HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Dramatic Premise
I am big! It’s the pictures that got small!
Norma Desmond (Sarah Brightman) is in a trance. She’s standing in her decaying palazzo. Her hands are clasped to her chest. She’s watching her own performance in Joan of Arc. She’s mesmerised. Enraptured.
Behind her, writer Joseph Gillis (Tim Draxl), reclines on a lounge. He’s bored. Contemptuous even. But pleasing Norma is a means to a sordid end.
Norma yearns for yesteryear. When she was the greatest star of them all. When one tear from her eye would make the whole world cry. But her audience vanished when talkies began and the silent movie era ended.
Now Norma plans her return to the spotlight. She’s written a screenplay for Cecil B de Mille to direct. It’s about Salome. And she, of course, is the star!
All she needs is somebody to help her edit her work. And that’s when struggling screenwriter, Joe Gillis comes in. He knows Norma’s script is trash. But for a man accustomed to subsistence living – in his one room apartment and its Murphy bed – the comfortable lifestyle Norma offers him is too tempting to ignore.
A Fine Production
My wife and I first saw Sunset Boulevard in 1997 in Melbourne. Debra Byrne played Norma Desmond and a young Hugh Jackman – fresh from his triumph in Corelli – played Joe Gillis. Jackman was barely known at that time. Yet his star power was obvious to everybody in the Princess Theatre that night.
This time around, my wife and I bought our tickets with the specific purpose of seeing Sarah Brightman in the lead role. We almost saw Sarah perform, several decades ago, when she joined Anthony Warlow on stage to sing some tunes written by her ex-husband, Andrew Lloyd Webber. We were unfortunate, however, because Sarah was ill on the night we held tickets.
So it was with great anticipation that we took our seats in the Joan Sutherland Theatre to see Ms Brightman in action. Some lacklustre reviews notwithstanding, she did not disappoint. We thought she was wonderful as Norma Desmond and thoroughly deserving of the standing ovation given to her at curtain call.
Tim Draxl did a fine job playing Joe Gillis. He was up against both Hugh Jackman and our rose-coloured glasses, but Draxl largely succeeded. He played Gillis for the wise-cracking cad he was designed to be.
Mention must also be made of Robert Grubb, who was splendid in the role of Max Von Mayerling. Grubb always delivers. So I was not surprised that he played the faithful Max with aplomb.
An Unusual Phenomenon
A strange thing happens in Australian theatres.
A good drama involves tension and release. Tension builds and tension is released. On Broadway and the West End, a tense moment is typically met with a gasp or the odd shriek of terror. In Australia, however, tension seems to provoke laughter.
I don’t know why!
But I’ve observed this odd phenomenon over recent months when seeing The Woman in Black, Gaslight and, now, Sunset Boulevard.
What My Eyebrows Told Me
Sunset Boulevard is a terrific show, even if the sad story of a demented woman is somewhat confronting. The swell of the music is luxurious. The sets are lavish. There’s plenty to enjoy in between scenes which provoke pity.
My eyebrows certainly enjoyed themselves. They rested in a caterpillar arch for some of the scenes involving Joe and side-squeeze, Betty. They rose into a supreme arch when Sarah Brightman sang With One Look and New Ways to Dream. They remained there when Brightman and Draxl belted out The Lady’s Paying. My eyebrows were, otherwise, fixed in a high arch.
For more information on Sunset Boulevard:
Sunset Boulevard | Opera Australia | Melbourne & Sydney 2024 (sunsetmusical.com.au)
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