Theater

[laffite]

Julian Glover performs , not reads. Sheesh

[media][/

[HoldenIsHere]

Once
You won't remember
If you said Hollywood, hers was the face you'd think of.

Her face
On every billboard
In just a single week she'd get ten thousand letters . . .

It has been announced that Jamie Lloyd’s acclaimed London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Blvd will be transferring to Broadway some time in 2024!
In addition to Nicole Scherzinger reprising her role as Norma Desmond, the other three principal members of the London cast will be going with her to New York: Tom Francis as Joe Gillis, Grace Hodgett-Young as Betty Schaefer and David Thaxton as Max Von Mayerling.
(Some kind of deal must have been reached with Actors Equity.)

This is exciting news!
I'm especially interested in seeing David Thaxton as Max.

No dates or venue have been announced, but many are speculating that it will premiere in the fall.
I can't wait!

David Thaxton was great!

It's rumored that there's a cast recording of Jamie Lloyd's London Sunset Blvd revival in the works.
I hope the rumor turns out to be true!

In this revival the original key was restored to the end of "With One Look," the first big Norma Desmond song in the show, so audiences are hearing the final note of that song in the correct higher key for the first time since the world premiere production, which was also in London.
The key was modulated down two or three steps to accommodate Glenn Close in the American premiere production in Los Angeles. That's the production that ultimately transferred to Broadway, so we've been stuck with that awful modulation ever since.
Until now!



This time I'm staying.
I'm staying for good.
I'll be back where I was born to be.
With one look
I'll be me!

Exciting news about the cast recording and about the show transferring to Broadway.

Here's a recording of "With One Look" that Patti LuPone made that was played on BBC radio to promote the opening of the original production of SUNSET BLVD in 1993.

It's great that the original key of the song was restored for the revival.

[Swithin]

It will be interesting to see how Sunset Blvd. fares with the New York critics. In a normal season, an adventurous production could go either way, but I think critics are being a bit kinder these days, since Broadway has not fully rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. I think London is doing better, perhaps because theater is more in the DNA there.

I have to confess that, when I booked for Sunset in London, I had never heard of Nicole Scherzinger. When she stepped out on stage, I thought, well, that's Maila Nurmi. But Nicole won me over.

Here's a link to my thoughts, from another thread:

viewtopic.php?p=191100#p191100

[txfilmfan]

It will be interesting to see how Sunset Blvd. fares with the New York critics. In a normal season, an adventurous production could go either way, but I think critics are being a bit kinder these days, since Broadway has not fully rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. I think London is doing better, perhaps because theater is more in the DNA there.

I have to confess that, when I booked for Sunset in London, I had never heard of Nicole Scherzinger. When she stepped out on stage, I thought, well, that's Maila Nurmi. But Nicole won me over.

Here's a link to my thoughts, from another thread:

viewtopic.php?p=191100#p191100

On London's recovery, an additional thing that helps is that is just more affordable to attend theater there than in NYC. Although ticket prices are creeping up in London (and theater owners and producers there have adopted the same airline-style dynamic pricing strategies), the average West End ticket prices are quite a bit lower than Broadway. Still, there were articles last fall where prominent stars (I recall David Tennant) expressed concern that theatre was becoming too expensive there, too, especially when a big name is involved. The average ticket price in London is around £55 while Broadway's average is around $125.

The Gray Lady already bestowed the London production with a good review (and a "NYT Critic's Pick"), by Matt Wolf, shortly after it opened:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/thea ... evard.html

If it transfers with the same team intact, it should fare well with the NYT, at least.

[Swithin]

It will be interesting to see how Sunset Blvd. fares with the New York critics. In a normal season, an adventurous production could go either way, but I think critics are being a bit kinder these days, since Broadway has not fully rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. I think London is doing better, perhaps because theater is more in the DNA there.

I have to confess that, when I booked for Sunset in London, I had never heard of Nicole Scherzinger. When she stepped out on stage, I thought, well, that's Maila Nurmi. But Nicole won me over.

