Sunset Boulevard is a rather poetic musical with lyrics and book by Christopher Hampton and Don Black, with music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It is based upon the 1950 film SunsetBoulevard, which garnered much critical praise, is considered to be a classic that is frequently cited among one of the most brilliant films of American cinema. The play debuted as a West End Production in London in 1993, at the renowned Adelphi Theatre, choreographed and directed by Bob Avian and Trevor Nunn, respectively. The musical has since been staged all across the US and Europe, and has now become a touring production that has been noted to enjoy long international runs, and has won three Tony Awards for Best Score, Best Book and Best Musical. It. The winning musical has become the subject of town talk, prompting its audience to get Sunset Boulevard tickets a second time.
The story centers round the character of Norma Desmond who was once a very famous celebrity in the era of silent screen, now living in the bygone days of glamour in a withering mansion located on a fabled street named Sunset Boulevard, in Los Angeles. Desmond is still caught up in the American myth of success associated with stardom, and even after the passing away of so many years, still clings closely to her dream of making the transition to sound movies. The dim star is accidentally crossed by Joe Gillis, a young screenwriter whom Desmond looks at as an opportunity to reopen the doors of big screen world to her. This is ensued by a series of events suggesting romance that eventually results in tragedy. There are several themes running as undercurrents beneath the main theme that questions the reality of success, fame and happiness. The thought provoking plot is basically dark and at times quite morbid, leaving the spectators with a host of introspective questions, which is the quality that points out the brilliance of the story.
The earliest efforts to stage Sunset Boulevard in a musical form were begun in 1952 when Gloria Swanson worked alongside cabaret singer Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley to create such an adaptation. It was in 1970, when music theatre composer Lloyd Webber watched the film, and was inspired to make what he visualized as the lead song of a theatrical version. Six years later Webber met with Hal Prince, the person with theatrical rights to the film, and roughly wrote an idea for the time when Desmund enters Paramount Studios. In 1991, Webber actively pursued the cause of creating the long inspired musical and approached Amy Powers to form lyrics for the play. Powers brought in Don Black with whom she wrote the lyrics of the musical version staged in Webber’s Sydmonton Festival in 1991. This very first version was not entirely a success, which prompted a revision written by Christopher Hampton and Don Black, which was performed the next year starring Patti LuPone as Norma. This turned out to win the crowds, and contained several catchy tunes that Webber took from Cricket, another one of his musicals that he co-wrote with Tim Rice.
When Sunset Boulevard was played in Adelphi Theatre, it received major success and critical acclaim for the dark musical composition and its supporting lyrical content the cynicism in which perfectly matched the mood of the play, as pointed out by the critic Frank Rich. The show ran for one thousand, five hundred and thirty times before closing in 1997, only to be staged in the productions of Los Angeles, Canada and Australia among other countries. Besides these productions, the musical has also been elevated to become a touring production in the US and UK.
Sunset Boulevard has received several prestigious awards and nominations from the likes of Laurence Olivier Awards, for which it was nominated twice, in 1994 and 1995, for Best Actress in a Musical. Its Broadway production has won five Tony Awards, while the London production of 2008 has received another two nominated for the LaurenceOlivier Awards in the categories of Best Actress in a Musical and Best Perfromance ina Supporting Role in a Musical. The show is devastatingly overwhelming and must be seen at least once, so get hold of those Sunset Boulevard tickets.
