Sunset Boulevard is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and lyrics and libretto by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, based on the 1950 film. The plot follows Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent-screen era, living in her decaying mansion on Sunset Boulevard in 1949 Los Angeles. When young screenwriter Joe Gillis accidentally crosses her path, she sees an opportunity to make her return to the big screen, with romance and tragedy to follow.

Opening first in London in 1993, the musical has had several long runs internationally and enjoyed extensive tours. However, it has been the subject of several legal battles and ultimately lost money due to its extraordinary running costs. The 1994 Broadway production was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, winning 7, including best musical. The 2023 West End revival was nominated for 11 Olivier Awards, winning 7, including best musical revival. The 2024 Broadway revival was nominated for 7 Tony Awards and won 3, including Best Revival of a Musical.

Background

From approximately 1952 to 1956, Gloria Swanson worked with actor Richard Stapley (aka Richard Wyler) and cabaret singer and pianist Dickson Hughes on a musical adaptation originally entitled Starring Norma Desmond, then Boulevard!. It ended on a happier note than the film, with Norma Desmond allowing Joe Gillis to leave and pursue a happy ending with Betty Schaefer. Rights holder Paramount Pictures originally had given Swanson verbal permission to proceed with the musical, but there had been no formal legal arrangement. On 20 February 1957, Paramount executive Russell Holman wrote to Swanson asking her to cease work on the project because "it would be damaging for the property to be offered to the entertainment public in another form as a stage musical." In 1994, Hughes incorporated material from the production into Swanson on Sunset, based on his and Stapley's experiences in writing Boulevard!. A recording of the entire score, which had been housed in the Gloria Swanson archives at the University of Texas at Austin, was released on CD in 2008.

In the early 1960s, Stephen Sondheim outlined a musical stage adaptation and went so far as to compose the first scene with librettist Burt Shevelove. A chance encounter with Billy Wilder at a cocktail party gave Sondheim the opportunity to introduce himself and ask the original film's co-screenwriter and director his opinion of the project (which was to star Jeanette MacDonald). "You can't write a musical about Sunset Boulevard," Wilder responded, "it has to be an opera. After all, it's about a dethroned queen." Sondheim immediately aborted his plans. A few years later, when he was invited by Hal Prince to write the score for a film remake starring Angela Lansbury as a fading musical comedian rather than a silent film star, Sondheim declined, citing his conversation with Wilder.

When Andrew Lloyd Webber saw the film in the early 1970s, he was inspired to write what he pictured as the title song for a theatrical adaptation, fragments of which he instead incorporated into Gumshoe. In 1976, after a conversation with Hal Prince, who had the theatrical rights to Sunset, Lloyd Webber wrote "an idea for the moment when Norma Desmond returns to Paramount Studios"; Lloyd Webber did no further work on the play until after 1989's Aspects of Love.

In 1991, Lloyd Webber asked Amy Powers, a lawyer from New York with hardly any professional lyric-writing experience, to write the lyrics for Sunset Boulevard. Don Black was later brought in to work with Powers; the two wrote the version that was performed in 1991 at Lloyd Webber's Sydmonton Festival. This original version starred Ria Jones as Norma, Michael Ball as Joe, Frances Ruffelle as Betty, and Kevin Colson as Max. It was still in the experimental stage, however, and not ready for potential producers. A revised version, written by Black and Christopher Hampton, had a complete performance at the 1992 Sydmonton Festival, with Patti LuPone playing Norma, Kevin Anderson as Joe, Michael Bauer as Max, and Meredith Braun as Betty. This "met with great success".

Synopsis

Act I

The place: A mansion on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, 5 a.m. A homicide has been reported. Joe Gillis sets the scene ("Prologue"), noting that "an old-time movie star is involved / Maybe the biggest star of all", and that, if you want to know the "real facts", "you've come to the right party."

Flashback to... Hollywood, 1949 – where a down-on-his-luck screenwriter, Joe Gillis, is trying to hustle up some work at Paramount Studios ("Let's Have Lunch"). His appointment with a producer goes poorly when the executive rejects both Joe's proposed script and a loan to bring his car payments up to date. Joe does, however, meet Betty Schaefer, a pretty, young script editor who suggests they collaborate to rework one of his earlier screenplays ("Every Movie's a Circus"). As they chat, car repossession agents spot Joe, who quickly escapes.

