Sunset Boulevard at the Watermill Theatre in England

I'm one of those crazed Sunset fans who flies around the world to catch the various productions. How does this one hold up? All in all, very well. I mean, I still miss the hovering mansion, but we'll never see that again - ever. So I won't go on about it.

This production is all about claustrophobia, and the tiny theatre and the small stage certainly add to it. But especially during the second act, you can almost feel the tension filling the air, the desperate characters getting themselves further and further into a situation which they know will end with tragedy. And that's what I thought this production did very well - focusing on the characters' feelings and emotions. For instance in "Too Much in Love to Care", where Joe and Betty confess their love for each other. Instead of this being the straight forward love song it used to be, it is now tragic and heart wrenching. Joe and Betty are so desperate, so angry at their own feelings, and how they just don't fit into their lives at this moment. Excellent stuff.
Also, I loved how in "As If We Never Said Goodbye", the actors and the crew at the Paramount lot keep filming the scene they are working on, while Norma pours her heart out. It's all in her mind, and the Paramount people don't really care about her, so why should they stand around her and applauding her, like they did in previous productions?

The whole actor-musician thing was a bit strange at first, but after a while I stopped noticing it. I did, of course, miss some of the fullness and "umph" in some numbers, especially the overture, but other than that it worked very well. The only person on stage who didn't play an instrument though, was Kathryn Evans.

Now, Kathryn Evans' performance did disappoint me a little bit. I'm not sure how I should interpret her performance. It seemed to me that she didn't really do that much acting. She relied too much on her eyes and her singing voice. There was nothing wrong with the latter, by the way. Pure gold, and plenty of it. Evans actually looked a lot like Gloria Swanson, when I think of it. The face, the hair, the dresses. Very interesting - although maybe not intentional?

To me, the best part of the whole show was the New Years party scene. As you may or may not know, this was done as a "split screen" in some of the earlier productions. The lower half of the stage showed the action in Artie Green's flat, and the uper half showed what was going on in Norma's mansion. At the Watermill, this was done superbly: after about one third of the scene at Artie's, the music comes to a halt, and the overture starts playing as Norma walks slowly across the stage. Her eyes look dead, yet she is very determined in the way she moves. Norma disappears, and the scene and the "festive" music continues. About a minute later the same thing happens as Norma once again appears, this time together with Max, who pours her a drink. These moments on stage are very difficult to describe, but they sent several chills down my spine.

I could actually go on forever, but I'll spare you. The production was very good, although I didn't quite like Kathryn Evans's portrayal of Norma Desmond. The production delved boldly into the darker sides of the story, but I'm sure they could have made it even darker and grittier.