Sunset Boulevard

As many will of course know Sunset Boulevard is based on the 1950 film of the same title.  The plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion.  When young screenwriter Joe Gillis accidentally crosses her path, she sees in him an opportunity to make her return to the big screen, with romance and tragedy to follow. 

What this fairly “wiki-bland” synopsis does not tell the reader is that this musical contains an almost Sondheim level of musical complexity with a relentless recitative drive to the narrative that James Bowden and his talented musicians mastered with almost deceptive ease.  This ensured that this key musical element of the production was of top quality supporting the performances of the actors without distraction allowing them to make their performances take centre stage.

Turning to the on-stage action, then the key to any successful production of Sunset Boulevard are the central performances of the actors playing Norma and Joe.  This was another great strength of this production with both Alex Tavener and Phil Deakin making Norma and Joe believable characters and not caricatures. 

Alex managed to channel Gloria Swanson to a tea and also brought her own interpretation to the role with wild eyed distraction and fragile ego evident for all to see.  The portrayal of the tragedy of a diva living on past adoration and the  sudden realisation that tinsel town now sees you as a fan-deserted laughing stock came across in every second of Alex’s performance.   Phil Deakin was in fine vocal form as always and added one of the strongest acting performances I have seen from him as Joe Gillis.  Phil brought out the character arc of Joe from hard bidden, cash strapped, struggling screenwriter and chancer, to emotional rock for Norma. Until, in her final tragedy, he realises that he needs to reclaim his own life as a young independent man rather than a gigolo come emotional punchbag.

John Fletcher as Max Von Mayerling and Emma Barnes-Marriott as Betty Schaefer both brought conviction and energy to their respective characters ensuring that the overall narrative of the production was three dimensional. Emma’s performance ensuring that Joe could see that there was a “normal” alternative to the increasingly destructive and unhealthy relationship with Norma and John’s performance making it clear that Max was devoted to Norma, shielded her from the outside world, fanned her ego with devoted domestic service and secretly writing all her fan mail to protect her fragile ego from shattering.

The remaining ensemble cast all played their part to make this a successful production and it would be invidious to highlight one performance above another, so well done Keith, Hayden, Jason, James, Martin, Sue, Tracey, Paige, Laurie, Nick, Hayley, Megan, Louisa, Richard, Gabryl, Barbara, Anna, Karen, Laura, Gary, Andrea and Natalie.

The Choreography, by Laurie Trott, supported the central narrative of the show and was sympathetic to the talents of the cast. The set with its sweeping staircase, excellent back projection, and effective lighting provided the key backdrop to the main action between Norma and Joe. My only thought is that if an alternative to, or enhancement of, the blank grey masking curtain could have been found that would have enhanced the front stage scenes.  Costume was very sympathetic to the period and the sound balance was especially well judged as the amount of rapid recitative made diction a challenge which was successfully overcome by the sound team.

Chris Moss together with Kathi Ludlow in her first outing as an assistant director brought together a very enjoyable production of a challenging musical and should be suitably proud of what they have achieved together with their talented cast and offstage team.

Congratulations to all involved and I very much look forward to the next production, Calendar Girls The Musical in 2023

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