The best kept secret in the regional theatre market is back post-Covid and shooting for the stars. The Kennedy Center’s homegrown Broadway Center Stage concert series, which features top notch Broadway and Hollywood talent in quickly-assembled one week runs to add special event variety to their already busy tour and concert seasons, pulls out all the stops to evoke old Hollywood in their most elaborate production to date—which is already a considerably high bar after their breathtaking productions of musicals to date—with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s masterpiece Sunset Boulevard (book/lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton). I still marvel that they consider this a “concert” series when, even though performers are given the option to use a script when needed, the professional talent they cast has barely ever taken advantage of that option. On the contrary, these productions are fully fleshed out with every costume change called for and elaborate sets enhanced by high quality projections and the Broadway or better caliber talent. They are in fact more physically elaborate, more dramatically conceived, and more impressively cast than most national tours and many contemporary Broadway productions. And Sunset Boulevard is by far their most ambitious and daunting effort to date.
[HISTORY LESSON] Based on Billy Wilder’s classic movie, the film is an insider’s scathing portrayal of how easily and viciously Hollywood attacks and devours its own. Ironically, the history of the stage version is checkered with events as ruthless as melodramatic as those Wilder concocted as a dark noir satire. As a rich piece of American cinema history, Lloyd Webber intended it to be his first mega-musical to premier stateside. But when no appropriate house was available, he opened the show in London starring his American Evita, Patti LuPone, who had springboarded from her previous Lloyd Webber success to international acclaim as the voice of contemporary Broadway. Not surprisingly as it’s almost critically de rigeur to deny Lloyd Webber the massive success he has accomplished worldwide, in a combination of anti-British invasion (the biggest successes in New York at the time were Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon and Cats, all British imports, while American musicals struggled to find new ground and most hits were revivals of classics) and anti-Lloyd Webber prejudice (as the face of the crime), the show, and LuPone as its scapegoat, received lukewarm reviews from the vindictive New York critics. When the show was reworked for its eventual American debut, it premiered in Los Angeles, to honor its roots, and LA star Glenn Close received kinder reviews. Decisions were made and, even though LuPone’s contract called for her to transfer to Broadway, the LA company with Close was selected to make the move cross country. Lawsuits and the theatrical feud of the end of the century ensued. But the community knew that the production was a behemoth not to be tangled with and only one other new musical, Smokey Joe’s Café, opened that season, ensuring Sunset Boulevard a begrudged sweep. Between buying out LuPone’s million dollar contract, paying Close her million dollar contract, legal expenses, plus the exorbitant costs of just running one of the most expensive shows in Broadway history and the show closed a mere 2 ½ years later, despite sellout audiences, as one of the biggest Broadway losses ever. A scaled down revival (actually less physically impressive than the Kennedy Center’s), again starring Close, played London and a limited Broadway run in the crowded 2017 season without even getting a nomination for Best Revival. [BACK TO BUSINESS]
With all the history and scandal imbedded in the show, the Kennedy Center produced incredible industry buzz when the show and its leading lady was announced last summer. It is a pleasure to inform my readers that all the anticipation was worth the wait. The Kennedy Center has exceeded the mile high expectations of this production and made Sunset Boulevard the theatrical event of the season. And audiences this Thursday night were witness to something even more special—theatrical history, the night when Tony Winner Stephanie J. Block emerged as an undisputed star.
I have personally followed Miss Block for the last 20 years in a string of continuously outstanding supporting performances, starting with her breakout debut as Liza Minelli to Hugh Jackman’s Peter Allen in The Boy from Oz. Over the years she has been central to strong ensemble shows including Judy Bernly in 9 to 5, the title character in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and wife-in-shock Trina in Falsettos. When she landed and nailed the role of the older, wiser Cher in The Cher Show, coached by the legend herself, and walked off with her first long overdue Tony, she had seemingly hit the pinnacle of her distinguished career. But her next role, as a replacement for Sarah Bareilles’ Baker’s Wife in the revolutionary re-envisioned revival of Into the Woods (a role she is recreating on the national tour at the Kennedy Center in 3 weeks—more on that performance to come then), as impressive as she was, merely set the proverbial stage for this moment this week. In an age when reigning divas LuPone, who recently turned in her equity card and hinted towards her retirement (although I take her as seriously as I do Cher on that account), and Bernadette Peters are in their 70s, Chita Rivera almost 90, and we’ve lost the stellar Marin Mazzie and Rebecca Luker (whose final performance was in this series’ Footloose) far too early, Block has cemented tonight, without a doubt, that she is the likely successor to fill that void, ascending Queen of the American Stage.
Block’s Norma Desmond is a revelation, which is a huge statement considering the substantial talents that have inhabited then role since Gloria Swanson created her. From the moment she languidly descends her iconic staircase, she commands every scene while functioning in a fantasy world of delusion. She finds all the nuances in Billy Wilder’s oft-quoted and even more oft-parodied screenplay. Vocally, she has a new depth and richness we’ve never heard her explore and it is the first time American audiences have truly heard this gorgeous score sung as it deserves to be in a major production. Her Norma is by turns coquettish, generous, controlling, and explosive, with all the melodramatic flair one would expect from a former silent movie star, as we watch her slow and painful descent from delusional to complete mental breakdown. There is an iconic quote in the screenplay when a PA approaches the legendary Cecil B. DeMille as he is filming Samson & Delilah to inform him Norma has shown up unannounced and asks if she should “give her the brush”. A busy but empathetic DeMille tells her “Thirty million fans have given her the brush. Isn’t that enough?” Block need not worry about a similar fate. She held the packed audience captive in the palm of her expressive hands the entire evening. She received the expected star applause on her first entrance atop the stairs, an extended applause after her first big number, “With One Look”, and literally stopped the show with a standing ovation after Norma’s signature song when she returns to the Paramount Studios soundstage, “As If We Never Said Goodbye”. Mind you in the decades I’ve been attending over 250 Broadway and touring shows with major Broadway and Hollywood stars, the only other time I have witnessed a mid-show ovation was at the end of Bernadette Peters’ “Rose’s Turn” in Gypsy, which is virtually the finale of that show anyhow. Never this early, and it was well deserved. LuPone had the voice. Close acted the depths of the character. Finally, we have both in one actor. I will say that as of Block’s final extended bow, I have no further regret missing LuPone in this role.
I could make this entire review about Block, she is that amazing, but there is so much more to this show that deserves praise. Mostly Derek Klena, one of Broadway’s current go-to young actors with impressive work in a string of contemporary pop musicals such as Anastasia, Jagged Little Pill, Mean Girls (in its DC premier) and, currently, Moulin Rouge. But as Joe Gillis, a down on his luck writer at the mercy of debt collectors who, through a chance encounter with Desmond, finds a symbiotic relationship with the faded silent screen star that benefits them both to mutually use each other till the tragic end, Klena proves he’s a bona fide leading man, narrating this tale of two descending souls with a commanding baritone that embraces Lloyd Webber’s complex score and matching Block scene for scene in their mutual descent into destruction. Klena has the perfect old school, matinee idol good looks and is so intoxicating that when he opens the second act with his scalding take on the title song, he draws the audience in till one hardly even realizes he’s singing the song in swim trunks. If New York is paying attention (and with the current state of Broadway they ought to be), Klena should full well return home next week to an elevated career full of new opportunities.
Internationally acclaimed and Grammy-winning operatic baritone Nathan Gunn is chilling in all the best ways in the pivotal role of Norma’s manservant and perpetual protector with a past, Max von Mayerling. As expected from his credentials, Gunn commands the stage and does Lloyd Webber justice with his haunting themes “The Greatest Star of All” and his reprise of Norma’s “New Ways to Dream”, in which he provides Gillis with all the history he should know about Norma’s rise and fall and his role through it all. (A large part of me wants to refer to all the story points because there should be nothing spoil. But in deference to those who have for whatever unforgivable reason not seen the movie, I will restrain. You, on the other hand, should immediately watch the movie if you can’t get to the Kennedy Center this week).
Auli’i Cravalho (Moana, The Little Mermaid Live, Rise) makes an impressive mainstage debut as Betty Schaefer, a young, optimistic studio assistant who implores Joe to help her budding career as a screenwriter. Although at the start she’s the fiancée of Joe’s best friend, fledgling director Artie Green (a winsome Michael Maliakel, a very engaging actor with an easy smile who makes his role infinitely more interesting than just a plot point), working alongside Joe to adapt one of his discarded screenplays, slowly develops the exact chemistry the two illude to in “Girl Meets Boy”, a Screenwriting 101 checklist how to create onscreen passion, that flirtatiously translates offscreen. Her ability to negotiate Wilder’s most deceptive character in the piece—even the not-yet-jaded ingenue, aware of herself or not, latches onto those she can use to advance herself and disposes of those out of sight and no longer of use—promises a bright career for Cravalho should she decide to continue with stage as a second career. With her crystal clear voice that soars to blend with Klena (the pair excel on the 11:00 love duet, “Too Much in Love to Care”), she certainly possesses the requisite charm and talent to make it fruitful.
And on the production end, the Kennedy Center has equaled the star power they have cast. Scenic and production designer Paul Tate Depoo III has topped his always impressive work with the most elaborate he’s ever done for this series. Honoring the original movie, he combines not one but two elaborate gilded grand staircases for Norma to dramatically navigate, with an upstage red velvet grand curtain draping a full-sized movie screen for all his exquisitely selected black and white projections (representing not only locales from Norma’s rococo mansion and surrounding grounds to studio backlots to Schwab’s soda fountain/drug store but credits of old time movies and silent films; DePoo designed them to be integral to the storytelling), with music director/conductor Ben Cohn and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra on a bandstand in between. The entire effect is a 3D version of old classic cinema and the feel of old Hollywood when the score was as much of a character as the actors on screen.
His effects are enhanced by lighting designer Cory Pattak’s impeccable mood lighting that recreates all the required dramatic effects of a piece based on a classic noir movie. Old black and white cinema was a master study in shadow and light, and Pattak expertly recreates it all here. He is as much responsible for the overall mood of the evening as Lloyd Webber and Block and company. His signature effect is breathtaking, when spot operator Hog Eye shines his light on Norma when she returns to the Paramount set. She becomes luminescent, transformative, downright radiating the glory she is experiencing in the moment, every bit the star shining as brightly as she ever dide..
Costume designer Alejo Vietta brings his ace game to the table and recreates all of Norma’s requisite movie star glamour. His most memorable creations are obviously Block’s glitzy, elegant art deco inspired day and evening ware, all variations of black and white with metallic sequins, rhinestones, and feather and fur accents. It’s all the old glamour of old Hollywood paying tribute to Gloria Swanson’s iconic looks from the film, and every last stunning creation is win. But the rest of his plot is just as successful in a more subtle way. He pays a gentle homage to the look of the black and white film for most scenes with an abundance of neutral tones with some muted colors for accents. But he cleverly breaks with this for Norma’s big return to Paramount, where she visits Cecil B. DeMille (a well-utilized Paul Schoeffler, who leaves his mark on this critical cameo role) on the set where he is filming Samson & Delilah. This scene utilizes an abundance of jewel tones and gold, to in turn honor that film in all its Technicolor splendor. Vietta gets great assistance from Tom Watson’s flawless hair and wig designs, which provide an array of period looks which especially flatter Block and Cravalho. The only questionable decision was the absence of a bald cap for Gunn, as every Max from Erich von Stroheim in the film to Tony winner George Hern to Harvey Korman in Carol Burnett’s hilarious parody have had the look. It’s part of Max’s intimidation. Fortunately, Gunn was strong enough to eliminate comparisons.
Sound designers Kai Harada and Haley Parcher team up to provide the same flawless sound audiences have come to expect from the Broadway Center Stage series. Every bit of Wilder’s dark humor (Black & Hampton wisely keep much of the brilliant patter from the screenplay intact—you can’t improve upon Wilder) is seamlessly blended with Cohn’s orchestra like a classic soundtrack to a classic movie.
Not by any means a dance show, but Emily Maltby adds flair to the movement in all the ensemble numbers as well as dance for Delilah’s handmaidens being filmed on DeMille’s set. Her most valuable contribution is the iconic New Year’s Eve tango sequence wherein Norma confesses her feelings for Joe, providing fluid choreography to showcase the characters and the score while punctuating the dialog. Block is a much more proficient dancer than her predecessors which allows Maltby’s dance language to function in the seduction as much as the words and music.
But every perfectly aligned star in this perfectly stellar production owes their magnitude to the masterful oversight at the top, director Sammi Cannold and musidc director and conductor Ben Cohn. Cannold understands all the dark humor and noir theatrics in Wilder’s screenplay, and walks the fine line between honoring that truth and adding her own unique touches to enhance it. In “New Ways to Dream”, when Norma shows Joe her silent version of Joan of Arc, we see the movie reenacted against the upstage screen as Norma recounts her idealized version of her glory days. But mid song, the movie in her mind transitions its overly broad gesticulations to a quieter moment between scenes when the men behind film call cut, strip her of her costume, and bring on a scale for a weigh-in, a nod to the humiliating actions actresses were subjecteded to in the decidedly pre-#MeToo era. Or on the working set of Samson & Delilah when Norma is holding a small court with a few residual fans who still remember her, she believes she’s pitching her comeback project (sorry, “return”), an imaginary Cecil B. DeMille Biblical blockbuster that is never going to happen. To contrast this with harsh reality, everyone but Norma is aware that the real camera within the scene is completely focused, enraptured, on the beauty of current movie queen Hedy Lamar, in an actual DeMille Biblical opus. Or the punchline on that bittersweet scene when upon her exit, Norma disrupts the filming to step in and manually adjust Lamar’s face to a more flattering angle before leaving, a trick only a silent film star would understand. Cannold also cleverly stages “This Time Next Year”, the first act finale at Artie’s New Year’s Eve party with all the studio kids in his tiny apartment, in one cramped corner of the stage, contrasting all the camaraderie and merriment among the young hopefuls who have nothing to their name but their dreams with the vast emptiness and loneliness of Norma’s extravagant palazzo that takes up the rest of the stage for her failed New Year’s party for two.
Pair her vision with Cohn’s audio expertise and the result is movie magic. Yes, he has the most proficient vocalists he could ask for, but he has aided Block, Klena, and Cravalho to confidently sing in ways we’ve never heard them before, achieving astonishing new highs. But it is as conductor of the brilliant 20 piece Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra where he shines brightest. Blending world class musicians around Andrew Lloyd Webber’s most magnificent score, full of lush melodies which swell and soar till they spill over in abundance to please the soul. Every number is lush and stirring, recalling the best Max Steiner old Hollywood scores. Combined with Cannold’s bold vision and DePoo’s highly effective set and one truly feels like they are sitting in an old movie palace watching an old Hollywood classic film with all the trimmings, with the added benefit of bring fleshed out in perfect 3D.
I could gush about this outstanding production and Stephanie J. Block for another six pages, but will close with something no other critic has the nerve to do: praise the true star of this piece, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber. Despite constant critical backbiting (which just reeks of jealousy of his vast accomplishments), he is undoubtedly the most successful musical theatre composer of this era, and for every reason I have stated above. His most successful shows have run worldwide for 20-30 years each (there are composers whose combined initial runs of their entire body of work haven’t lasted as long as Lloyd Webber’s much-maligned Starlight Express) His scores are derided by detractors as “derivative” and “repetitive”, when what he does so masterfully is develop musical themes that weave the story together to tell it musically, like in grand opera. And an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is musical theatre’s equivalent of grand opera. Sunset Boulevard is his best. Being almost 30 years since it has debuted, and with so much other fun and new shows and trends that have entertained us since then, revisiting this show last night with this cast from this production company reminded me of what good musical theatre is.
Sitting down at the Kennedy Center, when the first lush notes of the overture wafted over the audience, I felt a little like Norma Desmond returning to Paramount Studios, reexperiencing all the glory and excitement of the past, when I first fell in love with musical theatre and my first exposures to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s particular magic. And as the evening unfolded watching Miss Block recreate this vivacious but fragile iconic character in her own special way, her words were ringing true; “This time will be bigger, and brighter than we knew it. Just watch me fly, we all knew I could do it.” This performance was every bit as magical as I had imagined it would be. Maybe more so. A perfect evening of modern classical musical theatre. And sadly only seven more performances. Don’t miss this event. My theatrical wish is that PBS would put less effort into preserving events at Lincoln Center and more into preserving the amazing work being done by the Kennedy Center.
All photos by Jeremy Daniel
Running Time: 2 ½ hours with one intermission
Sunset Boulevard plays through February 10, 2023, as a part of the Broadway Center Stage Concert Series in the Eisenhower Theatre at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street NW, Washington, DC. For tickets call the box office at (202) 467-4600 or purchase them online.