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What's going on with SUNSET BOULEVARD in Australia? | The Sarah Brightman led revival review roundup
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Mickie Jo
Musical theatre is still big. It's the demand for tickets amidst a financially challenging atmosphere that got smaller. Oh my God. Hey and welcome back. If you're meeting me for the first time, my name is Mickie Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I'm also a professional theatre critic here on social media as well as a theatre fan and a pundit. Which means that as well as reviewing the shows that I have been invited to go and see in the West End and on Broadway, I also comment on theatre news happening worldwide. At least that's what I've said in the start of a lot of these videos. But other than my recent trip to Hamburg and a couple of trips to Paris, I haven't really been delivering on the worldwide front because there is one particular theatrical area that I've been neglecting. I am talking about Australia. But not too long ago the Australian theatre scene got my attention in a big way when they announced a star studded revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard. The same musical which had just enjoyed a multi award winning run here in the West End that was soon to transfer to New York. Only this was promising to be not only a technically different production with a different creative team and a different vision, but a very different production production with very different central casting because it was going to mark the stage return after 34 years of Sarah Brightman. And by that I mean the musical theatre stage return since I guess Aspects of Love maybe. Fast forward to Now June of 2024 and the production has opened in Melbourne. Later this year it will be making its way to Sydney. I gather that this is something that happens a lot in the Australian theatre scene, that because there's not one, you know, go to area for theatre like London in the uk, like New York in the us that productions tend to travel around to multiple cities. And heads up, if that or anything else I say subsequently in this video is incorrect, Australians, feel free to correct me in the comments section down below. I'm going to be relying a lot on your help in explaining a few more things in this video. But despite being on the other side of the world, I have been following this very closely. I was very intrigued as to what the opening night reviews were going to look like and now news has broken that the show is scaling back on performances a little bit during its Melbourne run. But what exactly does that mean? What is the reason for this and what does it say about, you know, the current theatre scene, about Sarah Brightman, about Sunset Boulevard as a musical? Because worldwide financial challenges notwithstanding, like it's difficult to produce theatre everywhere right now. Everything seems to be getting more expensive for people everywhere right now. It's interesting that you could have one production of Sunset Boulevard being a like, fantastic, smash, sellout hit in the West End with central star casting, and then a very different, more traditional production perhaps struggling to sell as many tickets in a different location, also with style casting. So it's that sort of dichotomy and contrast that I want to explore a little bit in today's video. So we're going to talk about Sunset Boulevard as a musical. We're going to talk about this production, we're going to look through some of the Australian reviews and we're going to find out if Australia really don't love this production of Sunset Boulevard or if there's a little more to it. Stay tuned for a full theatrical deep dive. Now, of course, I know there are some Australians watching these videos. If you have seen this production. I obviously haven't had the chance to go to Australia and see this production. I still have in the back of my mind that I am curious to later in the year. I haven't ruled it out, but if you have seen this already, let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below. Because what regular theatre goers think about shows is just as valid, just as important as the critics. Also, if you do enjoy this video, make sure to subscribe or follow me wherever you happen to be seeing this so that you don't miss any more upcoming musical theatre content. Who knows, before the year is out, maybe I'll make it to Australia and go and see Sunset Boulevard for myself. But for now, let's try and figure out what is going on right now in Australia. So I think a little bit of context on Sunset Boulevard is important here and will help you to understand, if you don't already, why this is so interesting to me. And it's largely because this as a musical is no stranger to a little bit of diva drama. The show is based on the iconic Billy Wilder film of the same name from 1950, I believe, and premiered in the early 1990s. It has a score by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, who by that point was already a celebrated composer who had given the world the Phantom of the Ox, as well as Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar. But it's with Phantom that he really solidified his reputation. It also starred his wife, Sarah Brightman. Now, I believe Sarah and Andrew met when she was a young dancer, a member of an exciting dance troupe named Hot Gossip, choreographed and created by Arlene Phillips. But prior to their marriage, she also made her West End debut in Cats. Then in the late 80s, she originated the role of Christine Daae in the Phantom of the Opera. A role and a show that seemed to be very much shaped around the specificity of her talents. Not only her high soprano vocal range, but also her dance ability. Christine used to sing Think of Me on point at the beginning of the show. Now the two would divorce in 1990, a few years prior to the premiere of Sunset