Sunset Boulevard – a failing screenwriter meets a forgotten star (Grand Opera House Trust Summer Youth Production until Saturday 20 July)

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1993 musical adaptation of Billy Wilder’s 1950 film – with Don Black and Christopher Hampton on lyrics and dialogue – may not have that many tunes that jumped off the stage and into musical playlists, but Sunset Boulevard’s tale of Norma Desmond and her need for audience validation still rings true in 2024 world filled with social media influencers wanting to be liked.

The Grand Opera House Trust’s annual summer youth production is a slightly slimmed down affair this year with only 71 actors on stage and an orchestra of 20 in the pit under the direction of Tony Finnegan and the baton of Wilson Shields.

For anyone not familiar with the outline of the plot ... Joe Gillis is a budding but bruised screenwriter whose star is waning and whose car is under threat of repossession. To evade the chasing bailiffs following him on the way home from the studio, he pulls into the driveway of a large property on Sunset Boulevard and finds himself in the once sumptuous home of a silent film star Norma Desmond who is firmly in the sunset of her career. (“I am big: it’s the pictures that got small!” is the best line in the script.) Drawn into her fragile and forlorn world, Joe is persuaded to edit her opus maximum, a script for a silent movie version of Salome, in which Norma will play the lead role, despite being twice the character’s age. Meanwhile back at the studio, a talented script editor Miss Betty Schaefer thinks there’s merit in one of Joe’s ideas, and behind Norma’s back, the pair begin to shape the script. Inevitably, the love triangle of Betty–Joe–Norma must confront each other to create the dramatic denouement.

While a little under-powered in the duets, Conor Cox brings his fine voice and good stage presence to his lead role as Joe Gillis. He’s surrounded on stage by veterans of previous summer productions. Caroline McMichael ably fills the shoes of delusional Norma Desmond, delivering a stunning With One Look – the best-known song from the show – and a haunting As If We Never Said Goodbye. Norma’s difficulty in processing her loss of public support – somewhat disguised by loyal Max – picks up a theme familiar from Lloyd Webber’s Evita where Eva Perón faces a similar challenge: the absolute need to be adored by others.

Back on the film studio lot, Lucia McLaughlin demonstrates her strong vocals as Miss Schaefer, shifting her character from an unfiltered underling in act one to an emerging talent with confidence in her own ideas after the interval. Familiar to audiences for his ability to take on comic roles, Jackson Allen shows his versatility in this year’s role of Norma’s butler Max von Mayerling, acting the older part with formidable solemnity. And a nod to Daniel Campbell who plays film producer Cecil B. DeMille with a great performance of Surrender.

The revolving set pieces at each side of the stage serve the storytelling well, although the four-times-larger-than-life keys on the organ played by a Charlie Chaplin lookalike are cartoon-like. There’s something very pleasing about the full height studio doors sliding into place while the wall of the backlot drops down into place. The stage management choreography is strong, gliding beds, tables and a very life-like vehicle on and off with precision and without fuss.

The ensemble is vocally talented, and the individual members are sufficiently animated that they look like they’re in each scene for a reason: though their mass presence towards the front of the stage sometimes makes it difficult to spot from where the lead vocals are emanating. The flotilla of silent, grey starlets who occupy Norma’s drawing room give a sense of her past achievements, but are an awkward if technically invisible presence (although they do pass glasses of alcoholic beverages to Norma) when Joe observes that the house is quiet with “just me and Max and that organ”! Sadly the pet chimp doesn’t get to take a bow at the final curtain call. And the orchestra – a mix of professional and youth players – tend to overpower some of the vocals up on stage above them.

With less than two weeks of rehearsals, it’s a massive achievement to produce a coherent and tuneful production of Sunset Boulevard. This isn’t a musical where belting out a series of well known tunes is enough to carry the audience, and the cast prove themselves up to the challenge. There are still a handful of tickets left for the remaining performances in this short run (Friday evening, Saturday matinee and evening).

Photo credit: Neil Harrison

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