Sunset Boulevard is playing in Sydney for the next eight weeks. Since this Australian adaptation opened in Melbourne a couple of months ago, there’s plenty of people who have had plenty to say about the casting, the ticket prices, and now the sudden departure of Opera Australia’s artistic director. What you do have is an incredibly talented group of people belting out one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best musicals, in one the most fabulous venues in the world, with a stage set that’s second-to-none, and a life-imitating-art sprinkling of backstage drama. And if that’s not enough reasons to go, you have the opportunity to catch one of the most iconic performers of a generation whose connection to the original work is unparalleled, and a new offer of $175 for two A Reserve tickets for a good proportion of the week. As Ashleigh Rubenach told assembled media this week, “Performing alongside the iconic Sarah Brightman and the amazing Robert Grubb is definitely building up the memory banks.” Tim Draxl described it as, “A dream come true.” Sarah Brightman for her part told us she’s, “thrilled to be here and can’t wait to be shown around the city.” What’s not to love.
Sunset Boulevard is all about old versus new Hollywood, set in a time when ‘talkies’ were modern, and the stars of the silent screen were cast out of the movie studios, their stars in the firmament of fame abruptly knocked out of the sky. As is made reference to in the score, often these screen sirens were children when they started out, and never having known another kind of adult life, so then, as now, it was all a fertile ground for a descent into madness. The original film by Billy Wilder, that Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard is based on, apparently had a few real life previous movie idols as inspiration, and the character of Norma Desmond is said to have been 17 at the height of her power, notably in the song Surrender that Cecil B. DeMille, wonderfully portrayed by Paul Hanlon, sings about her.
Starring Sarah Brightman as Norma Desmond,
Tim Draxl as Joe Gillis,
Robert Grubb as Max von Mayerling
Ashleigh Rubenach as Betty Shearer,
Jarrod Draper as Artie Green,
Paul Hanlon as Cecil B. DeMille,
Silvie Paladino as Norma Desmond Alternate
and the Ensemble cast from Opera Australia.
NOW ON IN SYDNEY
In the Joan Sutherland Theatre
Sydney Opera House
28 August – 1 November 2024
Norma’s need for fame is matched only by aspiring writer Joe Gillis’s need for money, and the plot allows those twin demons to ride roughshod over the main character’s lives. Sarah Brightman has not performed in musical theatre for 30 years and it’s enough of a treat to catch her in the flesh, but her interpretation of the role is fascinating and leaves a lot to consider. She is not so much belting Broadway broad, more madly fragile, with the operatic soprano range that you would expect from her extraordinary career. And the more you think about, it’s probably a closer portrayal of what a woman like Norma Desmond would be like. Brightman’s singing voice has led the way for her throughout her life, and probably in a departure for her, and especially into the second act, we get to hear more of her speaking voice in the songs and it’s magical. Her rendition of As If We Never Said Goodbye isn’t Glenn Close, Patty LuPone or Betty Buckley, it’s Sarah Brightman, and it was moving and brilliant and poignant and brought the house down. In fact, Brightman has said that she can feel some of her voice in the original music, and Lloyd- Webber and her were maybe still together when he started the writing process, but whatever the timing, the two’s artistic and professional collaborations have continued long past their marriage. On the slots that Brightman isn’t performing, Silvie Paladino is the Norma Desmond Alternate and by all accounts she’s a knockout.
Tim Draxl more than meets the other half. His rich tones and theatrical chops make him look very at home on the Opera House stage, and he carries the desperation and cynicism of Joe Gillis into all his singing and his scenes with Brightman. His title song Sunset Boulevard was a showstopper and a rival to any other rendition. We also get to see the version of Joe that the character wishes he could be all the time, in the romantically yearning scenes with his love interest Betty Shearer, played pitch perfectly by Ashleigh Rubenach. The two star- crossed lovers bounce of each other happily, and Rubenach and Draxl have a brilliantly choreographed and executed dance scene when they fly around the stage reminiscent of a Fred and Ginger number, and still manage to start singing immediately after countless turns.
Robert Grubb is playing Max, the first husband of Norma Desmond now locked in an elaborate charade attempting to maintain Norma’s dignity and cling onto his own past. Grubb first played the role nearly 30 yrs ago in Melbourne, in the same hit production that featured Debra Byrne and Hugh Jackman, and as he told Irresistible, “It feels amazing to be playing the role again. I feel I’m much better suited to it now.” He told the assembled press, “Like a fine wine, I’ve settled into the role.”
The ensemble cast is really active and energetic through the whole performance and hold the principals up, providing tightly choreographed light relief in Let’s Do Lunch, The Lady’s Paying and A Little Suffering.
With director Paul Warwick Griffin (Tell Me on a Sunday, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Evita) the award winning Morgan Large (Sister Act, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) has designed a brilliant set that delivers all the haunting glamour of stardom in decline. Lots of dark corners and lacy dressings give a Miss Haversham feel to Norma’s home without the cobwebs. Mark Henderson’s lighting and George Reeve video projections create a great deal of dynamism on stage, car headlights in a chase leaping off the set and the replication of a movie camera’s pull out of a shot is ingenious. More reasons to catch it while you can.