Boulevard, but they have remained amicable and they have remained creative collaborators. He's written new music for her in the years since. You know, he would continue to be a celebrated musical theatre composer, he would write more shows, she would go on to become the best selling soprano of all time. But in all those years, and until now, she has not returned to the world of musical theater theater. That being said, musicals take a decent amount of time to develop. And Sarah recently gave an interview where she stated that much of the original score for Sunset Boulevard was written around her voice because, you know, she was married to Andrew, I guess, when he was developing it. The timeline is a little bit peculiar on that one, but that's what she says. And true Enough, an initial 40 minute version of the show was presented as a workshop presentation starring Rhea Jones at Sydmonton in 1991. So it all just appears bout lines up. Anyway, by the time we reach a fully staged premiere of Sunset Boulevard, it is starring Patti LuPone in London and she is anxious about the opportunity to reprise her role on Broadway, you know, and she has it written into her contract that she has the exclusive right of refusal, I guess, to play the role on Broadway. Around the same time, Andrew had been exploring the possibility of Faye Dunaway starring as Norma Desmond in the show. But then she was dropped from the project and called a press release in the garden of her own home to discuss the rumours that this was because she couldn't sing the role. Which is fascinating because ironically enough, the Broadway role ended up going to Glenn Close. Andrew was then in breach of contract and Patti LuPone sued him successfully, and hence the Android Webber Memorial pool. All of this being well documented elsewhere. But Glenn, both at the time and since, was not really known as a vocalist on the same level as Patti LuPone, who had already starred in Les Miserables as Fantine and Evita and Anything Goes and was a Tony Award winning musical theatre star. Hence, adjustments were made to the score, like the transposition of the end of the song with one look to make it a little Bit lower. So Patti LuPone, in a well documented irritation, stepped away from the show. And in the years since, it's Glenn Close who has become the most closely associated with Norma Desmond in the musical version of Sunset Boulevard. This in spite of the fact that various fans of the show and opinionated homosexuals, the Venn diagram of which looks like the moments before a solar eclipse, by the way, may tell you that they personally preferred any of, I don't know, Diane Carroll, Rhea Jones, Elaine Paige. Betty Buckley is a name I hear a lot. But Glenn is enduringly, deeply enamoured with the mater. She starred in a revival version of the show at the London Coliseum that then transferred once again to Broadway in more recent years. And she is still to this day trying to develop a film version of the Sunset Boulevard musical, seemingly with no awareness of the irony that is art imitating life. Because, you know, she's, in a way not unlike Norma Desmond herself, clinging to this script that nobody seems to want to produce, that she is convinced is a work of genius. But that's neither here nor there, because the tale of Sunset Boulevard had a very big upd in store. Because while we had seen major revivals over the years in various different stars, it had never been shaken up quite as much as it was when Jamie Lloyd created a new version of the show for the West End. Jamie Lloyd, a hugely exciting theatre director who by this point in his career has become known for his stark minimalism and his bold use of microphones on stage. And blood. And with this production of Sunset Boulevard, giant screens and cameras, little of which he is credited as bringing to the stage in the first instance. By the way, it's worth noting here that a lot of these are sort of European practices that via Jamie Lloyd and via the likes of Ivo Van Hove, have made their way to mainstream UK and Broadway theatre. But that wasn't the only difference, because it was also announced that Pussycat Dolls alumnus Nicole Scherzinger would star as Norma Desmond, casting that a lot of people had opinions about, as they almost always do. But by the time the show opened, and it received largely very positive reviews and stellar word of mouth, it was a hit. And during its limited West End run at the Savoy Theatre, there was no other show in town that people were talking about as much as Sunset Boulevard. Whether it was because of the stunt where Tom Francis, playing Joe Gillis, walked around the perimeter of the theatre with a live camera, singing the song at the start of the second act before heading back into the auditorium to finish it on stage, whether it was the mesmerizing and vocally very powerful performance of Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond. The show, though still slightly polarizing, was a huge success, on the back of which a Broadway transfer was announced with the same four stars that had appeared in the London version. The jury is still out as to whether or not that is going to be as critically successful on Broadway. It is transferring to New York, where it will play at the St. James Theatre as part of the already very crowded 2024-2025 season. And as we have seen with the recent transfer of Rebecca Frecknell's revival of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, critical success in the West End does not guarantee the same reception in New York. But what does this have to do with Australia? Well, amongst all of this noise about the modern, bold and camera heavy revival of Sunset Boulevard playing in London and soon to be playing in New York, another production was announced. That production would play in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, and would star Sarah Brightman. And if we thought that Glenn Close trying