Boulevard of broken dreams
Trip into the Hollywood of the ’40s is well cast and evocatively staged, writes Annette Bayne
WITH its old-world Hollywood glamour and haunting tale of forgotten fame, Sunset Boulevard is a little slow to start, but builds into a romantic crescendo of energy and emotion.
An intimate version of the original Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, which was first staged in the West End 20 years ago, the show is based on the 1950s Billy Wilder film of the same name.
It is Hollywood 1949 and down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis (Jonathan Roxmouth), caught out on failed scripts and chased by bad debt, inadvertently stumbles into the life of Norma Desmond (Angela Kilian), “the greatest star of all” from the silent-film era. Past her prime and forgotten by her once adoring fans, she stubbornly be- lieves she is still as popular as ever and is preparing for her return to the pictures with a screenplay of her own.
Opportunity, persuasion and a little desperation lead to Joe helping Norma with her script. While doing so, he strikes up a working relationship with Betty Schaefer (Bethany Dickson) on his own script.
Romance blooms and tragedy follows.
It is a very Hollywood story, filled with the grand gestures expected from a screenplay, but the beauty is in its nuances, the elements of the story that cannot be captured in the synopsis, that are felt in the stirring music and seen in the interaction between the characters .
Kilian, as the grandly deluded Norma, is incredible. She has an air about her that demands your attention every time she steps on the stage, reminiscent of the great silent actresses. When she sings, you hold your breath, willing the song to continue. Norma sings of how she stole the pictures with one look and Kilian does exactly that. Her eyes must have their own lines in the script and often say so much more.
It could be said that Kilian steals this show with her looks and voice, if it were not for Roxmouth and, undeniably, James Borthwick, Norma’s ev- er-watchful butler and last great fan. Their musical performances match hers and all three are able to convey the sense of loss that is inherent in the story. They will break your heart a little before the curtain falls.
Dickson, seemingly one of the only down-to-earth characters under the bright lights, delights when paired with Roxmouth, particularly in their soaring declaration of love.
It is a story full of ghosts, the ghosts of youth and beauty, the
It is a story full of ghosts, the ghosts of youth and beauty, the fleeting dream of fame
fleeting dream of fame whose promise lurks in studio corners and whose memory flits across the ballroom floor, and the phantom of missed opportunity and one-off chances.
In his evocative staging, director Paul Warwick Griffin has magnificently captured this dreamlike feeling. The intimacy of Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre stage, the billowing lace curtain upstage that acts both as a movie screen and a screen to separate different settings, combined with set designer Denis Hutchinson’s masterful lighting, all add to this sense.
The silence of Norma’s mansion with its imposing staircase is matched by the busy, brightly lit Hollywood scenes. These are well staged, full of fluff and feathers, hope and dreams. But the ghosts that haunt Norma lurk here too, their presence a reminder to the pretty young things to keep moving and keep dreaming.
The actors who inhabit these haunts have been well cast, are very versatile and able to slip into the Hollywood stereotypes but still show beautiful glimpses of real people looking for a new way to dream.