Scarborough Theatre Company brings hit musical Sunset Boulevard to Spa for first time
Musical Sunset Boulevard makes its first stage appearance at Scarborough’s Spa Theatre later this month.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1993 musical opened in the West End and has enjoyed several revivals and tours.
Jamie Lloyd’s award-winning revival sold out in the West End and is now running on Broadway, starring Nicole Scherzinger.
Members of Scarborough Theatre Company are in rehearsal for the show. Its director Alex Weatherhill said: “It’s a rare opportunity for Scarborough audiences to catch this dramatic musical show.”
Based on Billy Wilder’s classic 1950 film noir, starring Gloria Swanson and William Holden, both nominated for Oscars for their performances, it’s “a magnificent tale of faded glory and unfulfilled ambition”.
Joe Gillis, a down-on-his-luck script-writer, accidentally stumbles into the fading mansion of fabulously rich, forgotten Silent Movie star Norma Desmond.
She lives entirely in the past, protected by her sinister butler Max, and dreaming of a return to starring roles on the silver screen.
Slowly, the tentacles of Norma’s delusion destroy Joe’s integrity and independence with dramatic results.
Julie Anne Smith plays Norma, one of musical theatre’s great diva roles, previously inhabited by, among others, Patti Lupone, Glenn Close, Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige.
An experienced actor, singer and dancer, Julie Anne has played many leading roles including Company and Sweeney Todd in York, and, for Scarborough Theatre Company, Betty Blue Eyes at the Stephen Joseph Theatre.
“It’s a golden gift of a role,” said Julie Anne, “and quite a challenge, but I’m thrilled to have the chance and can’t wait to bring Norma on stage, larger-than-life.”
It’s a return to Scarborough for equally experienced actor Dale Vaughan as Joe Gillis, which is one of his dream roles.
Joe is torn between his cynical exploitation of Norma’s pathetic delusions and his ambition to succeed as a writer.
He finds himself falling in love with his best friend’s fiancée Betty Schaefer played by Rebecca Kelly-Evans, a familiar face on Scarborough and Whitby stages.
Rebecca is simultaneously rehearsing Sunset Boulevard in Scarborough and Stepping Out in Whitby, most recently playing panto in Whitby and the titular Brummie barmaid in last year’s Patience in Scarborough and Pickering.
Sunset’s principal cast is completed by Martin Richardson as Norma’s forbidding butler Max von Mayerling, a role originally created by Silent Film director Erich von Stroheim.
Martin’s leading roles with Scarborough Theatre Company have included Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Gomez in The Addams Family and the Bing Crosby role in White Christmas.
Also cast are David Lomond, Betty’s fiancé Artie, Chris Curtis, Cecil B De Mille, Dave Blaker, Paramount producer Sheldrake, and Tim Tubbs, insinuating gents’ outfitter Manfred.
Sunset Boulevard tells a stirring, passionate and dark story of Tinseltown in all its glamour, corruption and heartbreak, purveying celluloid dreams, fuelling fantasies and peddling celebrity.
It’s packed with wisecracking lines and classic exchanges. “You used to be in pictures. You used to be big.”
“I AM big. It’s the pictures that got small.”
It also gave us Norma’s grotesque Salome who, after descending a staircasewith the eyes of the press on her, says: “Mr DeMille, I’m ready for my close up.”
The tuneful score, including With One Look, The Perfect Year, This Time Next Year and As If We Never Said Goodbye, is in the hands of musical director Andrew Davison leading a live band on stage as in Scarborough Theatre Company’s sell-out hit White Christmas.
Alex Weatherhill directs and produces Sunset Boulevard, promising “pure Hollywood gothic”.
The show is on at Scarborough Spa from Thursday March 20 until Saturday March 22, daily at 7.30pm plus a matinee on the Saturday at 2.30pm.
Tickets £21 – £14 under-16s – are available only from Scarborough Community Box Office at: www.scbo.co.uk or call 07942 280288.