Sunset Boulevard is certainly one of the best scores Andrew Lloyd Webber has ever written. The composer admitted that it was his wish for a long time to make a musical based on the 1950 classic movie directed by Billy Wilder. After the successful 1991 revival of Joseph and the amazing Technicolor dreamcoat, Webber began working on Sunset together with Don Black, his long-time lyricist on "Tell me on a Sunday" and "Aspects of love" and Trevor Nunn as a director.

 The plot concerns Norma Desmond, once a big silent movie star, who, after 20 years of being out of the picture business, still believes to be "the greatest star of all".  She accidentally meets a 20 years younger unemployed writer Joe Gillis, who grabs the opportunity to edit the script she wrote for her big comeback to the screen, even though he knows it will never happen. That fact is also evident to Norma's butler, Max, but none of them has the heart to tell her the truth. Eventually Joe becomes Norma's lover and uses all the benefits that a life with an elderly and a rich woman has to offer. In the end, when Norma finds out that Paramount won't shoot her script and that Joe is in love with a young girl, she shoots him. When the police arrive at her house on Sunset Blvd, she is in a world of her own, completely unaware of who or where she is, thinking that she is in the studio making her comeback movie and says to all that she is "ready for her close-up".  The plot itself is very beautiful and original, showing what can become of a human being when one can't deal with the rejection or acceptance of the present.

When it became known that Andrew Lloyd Webber is going to make the musical based on this classical film, almost every woman in show business wanted the role of Norma, from Angela Lansbury to Meryl Streep or Liza Minnelli. However, the honor went to Patti LuPone, who became well-known in the musical theatre after she played the lead in the Broadway production of Evita in 1979. She delivered a stunning performance at Webber's Sydmonton festival in 1992, refusing to use the book on the stage, which, together with her amazing vocal abilities, secured her the role. The contract was signed stipulating that LuPone will play Norma in London as well as on Broadway.

The show opened in July 1993 in London. The reviews were mixed, as they usually are, but LuPone was fantastic in the role, as well as was Kevin Anderson who played Joe Gillis and Daniel Benzali in the part of Max. The LA premiere followed in December with Glenn Close playing the lead and Alan Campbell as Joe, with George Hearn in the role of Max. Rumors started that Paramount, who was co-producing the show with Webber, wanted Close to reprise her role on Broadway. Webber kept repeating that LuPone will take her Norma to New York, but in the end he yielded to pressures and canceled LuPone's contract, making Glenn Close her replacement. LuPone sued him and won a hefty out of court settlement. And this is the main problem with this recording: Glenn Close is singing the lead. Singing it BADLY. Unfortunately, Ms. Close's vocal abilities are more than limited as this recording is proving: she is struggling all the way through; unable to hit the notes and find her voice. But that's not all. She decided to overcome the lack of a good voice by screaming and sobbing the dialogue parts. The result was anything but satisfying: she is totally unconvincing. Her stage presence may be strong, as seen in the Lloyd Webber's Royal Albert Hall DVD, but the bottom line is she doesn't have a singing voice and range. She won a Tony only because Broadway had no other new musical to compete in the 1994 season. Patti LuPone's performance on the London cast recording is quite the opposite: she has a beautiful voice that can sing properly all the notes as it were intended and acts the dialogue in a very subtle and persuasive way.  In other words, Patti gives an impression she IS Norma, while Ms. Close sounds as if she is acting it BADLY. The bad choice of the leading lady certainly didn't help the American premiere. It was probably one of the main reasons why the show didn't last too long on Broadway.

The same thing can be said for Alan Campbell, who plays Joe Gillis on this recording, as he suffers from the same lack of good singing, not like the original Joe, who is superbly portrayed on the London cast recording by Kevin Anderson. Judy Kuhn as Betty and George Hearn as Max are good, but I like their London counterparts better.

As far as the score, it is simply beautiful. The rich and lush melodies perfectly bring the old Hollywood alive, and jazzy threads work perfectly. The themes tend to repeat themselves, but that is almost a Lloyd Webber standard, and here they form a nice whole so you don't notice it much. The two big numbers, "With one look" and "As if we never said goodbye", performed by Norma, are pure gold. Other melodies include "The greatest star of all", sung by Max; "The perfect year", Norma's hail to the New Year; "Sunset Boulevard" in which Joe sings about her new life with Norma; "Too much in love to care", a beautiful duet between Betty and Joe and many more. The orchestrations on this recording, however, sound a bit metal to me and aren't as good as in the London recording. The material here is revised and some new passages are added, together with a new company number, called "Every movie is a circus".

