When I was in London in June (2023) I saw an ad for a major West End revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Blvd. I made a point of checking out dates and maybe I'd be able to swing another trip during Spring Break or something. Well, it was a limited run, closing on January 6 - so there went that idea. But it was Sunset, and I had to see it - especially since it was a major West End revival. In 2016, I went to London to see the concert version with Glenn Close - so I was willing to spend the $$ and try and see this as well. So, I cleared things that had to be cleared and I made arrangements to go check out this new Sunset.
The flight was easy, I listened to music most of the way, maybe read a little bit. But I must say, the best investment was the bulkhead seat I upgraded to. It was nice to be able to stretch my legs out durng a flight. It was so good, that I upgraded for the flight home as well. I flew United, which was fine. The service was fine, everything about the flight was fine. We landed a little early, which was nice as well. When you land at Heathrow, it's usually a long walk to customs and baggage claim, a good way to get the blood moving. Then another long-sh walk to the train. The Heathrow Express goes right to Paddington Station in 15 minutes, and that's the area where I decided to call "home" for the next 4 nights. It all worked out great.
My hotel was very "boutique"-ish, very small, no elevator, etc - and of course I was on the third floor. The place was definitely in need of some TLC, but it was clean. I'm pretty sure the bathroom was once a closet, but it was fine. You did have to wait for a few minutes for the hot water to arrive, but once I understood that, it was fine. I read a little bit and relaxed before I decided that I had to get up and start my weekend. But as I was doing that, the power went off. So I hoofed it down the stairs to the front desk, and after a bit, they took care of the issue. So, I washed up, changed my clothes and was out the door to my first destination - The Phantom of the Opera.
Before the show, I had a steak at Steak and Company, what was good. Then I walked over to the theatre and was scanned in and I was told to wait for a guy with a red jacket to escort me to my seat. Now, this was my 18th or 19th time seeing this show, 4th time in London, and I wanted the experience to be different, so I booked a box seat. Little did I know that it came with V.I.P. service. Champagne, snacks, a souvenir program, ice cream at intermission, etc... it was the royal treatment. I got to see the show practically looking down on the stage and right into the orchestra pit - and I had tons of legroom. I missed some of what happened on stage-right, but it didn't matter. It was a great experience. I was told the actress playing Christine that night was the first cover, and she was really great. One of the best I've heard in quite a while. The Phantom was the same guy I saw in June, and I was happy about that because I thought he was fantastic. Reminded me very much of the original Phantom, Michael Crawford. Overall, the experience was once in a lifetime for sure.
The next day was a 2 show day for me. Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends and Sunset Blvd. I got into Theatreland with plenty of time to spare, so I got some lunch and walked around. Then I hit up a pub and got something to drink and waited for the doors to the theatre were open. I walked over to the theatre, got my program and found my seat. The show was a review of the music of Stephen Sondheim and was headlined by Bernadette Peters and Lea Solanga. It was just one amazing song after another. Besides the headliners, there was a cast of London's finest theatre performers. Notably, Bonnie Langford. Bonnie Langford is a true gypsy of the London stage. She has done and seen it all - and she's still here - and that's the song she had in Act Two. Very appropriate for her and her career. She even high-kicked and did the splits at the end of "Broadway Baby". I wept when Bernadette sang "Not a Day Goes By" as a photo of Sondheim was projected onto the screen. I realized as I was watching the show - while I'm a hard-core Andrew Lloyd Webber fan, I rank Stephen Sondheim higher as he really knows the relationship between music, lyrics, and story. I walked out of the theatre thinking that if I didn't have a weekend of shows to see, seeing Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends was worth my trip and would be happy to have left and felt contented.
Alas, the show that brought me to London was next.... Sunset Blvd.
I walked to the Savoy Theatre just to be sure I knew where it was, then I looked for someplace for dinner. I decided on the London location of Joe Allen, which also has locations in NYC and I think Las Vegas. I ordered a burger of their secret menu and it was quite good. I walked across the street to the theatre and took some pictures and I went it and waited for the house to open. I then took my seat when the house opened.
So - Sunset Blvd. I've been following this musical ever since Barbra Streisand recorded 2 of the musicals new songs in 1993 before the cast album was released in August of 1993. I saw the Pre-Broadway LA production with Glenn Close in 1993, and I pretty much followed the history of the show after that as I could never afford to fly to NYC or London to actually see the show. But it still remained my favorite show. In 2016, I made my first "real" trip to London and saw Glenn Close in a concert production with the English National Orchestra. She repeated that production in NYC a year later and I was there. Oh, and we can't forget the production I directed and conducted in 2010 at Palo Alto Players. My love letter to the original production.
This production was staged by Jamie Lloyd, whose work I was familiar with as he staged a production of Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita that I saw in London in 2019. Both were stripped down to nothing and all what was left was the score and the story. This production of Sunset was the same. It was a very young cast. Costumes were very modern, mostly black with some white, the staging was innovative as well as quite fascinating. "Let's Have Lunch" consisted of 2 lines of actors that moved forward in the order of their sung lines - never looking at each other. I was fascinated about how well that simple staging worked, There were onstage cameras held by cast members that would show a projection of an actors face on the screen hehind them... that worked so well with Norma's facial expressions. It added to the tension of the drama. My two favorite numbers "The Lady's Paying" and "Eternal Youth is Worth a Little Suffering" were cut. I kinda knew that going in, but told myself I was going in with an open mind. In the end I really didn't miss them at all.
