As an Andrew Lloyd Webber fan, I’ve done the requisite attend-
\nPhantom<\/i>-twice and spend hours analyzing Liz Callaway vs.
\nElaine Paige vs. Betty Buckley in the role of Grizabella.
\nCats<\/i> being my ultimate favorite (being a cat-lover and a
\nStar Trek<\/i> fan to boot), I tend to listen to “the Other” ALW
\nrecords with prejudice; but I don’t need to do that with the
\nlavishly gargantuan
\nSunset Boulevard<\/i>.<\/p>\n
This show has
\neverything<\/i>; sure, the usual John Napier sets, Don Black in
\nthe lyrics team (though like everyone else, I miss the Tim Rice
\ncombo), and a perfect “diva” role which seems to be all the rage
\nthese days. But this latter part of “everything” became the origin
\nof even jucier “everything”s. Producer fires star (stars, in this
\ncase). Star sues producer. Producer hires someone who can’t sing
\nthe role, but this miscast pulls off the show to almost unanimous
\nrave reviews.<\/p>\n
But in time when it all settles and the controversy wears off,
\nthe show (which has a considerably longer lifespan than a movie) is
\nleft to its own devices, which explains why
\nSunset Boulevard<\/i> is leaving Broadway after the fraction of
\nthe runtime
\nPhantom of the Opera<\/i> or
\nCats<\/i> (“now and forever”) are enjoying.<\/p>\n
The centerpiece of the record is Glenn Close, and this review is
\nno better than any of the other reviews out there. She is not much
\nof a conventional belter, but the vocals are very serviceable, and
\nher portrayal of Norma Psychotic Desmond is simply mezmerizing;
\ncomparable to reading
\nThe Vampire Lestat<\/i> through the silent night. Her voice is
\nthe only thing percieveable on the record but like any capable
\nartist, she shows you much more in songs like “With One Look”, “As
\nIf We Never Said Goodbye” and “The Final Scene”. I’m sure the
\nsacked Patti LuPone and Faye Dunaway might have sung the role to
\nperfection; but I seriously doubt they would’ve come up with the
\nsame effect (which I’d prefer to LuPone’s EDGE any day).<\/p>\n
George Hearn, who plays Desmond’s butler, also puts up an
\nequally formidable performance in “The Greatest Star Of All” and a
\nhost of key lines (“And wipe your feet.” “It’s not Madame they want
\n…”). It’s this ability to capture the senses of the audience
\nwhich makes this record work.<\/p>\n
So it’s too bad that the rest of the cast doesn’t live up to the
\nnoir score. Curse words sound awkward and the Hollywood
\ntalk\/singing in “Every Movie’s A Circus” and “Let’s Have Lunch”
\nsound like New Yorkers imitating Alicia Silverstone in
\nClueless<\/i>. Alan Campbell is unconvincing as the cynical Joe
\nGillis which rules out more than two thirds of this album. Judy
\nKuhn does what she can with the role, but the score isn’t right for
\nher; it needs more acting.<\/p>\n
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s prodigious pen produced three single-ready
\nsongs, and all of them are sung by Close (Desmond). “Surrender”,
\n“With One Look” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye” all echo with
\nspace enough for creative improv by whoever is singing, and Close
\ndid a better job than I thought she did (this was realized after I
\nheard the Barbra Streisand versions; never would I have thought I’d
\nsee the day when the Babs version of a song isn’t number one on my
\nlist). All of them are characteristically dramatic, the lyrics
\nflawless and appropriately stark in arragement.<\/p>\n
It’s a bad album with excellent spots. Sure musical soundtracks
\ntake on a whole new meaning when you see the actual show, but
\nprevious ALW productions have done fine as stand-alone albums. The
\nset, the diva, the controversy … one can’t blame their role in
\nthe Broadway-closing of
\nSunset Boulevard<\/i> … but you can with the album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":24481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5791],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-35685","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-original-cast-recording","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35685"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35685"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}