During the ensuing chase, Joe evades his pursuers by pulling in to the garage of a palatial but dilapidated mansion on Sunset Boulevard. Beckoned inside the house, Joe encounters Norma Desmond ("Surrender"), a star actress of the silent-film era. Taken aback, Joe comments, "You used to be in pictures; you used to be big," to which Norma retorts, "I am big – it's the pictures that got small!" ("With One Look")

The gloomy estate is inhabited only by Norma and Max von Mayerling, her loyal butler and chauffeur. Although decades past her prime and mostly forgotten by the public, Norma is convinced she is as beautiful and popular as ever. Max perpetuates this illusion by shielding her from the realities of life out of the limelight and by writing her letters purportedly from still-devoted fans. Norma informs Joe that she plans to make her comeback with Salome, a script she has written for Cecil B. DeMille to direct with her in the starring role as the teenage biblical temptress ("Salome"). Dubious but sensing opportunity, Joe accepts her offer to work on editing the script. Norma insists that Joe stay in her home while they collaborate on Salome ("The Greatest Star of All").

Joe immediately realizes the script is incoherent, but because Norma won't allow a major rewrite, the revision drags on for months. During this time Joe is virtually imprisoned within the house, but he does break away to fulfill his commitment to Betty. Their working relationship blossoms into a romance that has her reconsidering her engagement to Joe's best friend, Artie Green ("Girl Meets Boy").

Blind to Joe's opportunism, Norma lavishes him with gifts that include a wardrobe makeover and he becomes her kept man ("The Lady's Paying"). She declares her love for him and turns quite possessive ("The Perfect Year"); when he leaves her to attend Artie's New Year's Eve party ("This Time Next Year"), she is distraught and attempts suicide. As a conciliatory gesture, Joe reluctantly returns to work on Salome.

Act II

Joe is now living in luxury at Norma Desmond's mansion, for reasons he bluntly states are mercenary ("Sunset Boulevard"). A cryptic message from Paramount has Norma certain that DeMille is eager to discuss her script ("There's Been A Call"). She drops in on the set of his current film and is greeted warmly by former colleagues and the famed director himself, but he is non-committal about Salome ("As If We Never Said Goodbye"). Meanwhile, Max discovers the studio had called to ask about Norma's Isotta Fraschini, not her screenplay. However, a delusional Norma leaves the lot convinced she'll soon be back in front of the cameras and begins to prepare for the role ("Eternal Youth Is Worth a Little Suffering").

Increasingly paranoid, Norma deduces that Joe and Betty are more than just friends ("Too Much in Love to Care"). Max tells Joe of the depth of his commitment to protecting Norma from discovering the truth, revealing that he was Norma's first husband and has stayed with her all these years ("New Ways to Dream" (reprise)). She calls Betty to reveal Joe's secret life at the mansion, but he overhears and grabs the phone to tell Betty to come see for herself. Realizing their affair is doomed, Joe brusquely tells Betty he enjoys being Norma's pet and that she should go back to Artie. Betty departs, confused and heartbroken, and Joe tells Norma he is leaving her and returning to his hometown of Dayton, Ohio. He also bluntly informs her that Salome is an unfilmable script and her fans have long abandoned her. Furious and grief-stricken, Norma fatally shoots Joe three times as he storms out of the house.

Now completely insane, Norma mistakes the swarms of police and reporters who arrive for studio personnel. Imagining herself on the set of Salome, she slowly descends her grand staircase and utters, "And now, Mr. DeMille, I am ready for my close-up." ("The Final Scene").

Major characters

  • Norma Desmond – a faded, eccentric, former silent screen star
  • Joe Gillis – a struggling young screenwriter
  • Max von Mayerling – Norma's first husband and butler
  • Betty Schaefer – a budding writer and Joe's love interest
  • Artie Green – Betty's fiancé
  • Cecil B. DeMille – the famous director

Casts

<!-- Please include, after 1994, only long-running, major-market productions -->

{| class="wikitable" style="width:1050;"