to get a Sunset Boulevard movie greenlit was a little bit art imitating life, then this has to be as well. Because the character of Norma Desmond, if you don't know, is this former huge silent screen star that has since become something of a mysterious recluse and the world had forgotten about her until a young screenwriter named Joe Gillis stumbled into her mansion on Sunset Boulevard. When he is taken aback at their first meeting and says to her, you're Norma Desmond, you used to be big. And she replies, I'm still big. It's the pictures that got small. We get a sense of the grandeur of her character. So there is something that feels incredibly apt about casting Sarah Brightman in this return to musical theatre after three decades in one of the Andrew Lloyd Webber shows she hadn't yet appeared in. You know, she's done Cats, she's done Aspects of Love, she's of course done the Phantom of the Opera. She hasn't done Sunset Boulevard yet. Was she also in Tell Me on a Sunday? I feel like she was also in Tell Me on a Sunday now. At the same time, Sarah Brightman, who I will remind you, is a big star, especially in the classical music world. The world's best selling soprano, like we established, unlike Norma Desmond, has hardly been a forgotten recluse. She has, for what it's worth, spent a good portion of her recent years just dedicatedly trying to go to space. I'm not even joking for a moment here. There was a whole time where she was trying to get involved in space tourism and she was training for it, which I'm fascinated by as a concept. She made an album about it, again, I believe, in collaboration with Sir Angela Lloyd Webber. I told you, they remain on good terms. She speaks very positively about him on talk shows. And if you don't know what I'm referencing, I beg of you not to look it up for your own sanity. For whatever reason, she ultimately made the decision not to go to space and has decided in lieu of that to go to Australia. And, you know, if she didn't have such a publicly great relationship with her ex husband, it would seem as though she was trying to get as far away as possible. Because, you know, when, when not given the opportunity to leave the planet, she just travels to the other side of the globe. Of course, I'm being deeply facetious and the fact is I was very intrigued when Sarah Brightman was announced for this show. And like I said, there is a big part of this casting that made a lot of sense. There's another part of it that left me curious and that is the vocals of it all. Now, like I've told you before, this is a show that is no stranger to different vocal interpretations. Peter Lupone and Glenn Close had very different voices. Nicole Scherzinger again has a very different voice, but Sarah Brightman has a very different voice to all of the above because it's written to be, you know, more of a belty part. And Sarah is a classical soprano who certainly has the range for the role, but whose voice has a very different tone and timbre. So let's take a look at a few of the Australian reviews and find out what happened when she actually opened in the show. So I'm reading Tim Burns review in the Guardian and he gave it two stars out of five. He wrote, sarah Brightman disappoints in Andrew Lloyd Webber's mawkish musical. In her first theatre role in decades, the soprano is simply not up to the task of playing Norma Desmond. Let's find out a little bit more about why. The monstrous, pitiful Norma Desmond, the washed up silent film star at the heart of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, is a massive and complex role. It requires an actor of great charisma and gravitas to pull it off. But Sarah Brightman, who leapt to fame originating the role of ingenue Christine Daae in Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, is simply not up to the task in Opera Australia's new production. Not physically, not dramatically, and certainly not vocally Norma's monstrosity, her cloying need for validation, her aggressive vulnerability is also what brings her dignity. If only Brightman could play any of it. Oh, this is quite brutal. She delivers those famous early lines. I am big. It's the pictures that got small and we didn't need dialogue. We had faces. As if reading the lesser contents of her will. In her opening number, with one look, she seems to suck in lungfuls of air like a guppy, only to release a breathy, stretched and haltingly phrased series of notes that barely travel over the orchestra pit. Her voice improves in the second act, but her performance never shifts beyond the wooden and superficial. And, you know, having not yet seen the production for myself, I am reminded of a lot of other legendary musical theatre performers who, performing in their later years, don't have the voices that they once had. I think that's just a reality of a career as a singer. You know, some retain their ability more so than others and still sound great well into their later years. Others, you know, the voice changes and the voice matures. There are a great many Elphabas who do not sound how they used to. That's the effect that a show like Wicked can have on the voice. Also, someone like an Elaine Page or like a Bernadette Peters, both of whom I just love and are some of my favourite musical theatre performers of all time, they don't have the voices that they once had back in their heyday. That's just being realistic. And I think there has to be a certain expectation when going to see such a legendary performer on stage that vocally, they will be in a different place to how they were 30 years ago. @ the same time, a comment could be made on the material of Sunset Boulevard, because in something like a Sondheim show, there is room for an acting performance to be something that you can tether it to. And I can't think of as many Sondheim shows, or really any Sondheim shows, where a challenged or difficult vocal can sync the whole thing. Whereas in something like