Sunset Boulevard – Savoy Theatre 2023/24

On my way back to my hotel so will post full thoughts later but WOW. That was sensational tonight!

Also there tonight. Cast sensational. Staging has some incredible moments. But not entirely sure the two go together. I loved how it sounded, and Nicole is worth the price of admission. Can’t quite make up my mind about the whole though.

Hoorah

As the sun sets my theatre holiday, this was one hell of a last night tonight. Jamie LLoyd and his team have done something amazing with this iconic show. 2.5hrs of theatrical magic. Ripping up the rule book, the whole technical design concept was in my view genius with making the show feel like a Hollywood movie with all the camera work and big screen (shoutout to all the camera operators and vision mixers, especially for that Act 2 opener - loved it!). Coupling the camera work lighting design brought a completely different feel to the show to make it more haunting which for me worked a treat. Also, making full use of the Savoy theatre (inside and out) to create that Hollywood film set idea again worked for me. The title sequences and credits another great addition.

For the cast, Nicole’s performance as Norma totally suited the style JL was going for (I certainly bought into the performance, particularly the breakdown scenes at the end.)and stunning vocals. As for Tom, having followed his career since appearing in Hope Mill’s Rent, I think tonight, there may be the makings of a new leading man in the WE. David Thaxton as Max again, stunning vocals. 

Sat in the Grand Circle (row D) tonight, no issues with this section and hearing that 17 piece orchestra play that fantastic ALW score - sublime. 

Quite simply, if this had had a longer run or had been on tour near me in Manchester or Liverpool, I’d be booking for a revisit or two I think it’s that good. 

Rating - 5 ⭐️

So nice to hear all the raves continue to come in :-)

5 stars currently at double the number of all other rankings combined. That’s bonkers!


(If only someone had managed a similarly confident re-staging of Aspects of Love! Do have to concede however, much as I love the score of the latter, the strength of narrative and versatility that’s demonstrated in Sunset does make me believe it’s objectively the better musical).

I’d like to say that perhaps rave reviews from the press after opening night will help, but they didn’t seem to do a lot for Crazy For You despite being packed with superlatives. If shows like these two can’t put bums on seats…

Hilarious interview with Scherzy in the Sunday times today.

She basically says she is the most amazing performer that’s ever lived, with a God given gift to change lives, what she can do on stage , no one else could possibly do. What a queen.

Oh my God. Our self believing Queen.

#IconBehaviour

It’s a great article - really interesting to get her perspective on playing Norma.

Whilst yes there’s some rather egotistical quotes, I was impressed by her commitment to take this role (and focus on her ‘art’) rather than more lucrative jobs like The Masked Singer USA which I’m sure pays millions.

She says she wants to change peoples’ perceptions of her, and feels Sunset may do that, vs. continually doing the TV judge/panel gigs.

- I don't think it's a competition

- I don't think people who are in a minority are or should feel diminished. Their opinion is equally as valid. (I'd go further to say I was a big Cinderella fan and felt diminished numerous times on here for expressing that - so that isn't a feeling I would want to give anyone else). I have said repeatedly that I get why some people wouldn't like this production. 

- I DO find the polls fascinating though and mention them a lot as the one person one vote element gives you a great overall stat of how the board feels. They are also useful for bringing evidence to the debate. So when people say it's Marmite or it's polarising, to have that evidence and say - actually, it isn't especially. (Based on this forum). 

- That feeds from my frustration that negative voices are often disproportionally louder and can skew threads away from "average" opinion. The Phantom one became an absolute nightmare over Covid thanks to less than 5 people. I don't think respecting others opinions and allowing free derailing of threads is the same thing. 

- Yes of course musicals are subjective but I think you can apply science/objectivity to an extent. For example I prefer Bad Cinderella to Hamilton (subjective) but I can see why objectively one might say Hamilton is a better musical - based on a cohesive majority evaluation of the coming together of music, lyrics, characterisation, plot, story telling etc etc. Perhaps I am not expressing myself well but hopefully that gives you the gist of where I am coming from. 

Over the years I have generally subjectively preferred Aspects of Love but I think objectively Sunset Boulevard is a better musical. 

Think was a setting - should work now!