I saw the new Jamie Lloyd production of Sunset Boulevard last night. I hadn't read this article or seen any publicity for it, so went in totally blind. Let's just say it wasn't my cup of tea. In my (not so humble) opinion It is a remarkable production. Remarkable in that it somehow manages to be both highly pretentious and high camp at the same time. It wants to be avant garde, but to me it just seems derivative. Take the stripped back, black & white, modern-dress sparseness of the Encores Chicago revival. Add in flat, subversive line readings of the St Ann's Warehouse Oklahoma! Throw in some outside broadcast live crosses ala Ivo Van Hove's production of Network, and of course the interminable live camera / video on stage gimmick that's been a personal bane of my theatre going experience for at least ten years (also something associated with Van Hove, but used by auteur directors worldwide. [SPOILER INCOMING] End with a generous splash of blood, again ala Van Hove's A View from the Bridge.
Norma's characterisation veers wildly from restrained Hollywood gothic to jack-in-a-box on speed. The show's climax is portrayed with such overwrought intensity that - because of the tonal whiplash of the preceding two hours - I honestly didn't know whether it was meant to be played for tragedy or parody. Joe, who is written as a wry, self-aware commentator has been directed to deliver every line with deadly seriousness - something also true for most of the cast. It doesn't help that for most of the blocking the actors have been directed not to even look at each other. And God forbid they should dare to crack a smile, even during the bows.
That's not to say it was all bad. Obviously everyone involved in the show is very talented and every element (including those I disliked) was executed with great competence. I just didn't respond to Jamie Lloyd's fundamental take on the material. The orchestra sounded fantastic, and everyone is in very good vocal form. (Nicole Sherzinger strained a bit on the high notes, being a bit shouty and distoring some of the vowel sounds, but then Andrew Lloyd Webber's diva roles are notoriously difficult to sing. Patti LuPone, the original Norma, has said: "Evita was the worst experience of my life. I was screaming my way through a part that could only have been written by a man who hates women.") David Thaxton makes a very good Max.
While I didn't care for the production, I'm still glad that directors are taking chances with what would otherwise be mainstream material in a way that can be illuminating. For instance, I had issues with the St Ann's Warehouse Oklahoma (which I saw in London a month or two ago) but I do think that it succeeded in foregrounding some of the problematic issues with the text that usually go ignored... like the fact that the hero basically kills someone and is held blameless by the community. I think a big swing and a miss (as I think this production of Sunset is) is often more commendable than playing it overly safe. But then, I unironically enjoyed Tom Hooper's movie of Cats.