meteordust (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
meteordust) wrote2024-12-11 11:30 pm
meteordust) wrote2024-12-11 11:30 pm
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Sunset Boulevard
I fell in love with the title song years ago, on some Andrew Lloyd Webber compilation album - its mix of cold cynicism and broken idealism and sweeping dramatics. On the strength of that one song, the musical has been vaguely on my "to watch" list ever since.
So when I heard about a new production - with Sarah Brightman! - I was there.
It was at the Sydney Opera House, in the Joan Sutherland Theatre, and tickets for this were pricey so I chose to sit right up the back. While I had a great view of the lavish sets and costuming, the faces of the performers were mostly blobs. But I was there for the singing, and nothing was wrong with the acoustics.
Sarah Brightman was the OG Christine in Phantom of the Opera, and after all these decades, she's still got it. It's pretty ironic that her character here is a silent film star who became irrelevant with the talkies, when her voice is incredible, while her expressions were lost on me in the back row.
The whole cast was excellent. But I had trouble engaging with the musical for a big chunk of it. Part of it was the style - I've been mostly watching more modern musicals lately, and it was hard to switch gears into something old school. And part of it was that the story was pretty depressing - a struggling writer who thinks he's lost his chance of making it, and a fading actress who thinks her terrible script is any good. As someone wrestling with creative issues and doubts, it hit kind of close to home.
But when the story took a turn for the gothic, I was suddenly much more interested.
I expected Norma and Joe to become entangled, but after her New Year's Eve party where he's the only guest, and her attempted self-harm to convince him to stay, it was really haunting to see the moment he just gives up and gives in to the fantasy.
I was not expecting the twist of her butler Max being her ex-husband and, even more creepily, her ex-director in her first film.
Knowing from the prologue that someone gets shot, I was pretty worried about Betty, and I was actually relieved that it was Joe. I loved that when he realised Norma has revealed the truth to Betty, he despairs of a future with Betty and tells her he prefers this life of luxury. It feels like he's deliberately driving her away to keep her safe, you know?
It was still shockingly cruel for Joe to tell Norma how much her script sucks and how forgotten she is. Her shooting him was narratively satisfying, and felt as inevitable as a Shakespearean tragedy.
The "ready for my close-up" line is iconic by now and not a surprise, but it was still an effective ending.
"Sunset Boulevard" - Tim Draxl as Joe Gillis
"As If We Never Said Goodbye" - Sarah Brightman as Norma Desmond
So when I heard about a new production - with Sarah Brightman! - I was there.
It was at the Sydney Opera House, in the Joan Sutherland Theatre, and tickets for this were pricey so I chose to sit right up the back. While I had a great view of the lavish sets and costuming, the faces of the performers were mostly blobs. But I was there for the singing, and nothing was wrong with the acoustics.
Sarah Brightman was the OG Christine in Phantom of the Opera, and after all these decades, she's still got it. It's pretty ironic that her character here is a silent film star who became irrelevant with the talkies, when her voice is incredible, while her expressions were lost on me in the back row.
The whole cast was excellent. But I had trouble engaging with the musical for a big chunk of it. Part of it was the style - I've been mostly watching more modern musicals lately, and it was hard to switch gears into something old school. And part of it was that the story was pretty depressing - a struggling writer who thinks he's lost his chance of making it, and a fading actress who thinks her terrible script is any good. As someone wrestling with creative issues and doubts, it hit kind of close to home.
But when the story took a turn for the gothic, I was suddenly much more interested.
I expected Norma and Joe to become entangled, but after her New Year's Eve party where he's the only guest, and her attempted self-harm to convince him to stay, it was really haunting to see the moment he just gives up and gives in to the fantasy.
I was not expecting the twist of her butler Max being her ex-husband and, even more creepily, her ex-director in her first film.
Knowing from the prologue that someone gets shot, I was pretty worried about Betty, and I was actually relieved that it was Joe. I loved that when he realised Norma has revealed the truth to Betty, he despairs of a future with Betty and tells her he prefers this life of luxury. It feels like he's deliberately driving her away to keep her safe, you know?
It was still shockingly cruel for Joe to tell Norma how much her script sucks and how forgotten she is. Her shooting him was narratively satisfying, and felt as inevitable as a Shakespearean tragedy.
The "ready for my close-up" line is iconic by now and not a surprise, but it was still an effective ending.
"Sunset Boulevard" - Tim Draxl as Joe Gillis
"As If We Never Said Goodbye" - Sarah Brightman as Norma Desmond
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