As a note, I have never seen this musical performed, this is solely a reflection of my thoughts on the recently released cast album.
For me, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber’s discography is a mixed bag. I’m a lover of “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Evita,” and dabble with “Cats” and “Jesus Christ Superstar,” but I actively dislike “Cinderella” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” This is why I was so hesitant to listen to Webber’s newest release, a live recording of his “Sunset Boulevard” revival. What finally won me over was actress Rachel Zegler’s Halloween Instagram post in which she dressed up as a character from the show.
I’m beyond glad that I faced my fear and gave this recording a chance.
Set in the Golden Age of Hollywood, “Sunset Boulevard” is about the complex and manipulative world of film as shown through the relationship of aspiring screenwriter Joe (Tom Francis) and forgotten silent film actress Norma Desmond (Nicole Scherzinger). The two’s chance meeting in the latter’s Sunset Boulevard mansion kicks off a series of unstoppable events fueled by a desire for success and the inevitable game that is fame, which come to a head disastrously and violently.
While the cast album features a large ensemble cast (a stunning ensemble of rich voiced individuals), the success of the show is largely dependent on the performance and chemistry of its leads. If these voices and actors aren’t dynamic, the story stalls and loses its believability. Casting is the crux of the show.
Francis is a star. Scherzinger is nothing short of a revelation.
The opposition with which they play their characters creates a stunning contrast. Francis approaches Joe with a sort of hard-boiled edge. Joe is cynical, quippy, and sharp on delivery. His Transatlantic accent imbues him with rough charm and gives him the appearance of perpetually mocking those around him.
Scherzinger, on the other hand, plays Norma with an aching vulnerability. Her scenes are almost painful to endure because of their rawness. Norma, it feels, wears her heart on her sleeve – always near her breaking point and yet unable to let the facade drop.
Their scenes together always feel fresh and captivating.
This is particularly impressive because, unlike the other musicals I’ve written about, “Sunset Boulevard” is sung-through, meaning the entirety of the story is told through music with few to no scenes of spoken dialogue.
Occasionally, listening to a two-hour album can grow tedious without getting to experience the visual component of performance. This never occurred for me while listening to “Sunset Boulevard.”
Often, I found myself so entranced with the music and the performances that I would stop what I was doing just so I could listen closer. I was transported and arrested by the lush orchestrations and the nuanced interpretations of Joe and Norma both.
Supporting characters Max (David Thaxton) and Betty (Grace Hodgett Young) add to the development of the story by adding a moral – or at least kindness – compass, to a story otherwise deprived of hope.
It is an audio feast, and one that demands the full attention – appreciation – of the listener.
Excitingly, the musical material of the show lives up to the capabilities of its actors, offering them vocal showcases as well as providing effective, flowing lyrics that communicate plot and emotion seamlessly.
Scherzinger’s first big solo “With One Look,” illustrates this, singing: “Yes, with one look / I put words to shame / just one look sets the screen aflame,” to represent Norma’s desires. Later, singing the phrase: “With one look / they’ll forgive the past / they’ll rejoice, I’ve returned at last,” to show her relationship with the others in the story.
The song is haunting and melodic, full of melancholy and visceral need.
Then come Joe’s songs, which are less about his relationship with other people and more about the powers that be in the world around him. In the title song “Sunset Boulevard,” Joe sings: “Sure I came here to make my name / wanted my pool, my dose of fame / wanted my parking space at Warner’s.” Then later, reflecting outside himself, sings: “Sunset Boulevard, tempting boulevard / waiting there to swallow the unwary. Dreams are not enough to win a war / out here they’re always keeping score.”
What happens in presenting the character’s divide in personality but their proximity in situation is that it draws parallels in the immobility of their situations. They may be facing differing circumstances, and the details of their constraints vary, but they find themselves oppressed by the same industry. Joe can’t break in, and Norma can’t re-enter.
They’re both near enough to look in, but never close enough to join.
Through the story, their attempts to achieve Hollywood assimilation through each other crumbles as their ambitions outweigh their relationships with others. Eventually, they isolate to the point of only having one another – a perilous position for both as their dreams rest entirely on one other person.
The crash, then, feels inevitable. Joe and Norma were never sustainable, they were both stars that would’ve burned out. The tragedy is that their stars collided and burned each other in the process.
In spite of this falling out, and the casual cruelty Joe and Norma are capable of, they are also uniquely sympathetic.
The breakdown of their lives doesn’t feel satisfying. It’s not cathartic, it doesn’t feel like justice even though it’s the natural – maybe only conclusion – to their story. It’s saddening as a listener to realize they will never achieve what they set out to do.
As an audience member, there’s a desire to reach out and rewind the clock for them, to fix the mistakes with the hope that one day there can be a happy ending on Sunset Boulevard.