Sunset Boulevard

Well i'd say i paid a pound for pretty much the same show as the punters paying £40 certainly tonight at least. No mess ups, no tech fails, no sound issues, no forgotten words, bum notes... pretty slick and well rehearsed and and the cast seemed to be giving it their all. Pretty pleased i decided to do this at the last min and try the dress rehearsal. I had envisaged things going wrong and show stops and stuff so well pleased.

On to my thoughts.

So first of all i just have to give top billing to the orchestra. It was a 16 piece orchestra and it sounded amazing playing that brilliant score. The music really is brilliant. It was just stunning and i got goosebumps at several points. Helped by the mixing and sound which was spot on already. It just honestly sounded brilliant. I've never experienced something like that at a show. Though i'm sure there are many on here who are used to things like that but i'm not.

On to the cast. They were all strong. Ria Jones was brilliant had a great voice, and particularly was strong towards the end when Norma was really descending. I know many were sceptical of Danny Mac as Joe and so i'm pleased to say i thought he was very good. I know the question was whether he'd be up to the score and to me he had a good voice, good power to it when needed and overall i thought he did very well.

All the other cast were good in their respective roles especially Molly Lynch as Betty and i liked Dougie Carter as Artie and would be interested in seeing his Joe. I think he'd be very good. I Maybe had a little issue with Adam Pierce as Max. He just seemed a bit comical with his looks and his ridiculously deep singing voice and i don't know if that's how it meant to be or not.

The set is basically a film studio lot/stage. That's the basic shell of it. Tiled walls with pipes and air vents and light and such and panels that represent the shutters/studio door which are either at the side or mid stage. When it's stuff set in the studio several extra pieces are rolled/brought on such as the famous paramount gates, lights, camera's, spot/camera platforms, bits of random set from films they are doing ect ect. For the mansion set the stage is dimmed and we have the big set piece staircase come on with various other bits of scenery such as the chaise lounge, piano, several candelabras , bookshelves ect ect. A shop frontage comes flying down for scenes in a bar (i think?). It was a good set. The thing is though because all the set is manually operated it can feel a bit clunky, the ensemble are constantly bringing things on and off and the staircase is rather cumbersome, especially as it is three pieces that come together and it seemed a bit of a effort for them. I expect that they will get slicker of course.

As mentioned i my interval post, there is heavy use of projections either to add to scenes or completely create them. So for example when Norma is singing about her past and career ect you'll have projections of her younger self posing or in film scenes on the back wall and side panels. That happened a few times and was very effective. There were several scenes of the characters driving and basically the whole stage would turn into a night time road with lights whizzing by and headlights ect ect as the car on stage is moved round by the ensemble. You'd see things like the Hollywood Sign or Paramount water tower projected on to the back wall, the night sky for outside scenes. Glittering lights for the new years eve party. Water effects everywhere for the poolside scene...(and yes Danny Mac wears swimming shorts and nothing else) and then in the scene where i'll just say Joe finished in the show....we see that whole scenario projected on to the stage panels (which they obviously filmed)...anyway you get the jist. They were gentle and dim, they weren't in your face or looked tacky (imo).

The costumes were great and yes their were several turbans.

All in all i really enjoyed it, more so act 2 i think and yes there are things that they probably need to iron out or get slicker at, i think especially the first couple of scenes which felt a bit manic and not quite smooth to me, but this was DR and i can't believe i saw a performance of that quality for £1!

The most important question of all, does Danny wear a suit like the original for the title song, or does he don the Michael Xavier pants? 😅

Thanks for reports on todays Dress Rehearsal and Performance.

The £1 DR is a tradition at Curve but not always guaranteed, presumably if they don't feel capable to do the production as a straight run threw.

Can't wait for Tuesday evening

That would be my concern. Any time I've seen her on stage, she's just reminded me of a cheesy cruise ship singer.

For those asking about Ria, i thought she was very good. It was played slightly campy and cheesy but this is the first time i've seen the show other than some clips of some of the famous songs being performed so i don't really know if that's the norm(a). I'll get my coat.

Been looking forward to this show , it's the only ALW I really like. I'm not sure how you'd play Norma camp and cheesy though? I hope I'm not going to be disappointed , Ria Jones got terrific reviews for her Norma at the Coliseum , does anyone know if she's giving basically the same performance ?

Gloria Swanson didn't exactly 'underplay' it though, did she. The character is a grotesque, someone who's living in a silent movie. I don't see how you can play that subtly. 

It certainly is a fine balance and she really comes into her own in the second act - As if we never said goodbye was stunning to be fair and I think you could see her visibly relax into the part. Final scenes (apart from the dress which I hated, bad bad costume) were glorious and worked very well, she nailed the descent to madness.

However that car. Sheesh.

i couldn't care less about turbans personally lol but one of the reviews further up does mention them

 To be fair, if you are not used to "melodramatic" acting, which is very outdated now in today's acting style, you would find it camp and cheesy.

Every Norma performs it that way - that's the character. It's a heightened style.

I agree. Glenn at The Coliseum was not cheesy.

Camp? Hmm... sorry the whole thing is hugely camp. As was the original movie. 

OK lets cut to the chase - forget all this nonsense about Norma, orchestra, staging, lighting and cars - how does Danny Mac look in his trunks?