Norma's home at last! West End and Broadway director Jamie Lloyd (Cyrano de Bergerac, A Doll's House) reimagines one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best-loved musicals – based on the Billy Wilder film - for a whole new generation.
Famed movie star Norma Desmond has been cast out of the Hollywood limelight. Living in a suffocating world of dreams, memories and regrets, a chance encounter with screenwriter Joe Gillis may be her only hope — unless their volatile affair destroys them both
Before it was a musical, Sunset Boulevard was a 1950 film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder. The film is led by Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a former silent-film star who draws him into her deranged fantasy world, where she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen.
The movie was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won three. In 1989 it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry and in 1998, it was ranked number 12 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 best American films of the 20th century.
A musical version of the beloved story was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black and Christopher Hampton. The original 1993 West End production, directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Bob Avian, featured Patti LuPone as Norma Desmond, Kevin Anderson as Joe Gillis, Meredith Braun as Betty Schaefer, and Daniel Benzali as Norma's ex-husband, Max.
Soon after, it had its American premiere in Los Angeles, this time starring Glenn Close as Norma, Alan Campbell as Joe, George Hearn as Max, and Judy Kuhn as Betty. In 1994 it moved to Broadway, where it opened at the Minskoff Theatre on November 17. It was nominated for 11 Tony Awards and won in seven categories, including Best Musical and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a musical for Close.
Since then, the musical has toured extensively, and enjoyed international productions in Canada, Germany, Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands, South Africa and many more countries across the world.
In 2017, Glenn Close reprised her performance as Norma Desmond in a revival on Broadway at the Palace Theatre. Featuring a 40-piece onstage orchestra and a relatively minimalist set, it was directed by Lonny Price.
In early 2023, it was announced that Nicole Scherzinger would lead an all-new production at London's Savoy Theatre, directed by Lloyd. When it began performances in September, it immediately grabbed the attention of theatergoers worldwide as an extraordinary reimagination of Lloyd Webber’s iconic musical.
The Broadway cast is led again by Scherzinger, with her acclaimed London co-stars: Tom Francis as ‘Joe Gillis’, Grace Hodgett-Young as ‘Betty Schaefer,’ and Olivier Award winner David Thaxton as ‘Max Von Mayerling.’ Mandy Gonzalez is the Norma Alternate at certain performances.
Drenched in champagne and cynicism, Sunset Boulevard scrutinizes the ambitions and frustrations of its characters and their intoxicating need for fame and adoration.
But I can’t help feeling that Lloyd’s talent and that of his designers, let alone Scherzinger’s, would be better lavished on better material. Making “Sunset Boulevard” a hit again — the original Broadway production ran two-and-a-half years, grossing more than $100 million — is not so much an achievement as a stunt, like reanimating that dead chimpanzee. (Yes, it happens.) The revival is not, like “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” this summer, a completely new way of looking at a Lloyd Webber musical; it’s a completely new way of not looking at one. The waste! It makes me almost sad enough to weep a 10-foot glycerin tear.
Thus described, Lloyd’s approach may sound academic—but in practice, it is often thrilling. The original production was famous for the lavish excess of its set and costumes. Here, by contrast, designer Soutra Gilmour’s set is mostly blank space, and she costumes most of the cast in basic black and white streetwear, sometimes with athletic socks pulled high. (When the ensemble performs Fabian Aloise’s sharp choreography, it looks a bit like an updated Gap ad.) Even Norma wears just a satiny black slip. This is Sunset, stripped. But you don’t miss the frills: Jack Knowles’s excellent lighting—and the video design by Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom—fill out the scenes with ample film-noir atmospherics and help Lloyd shape the staging for maximum narrative and emotional impact. Not for nothing has the title been tightened to Sunset Blvd.
1993 | West End |
Original London Production West End |
1993 | Regional (US) |
Los Angeles Production Regional (US) |
1994 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
1995 | Canada |
Toronto Production Canada |
1996 | US Tour |
1st National Tour US Tour |
1998 | US Tour |
2nd National Tour US Tour |
2004 | London Fringe |
London Concert Revival London Fringe |
2016 | West End |
English National Opera West End Revival West End |
2017 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
2023 | West End |
West End |
2024 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
Videos