit - they had started to record the "Los Angeles Premiere Recording" when LA got hit with an earthquake which destroyed the beginning work they had done - when they "regrouped" and decided to record again, Close had won the role for Broadway and they gave it the star treatment and billed it as the American Premiere Recording. At that time they also gave Allan Campbell the role in NY over Kevin Anderson who had been contracted to star in NY with LuPone)

As for the World Premiere Recording - it was such a rush job, it probably could use a remixing, but I doubt they could recover much from it - some of the orchestrations were from the workshop production of Sunset - The cuts to music and dialogue are kind of bizarre. I think the pressure to get the CD out quickly so people could have the music and hear LuPone after a lack of "rave" reviews for LuPone and the show won out rather than taking their time on the project. If I remember, the CD came out less than 6 weeks after the London debut - and if you remember the story, it was one of ALW's most rocky "openings" with all kinds of technical problems.

Would be curious if there are things on the cutting room floor that would be an improvement for the recording though.

[jo]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 10:24am

Michael Ball released the title song single before the London cast recording was released. I understand this was at the instance of Andrew Lloyd Webber himself. This was probably done to support the "rocky" opening of the show, Chernjam.


Jo

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 10:37am

I doubt ALW wants to have anything to do with a recording invovling Lupone, especially that show.

[Sant]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 1:13pm

Since they re-worked the orchestrations and songs, tightened the show altogether and changed some numbers for the L.A. production I don't think they will remaster the London recording.

Especially since after some 9 months of performances they closed the London production for about a month to re-work the London production to include all the changes made for the L.A. production. And when the 'new' London version opened, the cast was lead by Betty Buckley.

[chernjam]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 1:17pm

what a shame there's not a Betty Buckley full recording! I remember back then the speculation that all the Normas and Joe's would get an opportunity to record over their predecessors in a way similar to the "Grease" recordings where each lead got to record over their tracks while the rest of the recording was unchanged.

What a shame that never happened - it would have been novel to have a Buckley recording - and I've always been curious to hear how Rita Moreno was in her brief Norma run...

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 2:10pm

What was so rocky about the opening - other than the bad reviews. Also, what is the deal with ALW and Lupone not liking each other? Never heard this before. Sunset is my fav. ALW show, so I'm really interested in all this. thanks.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 2:16pm

Never heard this before? Wha? How is that possible?

kmc

[chernjam]

Posted: 2/28/06 at 11:30pm

RentBoy86-- here's the cliffs notes version:

July 93 - Sunset is to open in a "World Premiere" in London. The sets have all kinds of mechanical problems - they are "moving" due to cell phones from taxi cabs - they have to delay the official opening night to take care of the set problems. This throws some chaos to an already huge media juggernaut of attention (with Barbara Streisand releasing With One Look and As If We Never Said Goodbye on her new album a few weeks earlier)

The show opens to lukewarm reviews (with critics bemoaning "City of Angels" -- another Hollywood story announcing their closing the day of Sunset opening)

-- August 03 - LuPone and company record Sunset's "World Premiere Recording" - ALW announces that the creative team are rethinking the whole production for Sunset's LA debut (with some creative notes from Billy Wilder himself)

ALW also releases a version of "Sunset Blvd" recorded by Michael Ball as a single "pop" Cd

-- December 03 - after some re-writes, re-orchestrations, adding "Every movies a circus" some new underscoring and Glenn Close starring in the role, the show opens to some rave reviews in LA - Speculation begins to heighten that although LuPone has a contract for both London and Broadway - she will be dropped for Glenn Close to reprise her role in NY

-- ALW denies rumors, and says he is stickeing with LuPone

- MARCh 04 - Liz Smith ina gossip column reports that LuPone is being dropped for Glenn Close. LuPone's agent calls ALW's people who finally acknowledge that this is the truth and that "it was Paramount - not us who insisted on the cast change...." LuPone, completely enraged goes balistic in London. She performs her last night in London (with all kinds of technical problems) - the show shutters for a few weeks to incoroporate all the changes done in LA to the score and the set, with a re-opening a few weeks later with betty buckley starring

Close is set to leave LA in June and be replaced by Faye Dunaway in LA as she prepares for her NY run.

== Dunaway is deemed "not vocally prepared" to star and that the LA production will Close with Glenn Close. The company will be offered jobs in NY... The NY tix go on sale.

By Opening night Nov 94 - Sunset Blvd has a new record ticket advance with close to $40 million in advance tix sold.

Like I said - this is the cliff notes - this could make a book in it's own right...

Jim

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 3/1/06 at 12:13am

To add to that, LuPone sued ALW for breach of contract and won, 1 million dollars.

Updated On: 3/1/06 at 12:13 AM

[chernjam]

Posted: 3/1/06 at 10:39am

Thanks wannabeafoster

There's so much more to the story - truly one of the greatest broadway stories in terms of gossip craziness.

For example - Glenn Close took a vacation in March of 1994 for two weeks. During that time, her understudy, Karen Mason starred in the role. The grosses for the week were inflated to make it look like this had no affect on the box office. Really Useful Group had to fess up about two weeks, Glenn Close, enraged, threatened to quit the production for being so baddly treated - but ALW and her kissed and made up.

The funny thing was, Really Useful could have bought up whatever unsold seats there were, given them to schools and stuff and still had it, appear, "sold out" during Glenn's absence.

But, this controversy put Glenn Close on the covers of the NY Post and NY Daily News with huge headlines - virtually selling every one of the remaining tix of Close's run from late March thru early July...

-- What a shame, the Really Useful Group has gotten so boring in their promotions! Woman in White barely seemed to get any press and just remembering the Sunset juggernaut, it's amazing!

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 3/1/06 at 9:17pm

I remember I was so mad that I missed Glenn Close, think I tried to get a ticket her very last week, couldn't get one.
But I really wanted to see the show anyway, so I bought a third row center ticket for Betty Buckley two weeks later, who I had never heard of. (Also says a lot for ticket dropoff, now that I think about it...) Betty was a powerhouse. With One Look was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Standing ovation. And I've loved her ever since. And despite a couple of questionable songs, it's still my fave ALW show.

There is a pretty book made about the show, I was able to find it a couple of years ago. It covers the London production, mostly.

[chernjam]

Posted: 3/1/06 at 10:44pm

I really loved Betty Buckley in the role. She made Norma so much more human to me. I saw her twice and I'll never forget how "As If We Never Said Goodbye" halted the show for a three minute standing ovation - never had seen that before. Truly amazing.

Elaine Paige, for all her vocal poweress truly killed Sunset in NY. Her acting was ridiculous. One critic referred to her as "cartoonish" and I couldn't agree more. Petula Clark on tour was so much more effective and emotive than Paige was.