Making a musical of the classic 1950 movie Sunset Boulevard tantalised people for years. The story is about Norma Desmond, a reclusive former silent screen star whose career ended with the coming of sound, dreaming of a comeback, and Joe Gillis, the much younger struggling screenwriter who becomes her writing partner and lover. It attracted such big names as the film's star, Gloria Swanson, who made a demo recording of a never-produced musical adaptation, and Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim who considered it but was dissuaded when the movie's director and co-writer, Billy Wilder, said it should be an opera.
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It was not until 1993 that another big name successfully brought a musical version of Sunset Boulevard to the stage. Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical premiered in the West End and went on to be performed in many other countries, including Australia. Now the show - with a score including With One Look and As If We Never Said Goodbye - is having its Canberra-area premiere in a production directed by Stephen Pike.
He says, "I've never actually seen the show but I've loved it since I first heard the CD. I feel it's some of the most beautiful music Lloyd Webber has ever written."
With a 26-piece band playing the score under musical director Sharon Tree, he says the audience will be transfixed as soon as the overture begins.
"It's just such rousing music."
Although Sunset Boulevard is about a particular time and place - Hollywood in the years after World War II - Pike says the themes of the show - human relationships viewed from a number of angles, people losing their status and trying desperately to reclaim it - remain relevant.
Pike says initially he thought the relationship was pretty much a mercenary one on the part of Gillis, taking advantage of Norma's loneliness and desperate need for a comeback, but he came to see the relationship as more complicated on both sides.
"She's really the cougar in this situation," he says - but both Norma and Joe develop real feelings for each other: he's more than a toyboy for her, and she's more than a meal ticket for him. And watching over them both is Norma's mysterious, protective butler, Max (Peter Dark).
But then another woman - aspiring writer Betty Schaefer (Vanessa de Jager) comes into the picture and the situation changes markedly.
Bronwyn Sullivan, who plays Norma Desmond, says, "The film is a darker version of the story, filmed very darkly. What the music does is give you a greater range of emotion."
Among the big names who have played Norma Desmond are Betty Buckley, Glenn Close, Patti LuPone and Elaine Paige but far more daunting than following in these footsteps for Sullivan is the challenge of the role itself.
Sullivan says, "She's larger than life but hopefully I will not make her over the top. I find her emotionally vulnerable - that's what I can bring to it."
Daniel Wells, who plays Joe, sees the character as "a bit of a rogue who enters the situation as an opportunist to make a buck."
Joe comes to realise he's in over his head, he says, and he's not a villain. He develops a genuine affection for Norma, but not romantic love.
His feelings become stronger for Betty, whom de Jager describes as "a 1940s career woman".
For both Wells and Sullivan, formerly busy participants in the local musical theatre scene, Sunset Boulevard marks a comeback to starring roles. Sullivan had a supporting part in The Phantom of the Opera last year and Wells' last role was in Titanic in 2012. But unlike Norma Desmond, their retreat from the limelight was voluntary. But now, once again, they're ready for their close-ups."
Sunset Boulevard. Directed by Stephen Pike. Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lyrics by Don Black & Christopher Hampton. Queanbeyan City Council. The Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre. October 8 to 25. Bookings: theq.net.au
