REVIEW: Sunset Boulevard

One of the most eagerly-awaited Broadway productions this fall is the revival of Sunset Boulevard (now at the St. James Theatre), which took London by storm, winning seven Olivier awards. Most of that production has come intact, including the leads (especially Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond) and the director, Jamie Lloyd.  While it’s still Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music and has the same plot as the Billy Wilder’s 1950 film (about Norma Desmond, an aging film star, and Joe Gillis, a hungry young screenwriter), significantly it’s branded as a production of The Jamie Lloyd Company, which means it’s his radically reimagined vision that we see.

For starters, the stage is bare of scenery, relying on lighting and movement of the actors and dancers. Handheld video cameras surround the actors, which are seen in massive closeups behind them (woe betide any facial blemishes). This device (perhaps even more than Ivo van Hove’s use in the 2020 West Side Story revival) makes it a true multimedia production – and symbolizes Norma’s larger-than-life quality.  After all, when Joe recognizes Norma, he says, “Aren’t you Norma Desmond? You used to be in pictures. You used to be big.” And she famously replies, “I AM big. It’s the pictures that got small” – with added reverb on Scherzinger’s voice for emphasis.

It's Scherzinger’s performance that dominates production. A former member of the punk rock Pussycat Dolls, she’s garnered substantial theater and television credits, but it’s this career-changing tour de force that the audience relishes. She has the graceful presence of a dancer, especially with her hands, and a trained voice that comes inexorably from within. When she sings “With One Look” early in the show, the audience erupts in an ovation and even more so in the second act after “As If We Never Said Goodbye.” Much of Webber’s score is typically pedestrian, but those two indelible performances are worth the price of admission.

My wife, who has a music background and decades of theater experience, contends that it’s one of the best musical theater performances she’s ever seen. I’d say I admired it immensely, though I wasn’t equally transported. In part, that’s due to the direction, which, while extremely imaginative, is emotionally distancing. It all depends on how you buy into Jamie Lloyd’s vision. Lonny Price’s 2017 production of Sunset Boulevard had a more utilitarian setting than the overstuffed original. Lloyd’s is starker still.  The use of black and white costumes suggests silent movies, where Norma Desmond was a star (with contrasting red for the violent ending), and the shadows and light convey film noir. Moreover, there are set pieces when the principals remain static onstage, as if part of a Greek tragedy.

Some people argue that Scherzinger is too young for the part, but she’s virtually the same age as Glenn Close, who played Norma in the original 1994 Broadway production (as well as the 2017 revival), and Gloria Swanson was all of 50 in the original film. Close did appear older and more worn than Scherzinger, but her voice seemed thin for the role. Scherzinger has both acting and dancing chops and a voice that can carry the full range of the material. Among the supporting cast, Tom Francis as an appealing Joe Gillis and David Thaxton as Norma’s butler-cum-chauffeur Max have strong voices and stage presence worthy of their Olivier Awards.   

The ensemble includes dancers providing much-needed movement – in particular, the choreography in the second act as Norma descends into madness.  Hannah Yuh Chamberlain also deserves special credit as the sinuous dancer mirroring Scherzinger as the young Norma. Ultimately, the focus remains on Scherzinger, who, like a bloody Medea in the end, cries out deludedly, “And now, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my closeup.” Aided by the video projection, you can’t get more closeup than that, but Scherzinger has already reached out to grab the audience.

photo by Marc Brenner

Cynthia Cochrane