Variety: How 'Evita' and 'Sunset Blvd.' Made Andrew Lloyd Webber Hot Again — Page 2

BorisTomashevsky said: "I wonder if ALW regrets the shortening of Surrender or the cutting entirely of Lady’s Paying and Eternal Youth."

I missed "The Lady's Paying" and "Eternal Youth" but managed to forgive Jamie Lloyd for those cuts in the context he created for his production. However, "Surrender" is one of my favorite songs from Sunset, and I found his truncation unnecessary and infuriating.

chrishuyen said: "To that point as well, the directors of Jellicle Ball have spoken about how originally they took more liberties with the score but when they presented the idea to ALW he requested they stick to the original score (and orchestrations?), though they were allowed to add club beats to it. They acquiesced and said that he had the right instinct all along and they didn’t need to change the score to fit their vision, but I do wonder what the show would’ve looked like with their changes."

Everyone I know who attended a presentation of their ideas in the pre-production process loved the changes, and were sad but not surprised to see most of them didn't survive ALW's approval. (As for his allowing them to add club beats, my understanding is also that there were many more interjections even in their more faithful treatment, and he still put his thumb on the scale either during the tail end of rehearsals or in previews.)

My understanding is that they may be buttering him up in hopes that they can get away with putting some of that back in the transfer, but they're about to learn, like (evidently) Jamie Lloyd, that ALW's goodwill only lasts so long if you don't tread very carefully.

Some quick advice to them if any of them read BWW (and who knows, they might): pick the hills of re-entry you're willing to die on now, because you're almost certainly getting nothing but. He may play "hands off," but we all know better.

Updated On: 8/16/25 at 02:52 PM

ALW does seem a bit destructive when it comes to relationships. I wonder what happened with Tim Rice. Tim always is the one who looks reluctant to be there when they’re seen together. And from what I’ve seen of him individually, he’s the more relaxed/less neurotic personality of the two.

Updated On: 8/17/25 at 08:05 PM

Has any Broadway production of Sunset Blvd. - original Glenn Close version, Close revival, Scherzinger revival - made money?

Plus the original production was plagued with high costs and I guess so was this most recent revival. Not sure what happened in 2017 I remember it selling well and it was a concert but it was a very large orchestra and cast in a large theatre so guessing costs were also high.