Review: SUNSET BOULEVARD, Savoy Theatre

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

“With one look, I can break your heart…” So sings Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond in Jamie Lloyd’s stripped-back yet beautiful reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, a gothic, cautionary tale of Hollywood glitz and glamour and what happens when the cameras stop turning and the fans stop caring. And she can. And she does. Oh, how she does. She’s ready for her close-up, and she delivers.

The story of Sunset Boulevard is a simple one. Norma Desmond, once the ‘greatest star of all’, has become a recluse since the talkies came in and made her obsolete, and she lives in a grand mansion at 10086 Sunset Boulevard with her obsessed servant, Max. She desperately wants to get back to the studio, the one place she ever felt at home, so she pens a script – the story of Salome whose one wish is to have John the Baptist’s head on a silver tray – and hires struggling writer Joe Gillis to help her with it. Their messy love affair and Norma’s descent into madness mean that it all ends in tragedy – a bloody, violent end to a wretched life that was all about needing to be loved and adored.

Fans of previous productions will know that the sets were lavish, with a mansion that rose up all around the stage and a huge staircase that Norma could descend imperiously down, head encased in a turban. They’ll know the costumes were gorgeously rendered 1940’s and 1950’s styles, impeccably tailored and stunning to see.

This is not that. In fact, it’s pointless to even try to compare any previous productions of Sunset Boulevard to this one. Other than the characters and songs (which are sumptuous and soaring – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music and Don Black and Christopher Hampton’s lyrics are breathtaking; they make you feel something – they make you feel a whole lot), this may as well have been a different show altogether. It was a different show altogether. And that’s not a bad thing.

To begin with, there is no set. All the action takes place on an almost empty stage, and it’s the lighting and sound that do all the heavy lifting. Soutra Gilmour has given us something unique here, and unexpected. The emptiness echoes the emptiness in Norma’s life – and the lives of those trying to make it big in Hollywood – and is a perfect way to show just how meaningless it all is really. Gilmour also takes care of the costumes; everyone wears black and white shorts and t-shirts (with Norma Desmond in a silky nightdress), and there’s barely any colour to be seen throughout, which makes the bright red that appears at the end (and if you’ve seen any images of the show, you’ll know precisely what the red is) all the more striking.

The overall effect is one of an old black and white movie (there are even opening and closing credits), and the cameras that glide about on stage, giving us those incredibly detailed and unnerving close-ups add to that feeling. It’s clever in the way it confuses theatre with film, blending the two seamlessly and never letting the audience forget that this is all make believe, even if the performances are strikingly present.

Unique is certainly the word for Jamie Lloyd’s Sunset Boulevard, and if the minimal (missing) set and cameras weren’t enough of a clue, the opening to the second act will cement this production as something to remember. It begins with an overture, but rather than having the audience settle back into their seats and stare at nothing while the orchestra plays, we have those cameras again, and they’re trailing Joe (played by Tom Francis) as he wanders about backstage. He enters dressing rooms, walks down stairs, flirts with cast members, and points out some wonderful nods to the original show (a gun, Nicole Scherzinger in her dressing room wearing a turban, a monkey, a surprising guest appearance from Lloyd Webber himself…).

And then, as the overture gives way to the title song, ‘Sunset Boulevard’, Joe heads outside, through the stage door, and into the London streets. Singing. He walks around the front of the theatre, with security rather vigorously keeping confused pedestrians out of the way, and towards the main doors, stopping to admire a poster of Nicole Scherzinger, timed perfectly to coincide with the line, “And if I’m honest, I like the lady,” and then into the theatre itself, finally appearing on stage next to Norma to deliver the final powerful note. It is extraordinary, and, although bizarre with that fourth wall not just broken but completely demolished, it works perfectly. Strange, unnerving, brave, and bold, there is no going back or holding back from this point on.

Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond is like nothing else. Not quite stable from the start, she becomes a broken monster by the end, and yet she’s one you can understand – years of rejection when all she wanted was to be loved have driven her to this point, and it’s a powerful warning of what fame – and the desperate search for it – can do. Scherzinger’s voice is exceptional, and her performances of ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye’ and ‘With One Look’, when she is alone on the stage, are captivating. The audience is silent, open-mouthed, before bursting into the longest applause we’ve ever heard for a single song, mid-show.

Tom Francis as Joe Gillis is a strong leading man with a voice that commands attention. His character is not a likeable one – he’s a manipulator, taking Norma for all she’s worth and then some – but thanks to Francis’ charisma, Joe never turns into an all-out villain. Being able to see his facial expressions so closely on the huge screen at the back of the stage makes for a different kind of theatrical experience, one that an audience member wouldn’t normally get to see, and the fact that Francis can work so well in all media is impressive and important.

Norma’s back at last where she was born to be on the West End stage, and we wish she really was staying for good. But even if she’s only with her people out there in the dark for a little while, her spotlight will burn bright.

***** Five stars (isn’t enough)

Reviewed by: Lisamarie Lamb

Sunset Boulevard plays at the Savoy Theatre until 6 January 2024, with tickets available here.