---

Related Items:
     see more


Rating: - STAY AWAY FROM THIS VERSION!
Ok. I'll try and keep it short.
Sunset Boulevard is an amazing piece of musical theatre that I would reccomend to anyone. I have over 60 CDs of musicals, and Sunset would be it my top 10, possibly top 5. It has an amazing story, together with some stunning music, possibly Lloyd Webber's best score. I bought the 1994 Los Angeles cast a while ago and was blown away. Recently I found out my local library had this version, the 1993 London cast, available, and I thought I'd get it out, just out of interest.
I was disgusted. Before now, I'd never realises how much difference the actors/actresses make. I just thought in a musical that it was really just the music that really made ... Read More

---

Rating: - Patti LuPone barely manages to salvage this wretchedly directed and orchestrated "glorified highlights album."
No matter what some bitter and pretentious pseudo-intellectuals say, "Sunset Boulevard" happens to be one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's most beautiful, haunting and most accomplished works. This remarkably faithful adaptation of the timeless Billy Wilder film-noir about the evils of Hollywood and it's media hype is probably the definitive "jazz opera" with some of the most jaw droppingly innovative and groundbreaking production design. So, why the low rating on my part? Well, technically, this has nothing to do with the score and the show itself, but rather this particular album.

Where to begin? There are just so many things horribly wrong with this recording, but I think that the orchestrations ... Read More

---

Rating: - Sunset Boulevard (1993 original London Cast)
Patti Lupone is brilliant in this recording - makes all subsequent Norma Desmonds seem very lightweight.
All the excitement and enthusiasm of an original recording is contained within.

---

Rating: - The Definative Recording of Sunset
It's quite interesting to take a project and with time rewrite it to be sufficiently worse. Well Lord Lloyd Webber did this when he rewrote Sunset Boulevard before taking it to America.

First off, let me say I am not ALW's biggest fan. I am however a strong proponent of Evita and Sunset Boulevard. I think that both are incredibly satisfying musically and dramatically. However, I did not realize how incredibly satisfying this score was until I heard Patti LuPone, Kevin Anderson, et. all perform it. (The only voice worth listening to on the US Version is George Hearn)

Instead of the incessant screaming Glenn Close and Alan Campbell provide, LuPone & Anderson "Sing" their ... Read More

---

Rating: - Such Silliness
The silliness and misinformation surrounding this unfortunate show continues to amaze and amuse.

The simple fact is, regardless of what the sadly misinformed have to say, Patti LuPone (who did NOT, as one reviewer claimed, "create" "Evita") was personally triumphant in her British run of "Sunset". However, she and Mr. Webber had major artistic differences over the concept of the total show. He felt, for better or worse, that La Patti was not "on board" with his concept of the show, which in fairness to LuPone, was in a state of flux. She was simply not engaged for the New York run. Glenn (not Glen) Close auditioned with Webber several times. He liked her dramatically, while realizing she ... Read More