Sunset Boulevard Cher as Norma

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 8/18/23 at 8:15am

Does anyone know the full story behind this?

Cher was hired as a replacement Norma after Glenn Close left the original New York production, full press photos taken with Cher dressed as Norma. Apparently discussions fell apart due to the money requested by Cher and her team. Would have been amazing to see! 
 

Maybe in talks is a better word than hired
 

 

Updated On: 8/18/23 at 08:15 AM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/18/23 at 8:35am

ALW initially approached Cher to replace Close in L.A. but she declined which is when Dunaway accepted the offer.  He later again approached Cher to replace Buckley (not Close) in the Broadway production. Cher was interested and auditioned at the Minskoff Theatre in full Norma Desmond costume (numerous cast members can confirm this and no, there never were press photos taken of her in costume). They say she was spectacular. Cher requested to have the keys lower for her vocal range, which ALW didn’t want to do again as he did it for Carroll and he wasn’t happy with the results. Cher moved on. 

Lots of back-n-forth throughout the show’s run which obviously never panned out, but for a moment it looked like it could have happened as she was interested and money wasn’t an issue. Also, Bernadette Peters was set to have replaced Buckley but she wanted too much money so ALW brought over Elaine Paige instead to replace Buckley. 

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 8/18/23 at 10:06am

Thank you Brody, I knew I didn’t have the full story. Thanks for all the missing pieces, it would have been stunning to see Cher in the role. Yet again another stupid decision by Webber. 

[Tag]

Posted: 8/18/23 at 10:45am

According to a reputable poster here years ago, she was asked to open the Toronto production but couldn't due to her chronic fatigue syndrome at the time.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 8/18/23 at 11:36am

Honestly, with all apologies to Glenn Close, Cher should do the film now.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/18/23 at 2:51pm

Never heard about Bernadette Peters being offered Norma. Not sure why I never considered her before. She would have been great.

[lsteven]

Posted: 8/18/23 at 4:42pm

The Cher audition is an urban legend.  It never happened. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t in talks for the role.  But she did not audition, and if she had, it would never have been onstage or in front of other cast members. 

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 8/18/23 at 5:18pm

I believe the story of Bernadette Peters as a possible replacement for Norma Desmond is also a (more recent) urban legend.  Hers was never a name floated in the press (and there were MANY names rumoured at the time, including, yes, Cher).  I also think Norma Desmond would have been a complete outlier to the types of roles Bernadette Peters was playing- up to and during that time - and frankly a complete outlier to the types of roles she has taken since.  

In other words, it just feels too out of left field a suggestion for me to seriously believe either ALW or Bernadette Peters would have thought casting her in Sunset Boulevard was a good idea for anybody.

 

[Ke3]

Posted: 8/18/23 at 11:03pm

Isn't the story that he approached Cher, Diana Ross, and Olivia Newton-John once it was clear the show would never be financially successful without a star? 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/19/23 at 8:05am

Yes, after Cher declined, ALW approached numerous other actresses including Liza Minnelli. This post was regarding Cher so the info posted solely focused on her involvement.  

[Tag]

Posted: 8/19/23 at 11:31am

Wow I never even thought of Liza. Imagine that.  It would have been amazing.

[David10086]

Posted: 8/19/23 at 12:51pm

From what's been reported over the years:

 

Cher was very close to taking the role on Broadway, with her friend John Barrowman playing 'Joe Gillis' (that was part of her negotiations for the role, and Barrowman was 100% behind it).  In the end, the deal fell apart. According to Cher (years later, in an interview in London) she said "He simply couldn't afford me" (referring to ALW) when asked what was the deal breaker.  According to a spokesperson for RUG, Cher had released her (new) album "It's A Man's World" stateside the last week of June, 1996 and could not commit to a schedule of rehearsals - she was busy with promoting her new album around the country. in her contractual agreement with WB Records. (Buckley's replacement would be taking over the first week of September, it would never work out if Cher missed rehearsals in July and August). 

 

Before signing on with Elaine Paige, it was said ALW offered the role to Diana Ross (she only wanted to do the Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances and have her understudy fill in the others)  Olivia Newton-John, Barbara Eden, Dixie Carter, Shirley Jones, Jennifer Holiday, Joan Collins, Tyne Daly and Bernadette Peters. Daly said she was 'interested', but after talking to Betty Buckley about the physical demands of the role (the actress playing the part would climb up and down nearly 1,000 stairs by the end of the week's performances), she declined. Supposedly, Peters declined for the same reasons. 

 

As for Liza, let us not forget - shortly after she married David Gest in 2002, they announced to the press she was going to star as 'Norma Desmond' in the movie version of the musical. Gest said it was a done deal, everything was negotiated and signed off, and production was to start 'within months'. . ALW said none of that was true. 21 years later, I guess ALW was telling the truth.  

[Ke3]

Posted: 8/19/23 at 2:05pm

Diana Ross and Jennifer Holliday are the most interesting names to me because he told Diahann Carroll being Black made her wrong for the role. I guess money makes minds change fairly quick.

[Impeach2017]

Posted: 8/19/23 at 2:44pm

It's difficult to think of anyone more ill-suited to the role than Tyne Daley.  However, I belong to that despised minority who never liked Close as Norma.

[fosterfan2]

Posted: 8/19/23 at 9:23pm

Impeach2017 said: "It's difficult to think of anyone more ill-suited to the role than Tyne Daley. However, I belong to that despised minority who never liked Close as Norma."