|-

! rowspan=2|Character

! West End

! Los Angeles

! Broadway

! U.S. tour

! U.K. tour

! West End revival

! Broadway revival

! West End revival

!Broadway revival

|-

!colspan=2|<small>1993</small>

!<small>1994</small>

!<small>1996</small>

!<small>2001</small>

!<small>2008</small>

!<small>2017</small>

!<small>2023</small>

! <small>2024</small>

|-

! Norma Desmond

|colspan='1' align=center| Patti LuPone

|colspan='2' align=center| Glenn Close

|colspan='1' align=center| Linda Balgord

| align=center| Faith Brown

|colspan='1' align=center| Kathryn Evans

|colspan='1' align=center| Glenn Close

|colspan='2' align=center | Nicole Scherzinger°

|-

! Joe Gillis

|colspan='1' align=center| Kevin Anderson

|colspan='2' align=center| Alan Campbell

|colspan='1' align=center| Ron Bohmer

| align=center| Earl Carpenter

|colspan='1' align=center| Ben Goddard

|colspan='1' align=center| Michael Xavier

|colspan='2' align=center | Tom Francis

|-

! Max von Mayerling

|colspan='1' align=center| Daniel Benzali

|colspan='2' align=center| George Hearn

|colspan='1' align=center| Ed Dixon

| align=center| Michael Bauer

|colspan='1' align=center| Dave Willetts

|colspan='1' align=center| Fred Johanson

|colspan='2' align=center| David Thaxton

|-

! Betty Schaefer

|colspan='1' align=center| Meredith Braun

|colspan='1' align=center| Judy Kuhn

|colspan='1' align=center| Alice Ripley

|colspan='1' align=center| Lauren Kennedy

| align=center| Ceri Ann Gregory

|colspan='1' align=center| Laura Pitt-Pulford

|colspan='1' align=center| Siobhan Dillon

|colspan='2' align=center | Grace Hodgett Young

|-

! Artie Green

|colspan='1' align=center| Gareth Snook

|colspan='2' align=center| Vincent Tumeo

|colspan='1' align=center| James Clow

| align=center| Jeremy Finch

|colspan='1' align=center| Tomm Coles

|colspan='1' align=center| Preston Truman Boyd

|colspan='1' align=center| Ahmed Hamad

|colspan='1' align=center| Diego Andres Rodriguez

|-

! Cecil B. DeMille

|colspan='1' align=center| Michael Bauer

|colspan='2' align=center| Alan Oppenheimer

|colspan='1' align=center| William Chapman

| align=center| Vincent Pirillo

|colspan='1' align=center| Craig Pinder

|colspan='1' align=center| Paul Schoeffler

|colspan='1' align=center| Jon Tsouras

|colspan='1' align=center| Shavey Brown

|}

°Rachel Tucker played Norma Desmond at select performances in the 2023 West End revival,

  • "Overture" / "Prologue" – Joe
  • "Let's Have Lunch" – Joe, Artie, Sheldrake, Betty, Actors, Actress & Scriptwriters
  • "Every Movie's a Circus" † – Betty, Joe, Finance Man 1 & Finance Man 2
  • "Surrender" – Norma
  • "With One Look" – Norma
  • "Salome" – Norma & Joe
  • "The Greatest Star of All" – Max
  • "Every Movie's a Circus" (reprise) ∞ † – Artie, Joe, Betty, Barman, Actors, Actress & Waiters
  • "Girl Meets Boy" – Joe & Betty
  • "New Ways to Dream" – Norma & Joe
  • "The Lady's Paying" ^ – Norma, Joe, Manfred & Men's Shop Salesmen
  • "The Perfect Year" – Norma & Joe
  • "This Time Next Year" – Joe, Betty, Artie & Ensemble

Act II

  • "Entr'acte" – Orchestra
  • "Sunset Boulevard" – Joe
  • "There's Been a Call" – Norma & Joe
  • "As If We Never Said Goodbye" – Norma
  • "Surrender" (reprise) – Cecil B. DeMile
  • "Girl Meets Boy" (reprise) – Joe & Betty
  • "Eternal Youth Is Worth a Little Suffering" ^ – Norma, Astrologer & Beauticians
  • "Too Much in Love to Care" – Betty & Joe
  • "New Ways to Dream" (reprise) – Max
  • "The Final Scene" – Joe, Betty, Norma & Max

† Added for Los Angeles production

^ Cut from the 2023 West End and 2024 Broadway productions

∞ Originally a reprise of "Let's Have Lunch"

Productions

Original West End production

thumb|right|Sunset Boulevard at the [[Adelphi Theatre]]

The original West End production, directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Bob Avian, with costumes by Anthony Powell, opened on 12 July 1993 at the Adelphi Theatre. The cast featured Patti LuPone as Norma Desmond, Kevin Anderson as Joe Gillis, Meredith Braun as Betty Schaefer, and Daniel Benzali as Max von Mayerling. Billy Wilder and his wife Audrey Young were joined by Nancy Olson, who had played Betty in the original film, at the opening night performance. Wilder said, "The best thing they did was leave the script alone", and praised LuPone. Reviews were mixed, according to the Associated Press (AP) review summary, quoting the AP critic, Michael Kuchwara: "Some reviewers felt Lloyd Webber took the sting out of a cynical tale. Wilder's bitter brew has been diluted. ... When LuPone is off stage, the show sags.'" Frank Rich wrote in The New York Times: