The rave reviews that greeted the recent opening of the London Coliseum production of “Sunset Boulevard,” starring Glenn Close, means that a Broadway transfer may well be in the offing. If that should occur in the near future, Andrew Lloyd Webber will enjoy the enviable status of having no less than four shows running concurrently in New York City: a revival of “Sunset” would join his long-running “Phantom of the Opera,” the recent smash “The School of Rock,” and the much-anticipated Summer return of “Cats” to the Neil Simon Theatre.The London critics were almost unanimous in welcoming back “Sunset Boulevard.” Dominic Cavendish, writing in The Telegraph, offered the consensus opinion.Noting that Close had earlier expressed the hope that audiences would emerge from the show emotionally “rearranged,” the reviewer responded, “Galvanized and nerve-jangled, I’d say. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s most under-valued musical, based on the 1950 noir classic by Billy Wilder, is confirmed in Lonny Price’s semi-staged revival as a glorious, creepy, (if resolutely Technicolor) thrill a minute — bristling with lush, brooding songs apt to nestle inside your head and keep you awake at night in tormented ecstasy.”What is key to the over-the-top evaluation is the phrase “semi-staged.” When the musical originally bowed — first in 1993 in London, starring Patti LuPone, and then Los Angeles and New York, starring Close — most critics found the $13-million production to be distractingly bloated. The lavish mansion of Norma Desmond, a silent film legend unhinged by age and hoping for a comeback, was hydraulically lifted at times for the scenes between the poor screenwriter, on whom she has designs, and his sweetheart. What became obscured was the faithful-to-the-movie libretto by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, and Lloyd Webber’s lush songs, including the popular “With One Look” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye.”The production may have recouped in London but it fell well short of that during its American runs, which were marred by casting controversies. First Patti LuPone, who had been announced as the lead for the Broadway production, was replaced by Close, who won a Tony Award for her performance; and then a furious Faye Dunaway, who had been announced as a replacement in the Los Angeles production, sued the producers when they decided to close the show instead of continuing it with her. She was said to not have the vocal chops for the role. Another financial disappointment was the 1995 Canadian production, starring Diahann Carroll. But of all the Norma Desmonds, the best in the opinion of several critics was Betty Buckley, who starred in the London production and took over for Close in New York. Of her Broadway engagement, Jeremy Gerard in Variety raved, “The Street’s supreme diva is driving audiences into a frenzy, and why not? She is a musical-theater alchemist whose penetrating vibrato…is forceful enough to levitate rooftops…. No one seems more born to the role of the silent-screen goddess that time has passed by.”The notion that “Sunset Boulevard” might work better in a stripped-down version came in 2008 when a minimalist revival transferred to the West End following a solid run at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury, England. Even though that production had a foreshortened run, the critics agreed that the book and music shone much brighter without the bells and whistles. The London Coliseum production, which opened on April 4, is slated to run for only five weeks. But it’s a solid bet that Price’s pared down version will be seen in New York sooner rather than later, and with Close reprising her desperate, demented, and touchingly vulnerable diva.
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