Here's a link to my thoughts, from another thread:

viewtopic.php?p=191100#p191100

On London's recovery, an additional thing that helps is that is just more affordable to attend theater there than in NYC. Although ticket prices are creeping up in London (and theater owners and producers there have adopted the same airline-style dynamic pricing strategies), the average West End ticket prices are quite a bit lower than Broadway. Still, there were articles last fall where prominent stars (I recall David Tennant) expressed concern that theatre was becoming too expensive there, too, especially when a big name is involved. The average ticket price in London is around £55 while Broadway's average is around $125.

The Gray Lady already bestowed the London production with a good review (and a "NYT Critic's Pick"), by Matt Wolf, shortly after it opened:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/thea ... evard.html

If it transfers with the same team intact, it should fare well with the NYT, at least.

Ticket prices in London, in the West End at least, have gone up a lot. The top in the Olivier/National is now £99, still cheaper than the top West End price, but much higher than it used to be. That's partly to subsidize the cheap seats for under 30s.

Seats for Long Day's Journey Into Night with Brian Cox are going for £150, and they've instituted all sorts of special packages which cost more. Sometimes you have to buy those packages (lounge access, "luxury" ice cream)" to get the seat. (The ATG group is the worst offender.) I paid about £90 for my fairly front aisle stalls seat for Sunset, but as the sales increased, those seats reached several hundred pounds.

The best value (both in terms of price and quality) tends to be on the fringe: the Almeida, Hampstead, Royal Court, Young Vic, etc.

I just purchased a £40 seat (excellent stalls) to see Matt Smith in An Enemy of the People in the West End for March. They added those cheaper seats because the higher prices weren't selling that well, despite the fanatical Smith fans. But I now see that a very similar seat to mine, on the same evening, is £175!

Btw, Matt Wolf is the London-based critic for The NY Times. His take is not always reflected in the review of The NY Times Broadway reviewer. The days of Ben Brantley taking theater trips to London are over. If Brantley liked something in London, it was a pretty safe bet that he would like it when he reviewed the New York production as well.

[txfilmfan]

Btw, Matt Wolf is the London-based critic for The NY Times. His take is not always reflected in the review of The NY Times Broadway reviewer. The days of Ben Brantley taking theater trips to London are over. If Brantley liked something in London, it was a pretty safe bet that he would like it when he reviewed the New York production as well.

Thanks. Did not realize that.

[Swithin]

Btw, Matt Wolf is the London-based critic for The NY Times. His take is not always reflected in the review of The NY Times Broadway reviewer. The days of Ben Brantley taking theater trips to London are over. If Brantley liked something in London, it was a pretty safe bet that he would like it when he reviewed the New York production as well.

Thanks. Did not realize that.

Speaking of Matt Wolf, a few years ago I went to a Platform Discussion at the National Theatre in London. It was during the run of Angels in America. Wolf was moderating a discussion between Nathan Lane and Russell Tovey. That's where I got my DNA line from. In response to one of Wolf's questions, Lane replied:

"I don't know if theater is built into our DNA as it is here." It's at about the 39:30 point in this discussion, which you may find interesting.

[txfilmfan]

Btw, Matt Wolf is the London-based critic for The NY Times. His take is not always reflected in the review of The NY Times Broadway reviewer. The days of Ben Brantley taking theater trips to London are over. If Brantley liked something in London, it was a pretty safe bet that he would like it when he reviewed the New York production as well.

Thanks. Did not realize that.

Speaking of Matt Wolf, a few years ago I went to a Platform Discussion at the National Theatre in London. It was during the run of Angels in America. Wolf was moderating a discussion between Nathan Lane and Russell Tovey. That's where I got my DNA line from. In response to one of Wolf's questions, Lane replied:

"I don't know if theater is built into our DNA as it is here." It's at about the 39:30 point in this discussion, which you may find interesting.

I enjoy anything Mr. Tovey is in!

[HoldenIsHere]

The sweetie and I have been planning to make another visit to New York City (we were on vacation there two years ago) and are now thinking we should time our next visit so we can see Jamie Lloyd's SUNSET BLVD revival on Broadway.

