Mayflower Theatre Southampton – until 20 January. Reviewed by Jo Gordon
4****
Set in the Golden era of Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard shows us the desperate, seedy and needy lives of those who want to make it big and those who have faded from the limelight – grasping hard on to the little glimmer of fame they still have. Joe Gillis is a struggling writer trying to make it to the top at Paramount Pictures and failing, trying to dodge the debt collectors he finds himself broken down outside an old mansion, 10086 Sunset Boulevard, and knocks the door for help. Confronted with a creepy looking butler, Max Von Mayerling, Joe is invited in where he meets the once, silent movie Goddess, Norma Desmond, a larger than life, velvet clad turban wearing Diva who demands to be adored like the superstar she believes she still is.
After convincing Joe to edit a script she has written for a film that will be her big return to the silver screen, Joe becomes a kept man and eventually Norma’s lover in the hope this is his chance to be the high flying writer he dreams of. Meanwhile he continues working on a script with Molly Lynch whose friendship begins to blossom into something more. Tired of Norma’s melodramatics, controlling ways and her spiral downwards into madness he realises that his new way of life is destroying him and tries to leave to be with Molly ending in fatal consequences.
The orchestra play the 1950’s inspired musical score sublimely, carrying off the big numbers in a way that makes you forget they are not high in numbers and the set has been incredibly well designed, placing you in various locations back in the day. The whole cast are a talented and energetic bunch. Dougie Carter played a superb Joe Gillis, portraying the young writers at all costs desperation with feeling and depth, whose singing hits the mark every time. Ria Jones took my breath away as Norma Desmond, a veracious, melancholic, expressive performance who on delivering the big show tunes left the audiences excitement palpable! I imagine I am a rarity in having never seen this production before, whether on stage or indeed the film, thinking the all singing dialogue would ruin it for me…. how wrong I was… I adored it! “Those wonderful people out there in the dark” were on our feet left wanting more.