ALSO PLAYING
The main point of turning a great movie into a musical should be to add something worthwhile to it. The original Sunset Boulevard had a whopper of a role in Norma Desmond, a long-forgotten, selfdeluding silent movie star, convinced she is still the greatest, and the character has been beefed up considerably in the Andrew Lloyd Webber version that ran at the Bord Gáis Theatre this week with some of his signature passionate music. Beefed up so much, however, that the other roles are diminished. What simple gestures can do on screen has to be spelt out loudly in the music: singing straightforward information just stretches the material, although the best of the script, taken straight from the movie, was usually spoken. When Norma is on stage it’s dramatic; when she’s not, it’s as if everyone else is treading water until she gets back. And Ria Jones sang and acted the pathetic, monstrous Norma with coloratura bravura. The are some great set pieces: Norma’s arrival back at the Paramount studios, where she becomes transformed under the lights as she sings As If We Never Said Goodbye: her proud recollection of her glory days, With Just One Look, and her final disintegration, when she’s totally lost to reality. Danny Mac, as downat-heel writer Joe Gillis, was an excellent contrast, singing and dancing, and his duet, Too Much in Love to Care, with love-interest Molly Lynch was one of the better songs. But I would have liked to hear more of Adam Pearce’s beautiful basso profundo as the adoring Max. Ran until November 25.