I fell in love with the score as a kid when I discovered the World Premiere Recording with Patti LuPone as Norma Desmond in the Musicals section of my local library. I must have borrowed that CD at least 10 times!
Some have said that Patti LuPone didn't play Norma "crazy enough," but I disagree. Norma still thinks she is an ingenue and would present herself in a girlish manner as LuPone does. So many of the women who have played Norma (***cough*** Glenn Close) have chosen an on-the-nose approach with the camp craziness.
With Patti LuPone's Norma, you get the feeling that she truly believes she could pull off playing 16-year-old Salome.

The "Salome" number is actually one of my favorite parts of the score.
She toys with Herod
Till he's putty in her hands.
He rails tormented
Through the desert sands!

I also love the "Journey To Paramount." which is just before one of the big songs "As If We Never Said Goodbye."

[jamesjazzguitar]

I actually think Gloria Swanson's performance in the movie misses the opportunity to make Norma a little more human and less vampirish. To see a few traces of the Norma who does the Chaplin impersonation--smart, funny, talented--or at least someone who once was all those things--would make a richer character. To use a Bette Davis analogy, Norma can have moments of Margo Channing until she is finally as bonkers as Baby Jane.

"As If We Never Said Goodbye" doesn't have any suggestion of camp or craziness in the lyrics or the music, which is why it is often excerpted by singers.

Related to your point about making "Norma a little more human", for me a key scene is where Norma and Joe are watching some of her silent films. We start to see more of the human side of Norma, but only for a few seconds, before it become the more vampish Norma. Thus, I view this as a missed opportunity. Wilder could have really explore how 'human' she was back-in-those-days (vulnerable, seeking love and acceptance from those close to her, ,,, i.e. all those things that make us 'human'), and how that being behind her, she became what she was today (but wishing for Joe to help her regain that, and not just fame and love from the general public, which becomes too much of the focus).

This relates to the solid point about more Margo Channing: Margo had the fame. She had the love of the general public, but at this stage of her life that wasn't enough. While Margo almost loses the love of Bill, she does regain her footing.

[Swithin]

Double Feature opened at the Hampstead Theatre a few days ago, to mixed reviews, some very good, some not so good. The play conflates two stories: one about Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren during the making of Marnie; the other about Michael Reeves and Vincent Price during the making of Witchfinder General. I might try to get to it when I'm in London next month. I love the Hampstead Theatre, and the subject of the play is fascinating.





https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/a ... e-20240220

https://theartsdesk.com/theatre/double- ... ds-enemies

[HoldenIsHere]

So far no specific dates have been announced for the Broadway run of Jamie Lloyd's revival of SUNSET BLVD that is transferring from London.

[Swithin]

Imelda Staunton will be doing Hello, Dolly! in London this summer.

https://hellodollyldn.com

Fiddler on the Roof will be playing at the Open Air Theatre, Regents Park.

https://openairtheatre.com/production/f ... n-the-roof

So a mini-celebration of 1964 Broadway musicals. They just need to add Funny Girl, 110 in the Shade, and High Spirits.

1964 was a great year for musicals. Even the flops had something to offer, like this musical adaptation of Volpone with Bert Lahr:

[Feinberg]

I'm not sure why they are ding this as I suspect it will probably follow the screenplay pretty closely ....


On sale now! STEVE COOGAN stars in the first stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick's iconic film Dr. Strangelove!
Dr Strangelove
ON SALE NOW!
Seven-time BAFTA Award winner Steve Coogan stars in the first ever adaption of Stanley Kubrick’s iconic DR. STRANGELOVE, as the world premiere stage production prepares for a strictly limited run at London’s Noël Coward Theatre from 8 October 2024.
Dr Strangelove
This comedy masterpiece, about a rogue U.S. General who triggers a nuclear crisis, is brought to the stage by acclaimed, BAFTA and Emmy Award winner Armando Iannucci and Olivier Award winner Sean Foley, in an explosively funny satire of mutually assured destruction.
FIND YOUR SEATS