Sunset Boulevard

All part of the service! 😬

I don’t think Ria stands up very well to any of those, vocally.

I remember seeing Faith Brown on tv when she did impersonations. Streisand was one she did often and you can tell from that clip she styled herself on Babs.

Surprised how good Betty sounds, would love to have seen this.

Elaine... that face when Hogeye lights her up 😆🤩

You do train times, too, don't you BB?

Forgive me if this has already been covered at some point over the preceeding 63 pages, but 2021 marks exactly 30 years since Ria first originated the role of Norma at the 1991 Sydmonton festival. Thirty. Years. That's longer than I've been wearing long trousers! 😉

I personally thought Betty was phenomenal live

I'm loving this thread! It brings back so many memories... In addition to the Nunn staging, I've seen many of the productions that followed. If not all over the world, then at least on three continents. I even filmed one of the performances. It was a stressful experience, and the trauma follows me to this day. I shall never do it again! But at least I was able to document part of Sunset history, and the footage is probably on Youtube.

Petula in London: We had terrible seats, but I remember enjoying it immensely. Petula remains my favourite Norma.

Sue Mathys in Niedernhausen: One of the last performances anywhere of the original production. It was amazing, and I wish I could go back and relive it.

Petula on tour in the US: I didn't like how Petula played it for laughs, but all her big numbers were more or less identical to how she did them in the original production, which I very much enjoyed.

Judi Connelli in Melbourne: A fantastic experience with a fresh take on the direction. Judi's voice is very operatic, but it fitted the production.

Maria Lundqvist in Karlstad, Sweden: An atrocious production with a down right laughable performance by the lead actress. I loved the eerie opening and the car chase scene though, with miniature cars being moved around on a miniature set by the actors, filmed live and projected on a giant screen.

Gunilla Backman in Gothenburg, Sweden: The staging was fantastic, the set was beautiful and very true to the original film. It was marketed as a musical for film lovers. Gunilla was tremendous, and a very vulnerable Norma.

Helen Schneider, somewhere in Germany: This was a semi staged concert version, and it was fantastic to hear Helen live. She was every bit as hysterical towards the end as on the German cast recording.

Simone Kleinsma, Amsterdam: Probably the only Norma I have almost no memory of. I think she was quite adequate in the role, perhaps slightly too insane, but a decent singer.

Kathryn Evans, Newbury: Very talented, very similar to Gloria Swanson in her acting style, but I think her voice was a bit off when I saw her perform.

Glenn, London: Another wonderful experience, and Glenn played it very much like on the cast recording.

Ria Jones, Woking: I thought Ria did a good job, but perhaps a tad predictable somehow? There were basically no surprises or any big wow moments.

I shall dig out my old Sunset CDs and listen to a few of them tonight :-)

I'm trying to watch this but all I keep seeing and hearing during Norma's entrance is Glenn. Apparently I just can't accept any other actress filling her shoes.

UPD:
I gave up on Ria and reviewed the matching scene in the 1994 LA video of Glenn I've been blessed with possessing, and there's no comparison of course.  I truly believe Glenn's Norma is a real acting masterpiece, I can't wipe a blissful smile off my face while watching her perform, so pleasing to me is what she does, mesmerizing even, every gesture, every pause she takes, her body language is on point, just as a former silent movie star should be, whereas Ria just seems so fake, I'm sorry. 

Wow, she’s phenomenal isn’t she?

Nods in agreement

I love Christine Ebersole (she's incredible in Grey Gardens) but I didn't really like her there, maybe because of the distortion on her voice (or is that autotune they applied for TV, if so that's shameful I hate when they do that for performers who don't need it).

Oh this brought back all kinds of sad memories... For those of you not in the US - this was the Kennedy Center Awards - given to different artists every year.  They have a 2-3 hour presentation and then decide to race through each of the honorees in speed faster than an Oscars award speech.  So ALW's life's work - for which he's being honred  - is given 5 minutes.  So I don't blame Christine for this.  They decided to make AIWNSG usually a 6 minute song into 2:30. Who the hell would know what they were singing at that point?

This is one of many areas that the UK beats us.  You guys don't race through - you take your time with things like this... had this been done on your side of the Atlantic, we could've gotten an accurate glimpse of her take on Norma rather than a ridiculous snippet.  Hardly worth her - or our time

Kathryn Evans is the best I've seen live. Absolutely bonkers, funny, good singing - but no turban!

Adored that Craig Revel Horwood production.
Much preferred it to the Curve, 2001 tour and ENO versions. Personally (and I know this is a really unpopular view) I'd take Kathryn Evans over Glenn Close as she is now any day.