You're not the only one who didn't like Close as Norma. I'm in that same minority. I prefer Patti LuPone's and Betty Buckley's voices for Norma.

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 8/20/23 at 9:17am

Impeach2017 said: "It's difficult to think of anyone more ill-suited to the role than Tyne Daley. However, I belong to that despised minority who never liked Close as Norma."

I'm with you on that. I think acting-wise Close was very good but she butchers the score for me.

[Owen22]

Posted: 8/20/23 at 10:07am

FANtomFollies said: "Impeach2017 said: "It's difficult to think of anyone more ill-suited to the role than Tyne Daley. However, I belong to that despised minority who never liked Close as Norma."

I'm with you on that. I think acting-wise Close was very good but she butchers the score for me."

Close could not belt like her predecessor in the role, so the skilled actress that she is, she was able use her voice in different ways in different songs to convey different meanings and emotions. Sometimes a soft soprano, sometimes her own ugly belt.  It was an amazing thing to behold. Now, I'm only talking about her first engagement in the role, her later in life take was as successful acting-wise, but she was too old to control her voice as she had originally done.

[Tag]

Posted: 8/20/23 at 11:20am

Was Chita ever in consideration? Or was Spiderwoman too much of a distraction?

[David10086]

Posted: 8/20/23 at 12:38pm

Tag said: "Was Chita ever in consideration? Or was Spiderwoman too much of a distraction?"

I never read Chita's name anywhere in all the coverage this musical had (though she would've been an interesting choice!). 

[David10086]

Posted: 8/20/23 at 12:42pm

Ke3 said: "Diana Ross and Jennifer Holliday are the most interesting names to me because he told Diahann Carroll being Black made her wrong for the role. I guess money makes minds change fairly quick."

Agree - Carroll always implied that ALW didn't think Norma Desmond should be played by an actress who was black. She never outright accused him of being racist himself, but implied he had 'racist thoughts' about the role. (She makes this clear in her 2008 memoir). 

Yet she doesn't address the fact that Ross and Holiday were both sought after. Something doesn't connect there. 

[David10086]

Posted: 8/20/23 at 1:24pm

More gossip / rumors over the past 30 years...

Supposedly, ALW's first choice for the LA production in 1993 was none other than Shirley MacLaine. Apparently, SM passed - afraid she'd be compared to Gloria Swanson in such an iconic role.

 

He then turned his attention to TV star Michele Lee, who had just finished 14 seasons starring in the CBS hit drama 'Knot's Landing'. Not a bad choice - Lee was a musical actress, the right age (51) and had a built-in loyal audience / fan base from 14 years on television (and very well-respected in Hollywood). Lee turned it down - she wasn't ready to make a long commitment to another project so soon, and needed a well-deserved break. 

 

When he was looking to replace Close a year later in LA, Michele Lee let him know she was interested in the role - she showed up the same day as her friend Diahann Carroll for her audition (the two of them first met in NYC in the 60s, and had stayed friends since then). Raquel Welch and Faye Dunaway were also there that day - Dunaway (who had no musical theater experience) was chosen. 

 

When Carroll finished her Toronto run in mid-August, 1996 (just weeks before Buckley would be finishing her Broadway run), she was hoping to replace Buckley on the Broadway stage (an easy enough move, no rehearsals necessary). However, ALW told her 'no' - he wasn't interested in her returning to Broadway in his musical. If she were to replace Buckley, LIVENT was interested in Michele Lee opening in Vancouver that December  ('SB' had ended its Toronto run to make way for 'Ragtime', so was relocating to Vancouver). Without the move to Broadway, Carroll renewed with LIVENT and moved to Vancouver with the production until it closed in April, 1997. Overall, Carroll played the role from October 1995 - August 1996, and again from December 1996 - April 1997.  It's a shame she never got the chance for Broadway. 

 

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 8/20/23 at 2:46pm

Ke3 said: "Diana Ross and Jennifer Holliday are the most interesting names to me because he told Diahann Carroll being Black made her wrong for the role. I guess money makes minds change fairly quick."

I mean the show is very much about the politics of casting in old Hollywood. Hattie McDaniels wasn't even allowed to sit in the theatre during the Academy Awards ceremony the year she won. I can maybe see where he might be coming from. It's also possible he's just racist; although, he did have Robert Guillaume playing the Phantom around the same time, so who knows?

[BJR]

Posted: 8/20/23 at 3:18pm

So many names mentioned here - Cher(!), Diana Ross, Bernadette, Holliday (??) - now haunt me. If only we could've had their Norma's!

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 8/20/23 at 3:46pm

Owen22 said: "Close could not belt like her predecessor in the role, so the skilled actress that she is, she was able use her voice in different ways in different songs to convey different meanings and emotions. Sometimes a soft soprano, sometimes her own ugly belt. It was an amazing thing to behold. Now, I'm only talking about her first engagement in the role, her later in life take was as successful acting-wise, but she was too old to control her voice as she had originally done."

I know what you mean - and I have no doubt she did her absolute best, but I just find it horrible to listen to. I'm obviously in the minority since so many rave about her, which is great. 

To try to explain my main issue,I think it's whenever she is switching back and forth from head voice to chest voice - (I think that is the correct terminology? I'm not super knowledgeable about vocal lingo). It's especially bothersome to me in 'Salome'.

[OuttaTowner]

Posted: 8/20/23 at 4:04pm

I wonder if ALW ever approached Catherine Zeta Jones about taking on Sunset?