STAGE Uplands goes Hollywood for Sunset car chase
What: Sunset Boulevard Where: McPherson Playhouse When: Opens 8 p.m. Friday, continues to May 14 Tickets: Starting at $21.75 (250-3866121 or www.rmts.bc.ca)
Did you notice a fleet of vintage cars zipping around Uplands recently? It might have been a scene from Sunset Boulevard.
The Victoria Operatic Society persuaded the local chapter of the Vintage Car Club of Canada to lend the vehicles so it could film a car chase for the musical.
About 8 a.m. on April 9, actors from Sunset Boulevard drove a 1947 Buick convertible, a 1951 Oldsmobile, a 1948 Dodge, a 1953 Lincoln, a 1938 Oldsmobile and a 1955 Citroen. They wheeled around the Lansdowne Road area of the Uplands for 30 minutes, with Victoria filmmaker Jason King capturing it on video.
This clip will be projected during Sunset Boulevard’s performances at the McPherson Playhouse. The scene depicts the character of Joe trying to elude car-repossession agents.
King originally hoped to get permission to borrow car-chase clips from the film version of Sunset Boulevard. However, Paramount Pictures turned him down.
He decided on Uplands as a location because it looks “a bit like the ritzy Hollywood streets with the lamp posts.”
For one scene, shot with a green-screen backdrop, actors sat in a parked car while others jumped up and down on the front bumper. The green screen allowed King to graft stock footage to the background, making it appear the automobile is zooming through 1950s Los Angeles.
“Overall it was a really amazing morning and the cars were just stunning. We had neighbours coming out to watch and it couldn’t have gone better,” King said.
No automobiles were driven at high speeds, he hastened to add. The cars’ owners were all given free tickets to Friday’s performance.
“We’re not sharing the edited scene with the car owners yet, so their first look will be when they come to see the show opening night.”
The Victoria Operatic Society production stars Francesca Bitonti as Norma Desmond and Jeffrey Stephen as Joe Gillis.
Sunset Boulevard is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1993 musical based on Billy Wilder’s 1950 film Sunset Blvd. The famous movie is remembered for Gloria Swanson — as Norma Desmond — lobbing such quotes as: “All right Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my closeup” and: “I am big ... it’s the pictures that got small.”
While not as well known as some of Webber’s other musicals, Sunset Boulevard did have runs on Broadway, London and Los Angeles. A revival of the show is now playing Broadway with Glenn Close as Norma Desmond.
Although successful, the original musical was expensive to stage due to its lavish sets. To combat this, the latest version with Close is more modest, with pared-down production values.
Heather-Elayne Day, the choreographer/director for the Victoria Operatic Society’s show, said her team is offering a “fully staged” interpretation with ambitious design elements.
For instance, Sunset Boulevard will feature a four-metre-high moveable staircase. There’s a large pipe-organ prop. Another prop replicates the front end of Desmond’s 1929 Isotta Fraschini automobile.
Costume-making is another big task, with a cast of 28 tackling 60 roles.
“This is definitely more challenging than usual. We had set designers struggling with how to feature a staircase which also had to hurl off into the wings in two bars of music,” Day said.
“We’re celebrating all our volunteers, that’s for sure. Just having people to come in to paint has been massive.”
Audience needn’t be familiar with the classic film to enjoy Sunset Boulevard, Day said.
However, she does offers a word of caution: Sunset Boulevard doesn’t have the feel-good ending typical of American musicals.
“It’s very dark. It’s not a happy ending for anybody. It’s about obsession,” Day said.
“All their dreams come true — but in the most horrible way.”