Name: Sunset Boulevard [Original London Cast]
Brand: Decca Broadway
SKU: 860028
Price: 38.91 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5 (1 reviews)

Sunset Boulevard [Original London Cast]

Rating

Album: Sunset Boulevard [Original London Cast]
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Prologue: House on Sunset
2)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Paramount: Let's Have Lunch
3)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Sheldrake's Office
4)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: On the Road / The House on Sunset
5)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Surrender
6)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: With One Look
7)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Salome
8)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: The Greatest Star of All
9)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Let's Have Lunch (Reprise) / Girl Meets Boy
10)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: The House on Sunset
11)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: New Ways to Dream
12)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: The Lady's Playing
13)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: The House on Sunset
14)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: The Perfect Year
15)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Dialogue After the Perfect Year
16)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Artie Green's Apartment
17)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: This Time Next Year
18)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: House on Sunset
1)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Sunset Boulevard
2)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: The Perfect Year (Reprise)
3)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Journey to Paramount
4)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: As If We Never Said Goodbye
5)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Surrender (Reprise)
6)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Girl Meets Boy
7)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Eternal Youth
8)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Too Much in Love to Care
9)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: New Ways to Dream (Reprise)
10)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Sunset Boulevard (Reprise)
11)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Greatest Star of All (Reprise)

Album: Sunset Boulevard [Original London Cast]
#	Song Title	Time
1)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Prologue: House on Sunset
2)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Paramount: Let's Have Lunch
3)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Sheldrake's Office
4)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: On the Road / The House on Sunset
5)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Surrender
6)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: With One Look
7)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Salome
8)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: The Greatest Star of All
9)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Let's Have Lunch (Reprise) / Girl Meets Boy
10)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: The House on Sunset
11)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: New Ways to Dream
12)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: The Lady's Playing
13)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: The House on Sunset
14)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: The Perfect Year
15)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Dialogue After the Perfect Year
16)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Artie Green's Apartment
17)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: This Time Next Year
18)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: House on Sunset
1)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Sunset Boulevard
2)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: The Perfect Year (Reprise)
3)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Journey to Paramount
4)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: As If We Never Said Goodbye
5)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Surrender (Reprise)
6)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Girl Meets Boy
7)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Eternal Youth
8)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Too Much in Love to Care
9)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: New Ways to Dream (Reprise)
10)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Sunset Boulevard (Reprise)
11)	Sunset Boulevard, musical: Greatest Star of All (Reprise)

Performer Notes

Music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lyrics written by Don Black and Christopher Hampton.
Principal cast includes: Patti LuPone (Norma Desmond); Kevin Anderson (Joe Gillis); Daniel Benzali (Max Von Mayerling); Meredith Braun (Betty Schaefer).
Producers: Nigel Wright, Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Recorded at The Hit Factory, Abbey Road, Olympic and Air Lyndhurst Studios, London, England between July 26th and August 10th, 1993.
Lyricists: Christopher Hampton; Don Black .
Personnel: Carol Duffy, Liz Greenaway, Kate Arneil, Meredith Braun, Anita Louise Combe, Nicolas Colicos, Peter Gale, Alisa Endsley, Gerard Casey, Daniel Benzali, Adam Matalon, Dawn Spence, Michael Bauer, Sasha Millard, Richard Tate, Patti LuPone, Gareth Snook (vocals).
Recording information: Abby Road, London, England (07/26/1993-08/10/1993); Air Lyndhurst, London, England (07/26/1993-08/10/1993); EMI Abbey Road Studios, London, England (07/26/1993-08/10/1993); Olympic, London, England (07/26/1993-08/10/1993); The Hit Factory, London, England (07/26/1993-08/10/1993).
Actor: Patti LuPone.
Photographer: Donald Cooper.
Following the relatively intimate and commercially disappointing Aspects of Love, musical theater composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has sought another blockbuster on the order of Evita or Phantom of the Opera in Sunset Boulevard, an adaptation of director Billy Wilder's 1950 film noir classic about the relationship between a cynical, down-on-his-luck screenwriter and a deranged, middle-aged silent-film star. As set to music here, it actually comes off as a cross between Evita and Phantom of the Opera, with an unsympathetic female star at its center and a backstage story. And Lloyd Webber, working with lyricist-librettists Don Black and Christopher Hampton (with three others mysteriously credited in little boxes in the CD booklet for their contributions to the "development" of the show), copies much of the structures of those works, or perhaps has just found a story that has similarities. As in Evita, the female star is contrasted with a wise-cracking man who narrates the story. This time it's Joe Gillis (Kevin Anderson), played by William Holden in the film, which also used the narration (even though Gillis is floating dead in a pool at the start of the movie, which proceeds in flashback). As in Phantom of the Opera, the main character's obsession with a younger prot‚g‚ leads to madness and tragedy. Nor has Lloyd Webber shied away from repeating himself musically. In fact, it is often possible to cite a song from his earlier works he's rewritten here. "Girl Meets Boy" owes something to Aspects of Love's "Love Changes Everything"; "This Time Next Year" is a variation on "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; and, like "Rainbow High" in Evita, "The Lady's Paying" is a celebration of shopping for clothes. Lloyd Webber does evoke Hollywood movie music with one of his recurring themes, and "Let's Have Lunch" is set to a period swing band arrangement. But much of the music is essentially recycled.
Happily, the singing actors are excellent, starting with Anderson, who is really the central figure, despite the hoopla surrounding the character of Norma Desmond, the aging movie queen. Anderson's Gillis is not just a musical version of the Holden portrayal; he has a little less of Holden's hard edge, a little more sympathy for the other characters. But he is just as hard on himself. In secondary parts, Meredith Braun and Daniel Benzali are equally impressive. Best of all is Patti LuPone, who, having won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Eva Peron in Evita, knows her way around Lloyd Webber and how to play an anti-heroine. Lloyd Webber has written her some big ballads, the show's best music -- "With One Look," "New Ways to Dream," and "As If We'd Never Said Goodbye." And with her powerful, expressive voice, she navigates them easily. But her acting, documented on a double album full of dialogue, also comes across well, as she fills out the character of Norma Desmond. Again, her portrayal is not simply a singing Gloria Swanson, her film predecessor, but a completely realized, personal portrayal of the deluded star who actually does become at least a little sympathetic by the end. The cast is enough to partially mask Sunset Boulevard's status as second-drawer Lloyd Webber. ~ William Ruhlmann