SUNSET BOULEVARD | STAGE REVIEW
*****
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff,
Tues 27 Feb.
Greetings all you cool cats and kittens and star-struck devotees. This is your favourite, in-the-know columnist with all the gossip that’s not fit to print, and have I got a scoop for you! Guess who Andrew Lloyd-Webber went and made a decadently, over-the-top musical about? Norma Desmond! “Who’s she?” you ask. Only the greatest silent-screen goddesses the world has ever seen. Oh dear, only us old-timers remember her now. This stage version of Sunset Boulevard with music by Lloyd-Webber, and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, takes you behind the camera into the lives of former Hollywood royalty and a lowly hack that intersect into a car crash that you can’t help but ogle from behind your sunglasses.
Danny Mac plays Joe Gillis, the down-and-out beefcake of a writer who’s served up to Norma on a platter, reduced to becoming a gigolo. Newspaper headlines coming back to you now? He’s the narrator of this flashback of faded glory and desperation in Old Hollywood. Stumbling upon Norma’s creepy and decaying mansion on the boulevard in the early hours, he gets tangled up in the diva’s spider web of illusion and obsession. This gossip columnist/reviewer wasn’t sure the actor – known mainly for his role in TV’s Hollyoaks and Dancing With The Stars – was up to the demands of being in almost every scene of a musical, but he shows he’s more than just a pretty face and a six-pack. Pick your tongues off the floor boys and girls. Mee-oow.
Ria Jones stops time when she takes centre-stage in the role she originated in 1991 at a Lloyd-Webber workshop. And didn’t she just earn raves when – in a classic understudy move that will probably come second to Shirley MacLaine’s rise to fame in The Pajama Game – she saved the day and filled in for an ailing Glenn Close in last year’s production of Sunset Boulevard.
You’ll be enthralled by her portrayal as the egotistical, sad and delusional former first lady of Paramount Studio. She dares you to take your eyes off her when she descends that majestic staircase. Sitting with Gillis watching her old films lost in her lunacy and telling of the dawn of celluloid with the song New Ways To Dream, you’ll forgive the vain Norma anything. And back in her element on the old soundstage with the spotlight upon her once again, Jones’ rendition of As If We Never Said Goodbye is utterly divine my dears, showcasing the best of Lloyd-Webber, Black and Hampton. There’s also no complaints about the ensemble, shown to their best advantage in This Time Next Year, though there aren’t that many dance numbers in the show. No matter. To be catty, we’re all really here to see Jones, isn’t that so?
Under Nikolai Foster’s direction, there’s not a dull moment. No Act I better than Act II or vice-versa. Even though this production is two-hours plus, trust me ardent theatregoers, the time positively flies! Oodles of credit going to set and costume designer Colin Richmond, a master craftsman with an eye for detail. Whether you’re at chez Desmond, Schwab’s (Drugstore for you tourists) or Paramount, you’re transported to the City of Angeles where it’s always Lights! Camera! Action!
Unlike some, this touring company doesn’t skimp on anything. You can see that money honey, all up on the stage, with a marvelous 16-piece orchestra. If you have the chance, make a date to pay a visit to 10086 Sunset Boulevard to experience a grandiose musical where everyone wants their close-up. Till the next exclusive dear readers…
words RHONDA LEE REALI
