Sunset Boulevard

John-Paul McCrohon has set a high standard for this, the first show he has directed for Portsmouth Players. Professionalism shone out from the cast, the orchestra, the costumes, the set and the many clever directorial touches, such as the video sequences that were used to move the story along. I had to keep reminding myself that this was an amateur production and that I wasn’t sitting in a West End theatre.

The two leads: Sheila Elsdon as ageing actress Norma Desmond, and Stuart Warner as aspiring writer Joe Gillis, are well matched and both gave tremendous performances. Sheila’s singing and acting conveyed all of Norma’s insecurity and fragility and made me feel quite sympathetic towards what is really a rather unlikeable character.  I’m not sure how she managed the sheer number of costume changes – each outfit even more magnificent than the last! Stuart Warner’s rich and warm voice enthralled the audience in every song. He hardly left the stage throughout the show and his portrayal of a writer taking advantage of the faded actress to further his own career was spot on.

Chris Brooke was excellent as the rather sinister man-servant Max, who looks after Norma and tries to shield her from reality. He demonstrated the incredible range of his velvety bass voice in his solo number “The Greatest Star of All”. Rhian Roberts, a most welcome new face on the Players’ stage, was delightfully sparky as Betty Schaefer and her duets with Stuart Warner were beautiful. I must also mention Nigel James for his well observed and amusing cameo performance as Manfred, the rather camp tailor.

The scenes flowed smoothly from one to another thanks to the relatively simple set, with a costumed stage crew managing the trucks that brought the furniture and props on and off as required. The lighting was very effective throughout, matching the mood of the scenes.

The eighteen-piece orchestra, under the able direction of Andrew Woodford, never quite drowned out the cast, but came quite close to it on a couple of occasions, during the more enthusiastic chorus numbers. However they were suitably well controlled during the quieter  romantic songs.

The sound system was excellent, something that unfortunately cannot always be said of the King’s Theatre. All the soloists could be heard clearly, although some words were lost in the more raucous chorus scenes. There was a distracting number of missed microphone cues during the first act (although none in the second), which was rather surprising for the third night, but these minor glitches did not detract in any way from my enjoyment of the show.

Performances like this demonstrate what top quality theatre the “amateur” groups give us and prove that you don’t need star names and astronomical West End budgets to present top class entertainment that leaves the audience wanting more.

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