Sunset Boulevard – Savoy Theatre 2023/24

Regarding the broadway transfer, now it seems more likely. Someone on the BW forum asked Nicole at the stage door about her schedule for next year, she seemed to hint at a second life for this production. That alongside her leaving Masked Singer and that she's unlikely to be do Death Becomes Her in Chicago (their instagram account follows the three actresses who will lead). I did also hear that they wanted to swoop in before the Tony cut off, didn't originally buy it until I pieced together all the things I just mentioned.  

I think it was a limited time offer

Also noticed that a lot of the early performances that were showing good availability are now showing medium or low. Word of mouth comments I guess.

Previous works get reinterpreted by new artists all the time.

The artwork alone for this production clearly shows it is a significant deviation from the opulence of many past stagings. I'm empathetic, but I can't get worked up over people who are surprised if they expect a new production to reflect what they've seen in the past.

If people make purchases without doing even the most basic of research, well that's on them. I mean when choosing a restaurant I'm going online to at least check out the menu and maybe a few Yelp reviews. It takes five minutes.

Hard disagree.

For anyone yearning to see the original version of Sunset Boulevard, it's being staged at the Grove Theatre Dunstable on 20 and 21 October.

There's often a block on amateur productions within a certain radius of London during a West End run but clearly not here. I'm seeing both close together.

Totally agree!

The thing about Sunset is that this isn't even the first London or UK revival and anyone who wanted a traditional production has had their fill over the last 10 years.

When a piece becomes so far removed from the source material, in my view, it takes on a new life as a piece of art independent to the original work. Shakespeare, as an example cited a few pages back as a piece of transformative theatre, has had centuries to grow. It can find new audiences from slow, steady growth. It doesn’t need a “visionary” to reinvent the text - it’s an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

Sunset Boulevard, like it or not, is a piece whereby the the setting, characters and tone is crucial to the telling of the story. It’s why Andrew Lloyd Webber didn’t take Billy Wilder’s work and 90’s it “to the max, brah!”. It’s a period piece.

Keeping references to the original setting (who on earth as young people know who Cecil B. De Mille is nowadays, or the concept of silent movies for that matter - I had to explain to a young niece was a cassette tape was) is disingenuous.

Do you know what? Actually, I think I’d be very interested in seeing this if it was truly modernised and re-written, keeping the music of course, but bravely reworking the piece. Rename the characters (Gemma Desmond, Rylan Gillis), be more modern, update her faded star as being a flash-in-the-pan Big Brother/Love Island contestant.

Perhaps I’m being a touch facetious (Sunset Boulevard: Social Media Edition”). But when a piece becomes so far removed from the original construct, surely as I type this, it is as much of a leech of the original material as any David Ian or Kenwright tour.

I guess you're happy with going to museum theatre then.... 

The irony that while ALW didn't touch Sunset Boulevard in terms of the setting, the stage adaptation of Whistle Down the Wind moved from rural England to the deep South so it's not like he's a purist.

I liked Lincoln Center Theater's recent production of Camelot very much. Many (most?) people didn't. But it was very clear in advance that this was a changed show. I loved Ivo van Hove's 2020 Broadway revival of West Side Story. But I'd also like to see the classics traditionally done. Same with Shakespeare.

I wasn't planning to see Sunset Blvd., but now I'm intrigued.

In our own little theatre bubble here, we can often get confused ideas about who is “known”. Theatre people who the Public have heard of aren’t a huge number. Directors? Ask anyone on the street for three famous movie directors (Spielberg, Scorsese, Hitchcock) then try asking for three famous (or indeed any) theatre directors?

Nobody knows who Jamie Lloyd is outside of our little theatre circle - and that’s fine. But it doesn’t work as a reason that the average punter will know what to expect from a “Jamie Lloyd Production”. It’s like asking what a Kneehigh (RIP) production would be; even amongst theatre fans, only some will know it will include folksy music and their tropes.