Sunset Boulevard – Savoy Theatre 2023/24

He really is. Joes are so often less remembered/acclaimed in Sunset, but like the Joseph Narrator, they really do drive the production.

And Tom is sensational. I hope he wins as many awards as Nicole will/ought to. Best double act in the West End currently!

Agree re. Francis. I've never seen (or heard) a better Joe.

Same! Although it's impossibly hard to compare this production to the other ones. That said I loved OLC Joe, Kevin Anderson. And in fact him and Tom Francis play it not dissimilarly. Brooding, cynical, understated. As I've previously said I think this works so much better than the "alpha male American jock" type Joe that the role morphed into over the years.

”Actually, what surprised me most was how much I missed Tom Francis's Joe - he really is the glue that holds the whole show together. Gregor Milne was fine and I don't want to be too critical of him for what was his first performance. But he just didn't seem to inhabit the role in the way that Tom does, which unfortunately the minimalist direction only seemed to highlight.”


I think that the direction is anything but minimalist. The style is minimalist but it has been directed to death with every last detail attended to.

Tom back tonight?

I used the contact form on the link posted a few posts above my reply. I assumed it was RUG but if it was LW Theatres then that’s who I emailed.

So with this run now over half way through, have increasingly found myself wondering what, if anything, it's legacy will be.

I think it's safe ish to say it's been a pretty big success and possibly an unexpected one. Certainly based on this non scientific thread we have 85% at 4/5 stars which I think is a higher level of enthusiasm that the early pages of the thread would have predicted. Also appreciated by critics and a definite buzz from the public. Many of my vaguely-but-not-specifically-into-theatre friends have either seen it and loved it or have booked to see it.

And for ALW after the chaos of Cinderella/Bad Cinderella, Aspects of Love failing to set the world alight and some hit and miss concerts, it's been easily his best selling and acclaimed show this side of the coronavirus.

First I wonder if there could be a future life for this production in the UK. Seems certain it won't be extending, likely it won't be transferring and highly likely there can't be another run here with Nicole if she is taking it to Broadway. I would love for a further run to be announced hot of the heels of this one but I do wonder if they could do it without Nicole. No criticism at all of the alternate, but you need only look at the relative sales to see how much of a draw Scherzinger is. I kind of think there must be someone else like her that could take this forward, but I can't actually name one! But then I am neither Jamie Lloyd nor a casting director. Does anyone think it could have a future life in the UK?

The second thing I wondered is if there are any other post Phantom ALW musicals that could have such an extreme reworking into such a breathtaking, hitherto unimagined production. Are there any that could have the Jamie Lloyd treatment? I've been through them all in my head and sadly am not sure there are. In fact I think it's testimony to what an insanely good musical Sunset Boulevard is that it has worked so well in a version so radically different from the original. And in fact as a result really of this production I think Sunset (already high in my estimation) has risen a long way above all the other post Phantom stuff. Be interested to hear if anyone thinks there is anything that could be revitalised in this way?

Pre Phantom I'd love to see Lloyd's Evita return. And I think he could definitely do Phantom itself but while the original is still there that's not really going to be on the table. I know it's not Jamie Lloyd, but after Starlight Express, I do think a new radical take on Cats would be interesting. As like Starlight and Phantom, the original production is so welded to the piece - be good to see something new. I mean it has been tried before but never on a huge West End scale. Be that Lloyd or a different director.

So I guess in summary as a huge ALW fan I do hope this may pave the way for some more epic revivals. I must confess my hunch though is that there isn't much that could generate this kind of buzz. That said I have high hopes for the new Starlight production and as for the rest, time will tell.

(Oh and in the meantime, have I mentioned I am desperate for a new Sunset cast recording.....?!)

Please be WDTW!

…but it would be Really Useful that released a recording surely? Or does that arm of RUG not exist any more?

What record label was Cinderella released on?

I read about this too
playbill.com/article/the-category-is-cats-realness-coming-to-lower-manhattan-in-2024
The Beautiful Game and Stephen Ward are the two that came to mind for me.

Whistle Down The Wind.