The score here is complete but that is not much of an asset due to the lousy cast performing it. Therefore I would advise the potential buyers to skip this recording without thinking and purchase the original /world premiere/ London cast with Patti LuPone. That 2 CD recording has all the musical numbers and music, with an edited version of dialogue; just like the original recording of The phantom of the opera. Believe me, I know the difference: I heard this American cast after the London one and was VERY disappointed. Only original recording will give you all the benefits of this show, while this one will only make you wonder.
Sunset Boulevard is certainly one of the best scores Andrew Lloyd Webber has ever written. The composer admitted that it was his wish for a long time to make a musical based on the 1950 classic movie directed by Billy Wilder. After the successful 1991 revival of Joseph and the amazing Technicolor dreamcoat, Webber began working on Sunset together with Don Black, his long-time lyricist on "Tell me on a Sunday" and "Aspects of love" and Trevor Nunn as a director. The plot concerns Norma Desmond, once a big silent movie star, who, after 20 years of being out of the picture business, still believes to be "the greatest star of all". She accidentally meets a 20 years younger unemployed writer Joe Gillis, who grabs the opportunity to edit the script she wrote for her big comeback to the screen, even though he knows it will never happen. That fact is also evident to Norma's butler, Max, but none of them has the heart to tell her the truth. Eventually Joe becomes Norma's lover and uses all the benefits that a life with an elderly and a rich woman has to offer. In the end, when Norma finds out that Paramount won't shoot her script and that Joe is in love with a young girl, she shoots him. When the police arrive at her house on Sunset Blvd, she is in a world of her own, completely unaware of who or where she is, thinking that she is in the studio making her comeback movie and says to all that she is "ready for her close-up". The plot itself is very beautiful and original, showing what can become of a human being when one can't deal with the rejection or acceptance of the present. When it became known that Andrew Lloyd Webber is going to make the musical based on this classical film, almost every woman in show business wanted the role of Norma, from Angela Lansbury to Meryl Streep or Liza Minnelli. However, the honor went to Patti LuPone, who became well-known in the musical theatre after she played the lead in the Broadway production of Evita in 1979. She delivered a stunning performance at Webber's Sydmonton festival in 1992, refusing to use the book on the stage, which, together with her amazing vocal abilities, secured her the role. The contract was signed stipulating that LuPone will play Norma in London as well as on Broadway. The show opened in July 1993 in London. The reviews were mixed, as they usually are, but LuPone was fantastic in the role, as well as was Kevin Anderson who played Joe Gillis and Daniel Benzali in the part of Max. The LA premiere followed in December with Glenn Close playing the lead and Alan Campbell as Joe, with George Hearn in the role of Max. Rumors started that Paramount, who was co-producing the show with Webber, wanted Close to reprise her role on Broadway. Webber kept repeating that LuPone will take her Norma to New York, but in the end he yielded to pressures and canceled LuPone's contract, making Glenn Close her replacement. LuPone sued him and won a hefty out of court settlement. And this is the main problem with this recording: Glenn Close is singing the lead. Singing it BADLY. Unfortunately, Ms. Close's vocal abilities are more than limited as this recording is proving: she is struggling all the way through; unable to hit the notes and find her voice. But that's not all. She decided to overcome the lack of a good voice by screaming and sobbing the dialogue parts. The result was anything but satisfying: she is totally unconvincing. Her stage presence may be strong, as seen in the Lloyd Webber's Royal Albert Hall DVD, but the bottom line is she doesn't have a singing voice and range. She won a Tony only because Broadway had no other new musical to compete in the 1994 season. Patti LuPone's performance on the London cast recording is quite the opposite: she has a beautiful voice that can sing properly all the notes as it were intended and acts the dialogue in a very subtle and persuasive way. In other words, Patti gives an impression she IS Norma, while Ms. Close sounds as if she is acting it BADLY. The bad choice of the leading lady certainly didn't help the American premiere. It was probably one of the main reasons why the show didn't last too long on Broadway. The same thing can be said for Alan Campbell, who plays Joe Gillis on this recording, as he suffers from the same lack of good singing, not like the original Joe, who is superbly portrayed on the London cast recording by Kevin Anderson. Judy Kuhn as Betty and George Hearn as Max are good, but I like their London counterparts better. As far as the score, it is simply beautiful. The rich and lush melodies perfectly bring the old Hollywood alive, and jazzy threads work perfectly. The themes tend to repeat themselves, but that is almost a Lloyd Webber standard, and here they form a nice whole so you don't notice it much. The two big numbers, "With one look" and "As if we never said goodbye", performed by Norma, are pure gold. Other melodies include "The greatest star of all", sung by Max; "The perfect year", Norma's hail to the New Year; "Sunset Boulevard" in which Joe sings about her new life with Norma; "Too much in love to care", a beautiful duet between Betty and Joe and many more. The orchestrations on this recording, however, sound a bit metal to me and aren't as good as in the London recording. The material here is revised and some new passages are added, together with a new company number, called "Every movie is a circus". The score here is complete but that is not much of an asset due to the lousy cast performing it. Therefore I would advise the potential buyers to skip this recording without thinking and purchase the original /world premiere/ London cast with Patti LuPone. That 2 CD recording has all the musical numbers and music, with an edited version of dialogue; just like the original recording of The phantom of the opera. Believe me, I know the difference: I heard this American cast after the London one and was VERY disappointed. Only original recording will give you all the benefits of this show, while this one will only make you wonder.