Set for a Closeup
London’s newly revived ‘Sunset Boulevard’ starring the legendary actress — as well as 50 musicians — is hoping to make the leap to Broadway this spring
FIRE up the klieg lights — it looks like Norma Desmond is returning to Broadway.
A push is on to bring a celebrated British revival of “Sunset Boulevard,” starring Glenn Close, to the Palace Theatre for 20 weeks starting in January. The production comes from London’s English National Opera, where it opened to raves this past spring.
What makes the prospect of a Broadway run daunting is the size of the orchestra — at least 50 musicians playing one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s lushest scores, including two sensational show-stoppers, “With One Look” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye.”
Fifty musicians don’t come cheap, but everyone, including Lloyd Webber, agrees that the only way to do the show is with the full orchestra.
Crunching the numbers are producers Paul Blake and Mike Bosner, who have a big hit in New York and London with “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.”
They happened to be in London in the spring working on “Beautiful” when a friend invited them to see “Sunset Boulevard.”
“We just flipped over it,” Bosner tells me. “It gives you new respect for Andrew’s music. And Glenn was sensational. I turned to Paul and said, ‘I feel like I’m seeing Ethel Merman for the first time.’ ”
Blake laughs. “Well, I did see Ethel Merman in ‘Gypsy,’” he says. “And Carol Channing in ‘Hello, Dolly!’ And Robert Preston in ‘The Music Man.’ And Glenn is giving that kind of performance.”
Close won a Tony as Norma Desmond in 1995. Lloyd Webber picked up a Tony for Best Score, and “Sunset Boulevard” won Best Musical. But although the production racked up nearly 1,000 performances, it never returned its $20 million capitalization. “Sunset Boulevard” was the last of the multimilliondollar British spectacles that held sway over Broadway in the 1980s and early ’90s.
Should it return, Lloyd Webber — whose “School of Rock,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Cats” are on the boards — will have four shows on Broadway at the same time.
I think this score is one of his best; it’s the reason the English National Opera revived the show. The orchestra was onstage, the actors were in costumes, and there was choreography. Missing was the gigantic set, including Desmond’s Beverly Hills mansion.
Blake and Bosner hope to re-create the London production at the Palace, which will be empty after “An American in Paris” closes in October.
“The Palace fits the bill perfectly,” says Blake. “It’s the right size and it looks like Norma Desmond could have lived there.”
The Nederlanders, who own the theater, are planning a renovation that entails raising the auditorium several stories to make room for ground-level retail space. But that project isn’t due to begin for at least a year, and the Nederlanders would be happy to have a booking in the meantime.
“Lord, please help us make this work,” says Blake. “Glenn wants to do it, Andrew wants to do it, and we want to do it. It’s like the old Judy Garland movie — we have a barn and we want to put on a show. But the chapter missing in the Judy Garland movie is how to make the numbers work.”
If they can, Blake and Bosner are sure the audience will get its money’s worth. Blake recalls seeing the show in London, where a man sitting near him was “going crazy” for it.
“It looks like you’re having a good time,” Blake said to him.
“Oh, I am!” the man told Blake. “I saw the show 200 times in New York.”
“Two hundred times?” Blake said.
“I sold the T-shirts at the theater, so I saw most of the performances,” the man said. “And this is the best it’s ever been.” One producer says Close is giving an Ethel Merman-size performance.