The beginning of Act Two is Joe singing the title song "Sunset Blvd" - and it's usually him around the swimming pool. Where, there was no pool, of course. Anyway, it was a video of him starting out in his dressing room, singing the song, dropping in to other people's dressing room, posing with the a cut-out of Andrew Lloyd Webber and then out the side door of the theatre and out on the street, and eventually back into the theatre. Everyone cheered when he appeared and I don't know why. Did they actually think that was in real time?? Anyway, the use to technology and video was quite impressive. The shooting Act Two was done entirely in the dark and when the lights came up, Norma and Joe were covered in blood. Finally, sone color on the stage. Intentional? Absolutely. All in all, the show was sung very well, there was a full orchestra in the pit, and everyone on stage was fantastic. The acting was so good, after all, there was no set or costumes to hide behind, it was just them and the music and the story. It also brought out how crazy and delusional the character of Norma Desmond is. It was powerful
My only negative remark was that I had wished they tried harder to keep the story in 1949. I didn't mind the cameras and such as they really are part of the story, but in the scene where Joe and Betty finish the script, we see a video (probably in real time) of them in a dressing room on a laptop finsihsing the script. I would have preferred a real typewriter in this case.
Anyway, I was happy I had made the trip to see this show. I almost saw it a second time, more on that later.
When I was planning my trip, I kept checking to see if anything new was going to be on when I was in London. Much to my surprise, a production of the musical Rebecca was having it's English-language debut in London when I was there. This was exciting, so I picked up a ticket.
Rebecca began its life as a musical on the same scale as Les Miserables or even The Phantom of the Opera. Big and grand, with some specticle involved. I was a little perplexed as why it was put into a very small sort of "Off-West End" theatre. So, I definitely was curious. The show itself runs along the same lines as Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights or any other novel of the time period and I think the show does the story justice. However, what didn't do the show justice was the space in which it played in. 2-thumbs up for them using the original 18 piece orchestration, which was fantastic, but it swallowed up the show. Even though the orchestra was piped in from other room, the balance between the music and the voices was not great and it was very hard to follow the story. Luckily, I watched a movie version of the story so I knew what was going on. Originally written in German, the text was translated by Christopher Hampton who also co-wrote the music for Sunset Blvd. There were some interesting lyrics and some not very musical phrases. Granted, he did write them 10 years ago, I think another pass at the lyrics needs to happen. The show is still running in its original form in Vienna, (in German), I'd love to see it. I do believe that this staging does not do the show justice. The set - oh the set - let's just say I've seen better set designs in community theatre. While I appreciate what they attempted to do, it just didn't serve the story well. What little effects they could do in that little space where good for the space they were in. There was no real fire (spoiler... Maderlay burns down at the end) they did a good job representing that scene. Also, there were too many actors in the audience through-out. Mostly to mask the scene changes. I hope this show gets another crack at the size of a production it deserves.
After the show, I decided to head back the hotel and figure out the rest of my evening. Turns out, if I had done my homework better, I could have seen once of my favorite vocalists, Kim Criswell, in her cabaret act, but I missed that chance. Anyway, I decided on a nice evening out at a cigar lounge. It was a lovely lounge, it was quiet, the food was good and it was a great relaxing time.
The next day, the final day, I planned to hit up the TKTS booth for a ticket to a show that night. I didn't have anything in mind, but was just going to see what was up. When I got to the front of the line, I kept hearing rumblings that the alternate for Norma Desmond was going on this evening in Sunset Blvd. Being the super-fan that I am, I questioned that when I got to the window, and indeed, the TKTS website said that the alternate was on that night. So, I bought another ticket for Sunset. On a hunch, I decided to go to the actual theatre and check to see if indeed the TKTS website was right. Well, turns out, the were wrong. So I hoofed it back to the TKTS booth, (in the meantime, they had sent me an email) and they refunded my money and I decided on a ticket for Mrs. Doubtfire - The Musical.
The rest of the day, I walked around Theatreland and saw some sights, I kept ending up at the Matilda theatre - so basically I was walking in circles. Ended up at Covent Garden twice, which is always nice. Stopped in a few pubs for a food and drinks, etc. I got some fish and chips for dinner and headed to the Shaftesbury Theatre and Mrs. Doubtfire - the musical.
I knew next to nothing about this musical. I do know that it didn't fare well on Broadway because of COVID and such and just couldn't afford to stay open as it opened right after COVID when people weren't going to the the theatre and especially spending money on a musical they knew nothing about.
I loved the movie, so I was hoping the musical would meet my standards. Well, it EXCEEDED my standards. It was really well done. The music and the story worked very well together and the cast was stellar. It was updated a little to the present time which didn't seem to bother me, and all of the great lines for the movie seemed to be retained. It was definitely a fun night at the theatre. I hope to see it again when it tours in the area.
The next day was the flight home, and besides sitting under a vent and freezing for 11 hours, it was an uneventful flight.
So, were my 79+ hours in London worth 22 hours of air travel, absolutely. Would I do it again? Maybe :-).
