The audience stood and cheered when this performance of Sunset Boulevard had finished, but what was it that had triggered them off? Let’s analyse what they had just witnessed and find out what they were excited about.

This musical was based on the film directed by Billy Wilder in 1950 about the latter years in the life of Norma Desmond, a faded Hollywood silent movie star star, and the story line for the musical differs little apart from the added musical accompaniment. The time spans from 1949 to 1950, when the American film industry was running at full tilt. Not a time not to be part of it and a delusional Norma Desmond, whose star had waned, was not. She thought her luck had changed when a young hack screen writer happened to drop by her house and stayed to work on a script that she had which she was sure would interest C B DeMille, the film director, the trouble was the script was no good and de Mille had lost faith in Desmond.

Don Black and Christopher Hampton’s book and lyrics are fine, but the music by Andrew Lloyd Webber has very few memorable numbers to commend it, apart from “Surrender”. The show starts with a weak, noisy unmemorable number which give the ensemble no chance to shine, although they did their best. Next we see Desmond, played with great acting skill by Faith Brown, at the foot of a spiral staircase where she is joined by Joe Gillis, played with great feeling by Earl Carpenter. Neither actor has an outstanding voice, but this does not detract from the plot. As the story progresses musical numbers come and go, many repeated, with one or two remaining in the memory when the curtain comes down. A singing voice that outshone the rest was that of Michael Bauer who played Max Von Mayerling, Desmond’s faithful ex husband and one time director, now reduced to butler. Ceri Ann Gregory, who played Gillis’s girlfriend, also showed her musical background to produce some fine singing. The only ensemble number of note was when Miss Desmond was being given her medication, when the girls really went to town with “A Little Suffering”. Too many reprises of too few musical numbers became very noticable towards the end of the show. The script held this show together as it did when a film.

The Rob Howell’s set, although grey, seemed right with a spiral staircase that travelled 360 degrees during the different scenes to become the centre piece in each and his costumes fitted the period. Douglas Whyte gave his all to directing the orchestra. Resident Director Russell Labey brought everything together to make a memorable evening for a full house of theatre goers. © BA

“Sunset Boulevard” is in Hull from the 10th of October until the 27th of October, 2001.