The
shallowness of Hollywood in its heyday is exposed in Sunset Boulevard, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical now playing at
Mercury Summer Stock.
And
thanks to ingenious and imaginative staging by director Pierre-Jacques Brault,
this musical rendition of the famous 1950 movie starring Gloria Swanson (“I AM
big, it’s the pictures that got small!”) and William Holden is a feast for the
eyes and ears. Even though there is one significant performance element
missing, this is a show that compels attention at all times.
Norma
Desmond is a washed up silent movie star who now lives a secluded life in her
Sunset Blvd. mansion, attended by her devoted servant (and former director) Max
von Mayerling. When down-on-his-luck, cynical screenwriter Joe Gillis is trying
to avoid car repossession thugs (because, in L.A., “You lose your car, it’s
like getting your legs cut off.”), he ducks into the garage of the Desmond
estate, and both of their lives change in dramatic ways.
The
production is handsome and riveting in a number of ways. Brault keeps the large
ensemble of actors on stage for most of the piece, using them as supporting
characters as well as walls and stairways. To wit, since there is no staircase
on this stage, Brault creates one by having Desmond enter for the first time
(and again at the end) by walking on a line of wooden chairs with the other
actors providing their arms as a continuous railing.
Also,
Brault employs cinematic touches, such as “extras” moving in the background of
some scenes when only two people are talking. And the costumes (uncredited) are
stunning, especially Desmond’s long and flowing robes of various opulent
designs.
Continuous
projections, designed by Rob Wachala, dance on the proscenium and on the side
walls. These include clips from an actual silent movie, and these close-ups and
graphics are totally mesmerizing. By reshaping the stage space with actors and
fabric panels, Brault maintains an open feel that can instantly become
claustrophobic with the use of lighting, strobes and fog.
As
Gillis, Brian Marshall bites off his character’s lines with appropriate
bitterness, although he lacks the age and/or dissipation to really come off as
cynical and downtrodden as he should be. And, as always, he handles his songs
with professional aplomb.
Jackie
Komos brings some feisty zest to her role as Betty, Joe’s gal pal at the
studio, and adds her capable singing voice to the duet “Too Much in Love to
Care” with Marshall. Although Jonathan Bova starts out shakily in his Act One
song “Greatest Star of All,” he regains his foot later in a reprise of “New
Ways to Dream.”
Of
course, the major role in this show is Desmond, and Helen Todd contributes a
well-trained, rich voice to her songs, particularly on “With One Look” and “As
If We Never Said Goodbye.” But Todd never takes enough chances in portraying
Desmond’s advanced state of self-delusion. Moving about with a placid-face and noble
sort of grandeur, Todd doesn’t convey the crumbling façade of this woman’s
psyche until very late in the second act. And that void creates a vacuum at the
center that can’t be filled.
Another
disappointment, given the production’s many remarkable visual flourishes, is
the absence of an effective nod to the most famous image from the original
movie: a body floating face down in a pool.
That
said, this show features a wonderful score by Webber, with lyrics by
Christopher Hampton and Don Black. When you add that to the acrid whiff of unhinged
ambition, and Brault’s impressive staging, you’ve got one fine show.
Sunset
Boulevard
Through
July 26, produced by Mercury Summer Stock at Notre Dame College, 1857 S. Green
Road, South Euclid, 216-771-5862.
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