Sunset Boulevard, Norma has a lot of big singing and it's kind of necessary for it to be powerful and impactful. I'm reminded of another video I made about the reviews for Funny Girl when Beanie Feldstein opened in the revival on Broadway a few years ago. And the critics, similarly, were not huge fans of that production. And a lot was said about the difference in vocal quality between the Barbra Streisand original and. And her new interpretation of the music and the thing that they seem to have in common is this commentary on vocal strength and a certain weakness to the voice, which you know would work for a great many roles. I don't know if it works for Norma Desmond, who still needs to retain that power. I mean, the first few lines that we hear her sing are basically shouted in the Nicole Scherzinger Jamie Lloyd revival. She's an undeniable force. And without those tools at your disposal as a performer, the only remaining choice seems to be to play up the fragility and the vulnerability, which perhaps Sarah Brymon does. Again, I don't know. I haven't seen the performance, but it would certainly color the whole thing very differently. I'm also thinking about Audra McDonald's upcoming return to Broadway in Gypsy. Now she has again a legit soprano voice, a very different kind of a voice to the previous actresses who have played Madame Rose in Gypsy on Broadway, like Ethel Merman, like Bernadette peters and Patti LuPone and Angela Lansbury and Tyne Daly. Some people have already commented that her casting in this revival doesn't make sense from their perspective. Because of that, I guess we'll have to wait and see if something similar happens when that show opens later this year. The production itself is slick and stylish, with a terrific ensemble of performers and some stirring playing from Melbourne Orchestra under the musical direction of Paul Christ. Is his surname really Christ? Are there Christs running about in the world? Wow, I did not know. I did not know we had Christs in 2024. Carrying on the lushness of the orchestrations, those swooning strings and clarion brass bring emotional heft. Morgan Large's sets and costumes are richly detailed. That grimly decorative house reminded me of Catherine de Medici's gloomy bedroom in the Chateau de Ch. Apologies, I was halfway through a reference that meant nothing to me. But what is interesting here is that you have this production that is a lot more similar visually to the original version of the show. And that's something some people really didn't like about the Jamie Lloyd revival. They missed the glamour and they said this isn't Sunset Boulevard or this wasn't their version of Sunset Boulevard. And we see that commentary a lot when things are revived in a way that's very different to the original, especially from die hard fans. But what this, I guess, goes to show is, is that even if you have a staircase and a turban and a car and a swimming pool, and even if you have the glamour and the grandeur of all of it, that is not necessarily what the show is. If you still have problems at the heart of that thing. A show is more than its set design. I have said this time and time again, Sunset Boulevard is not a musical about stairs. This, of course, is one person's opinion. Let's look at a different review. So this is going to be the age and it's also a two star review, presumably again, out of five. Some people do it differently. And there's an interesting little introduction here about producing Sunset Boulevard in the social media age. Now that anyone can be famous for anything, we all seem to have a little bit of Norma Desmond in her sleep. The toxic obsession with celebrity that drives the musical has spread, alas, to the general population. This new production doesn't do much. Okay, it doesn't do anything to take that change in, but it does have Sarah Brightman, musical theatre royalty. And if you want to see the legend live in a musical, this could be your last best chance. I mean, that sounds very morbid, but it's more the point that she very rarely does musical theatre. But you'll be doing it because Brightman's music means something to you or to tell all your friends you saw her or perhaps to further your parasocial relationship with the star. Wow, they are going in in Australia. Truth is, Brightman's long hiatus from musical theatre has diminished her theatrical skills. And vocal stylings that work like a charm in the recording studio don't always translate well to the stage. I don't know if that's the diagnosis, whether or not the end result is the same. It's also been years. It's been years since she's performed in musical theatre. I don't know if it's like time away from it or simply time that has had that effect. And simultaneously, I think the appetite has changed slightly and I think the tastes of audiences have changed slightly. And I think performances as they were in the 80s were tonally different from what we've seen on recordings, from what I've seen in bootlegs of various different shows and in something like A Phantom of the Opera where Christine Daae is very sort of just like wide eyed deer in the headlights. Oh, no, I'm being abducted on a boat again. You know, it requires a very different kind of acting to Norma Desmond. It's not necessarily that she's forgotten how to do theatre in her time away from musical theatre. I think it's more just that this is a very different role that hasn't been written specifically around her abilities. Like Christina side she played a cat and navigated the madness that is aspects of love. None of which necessarily qualifies you to do Sunset Boulevard, to do Norma Destination and to do it justice. And it's a hard roll. It's got to be one of the hardest roles. If few musical notes are beyond Brightman, who's renowned for her three octave vocal range, her vocals here are so operatic and resort to such heavy vibrato that you sometimes can't make out the lyrics. There's an argument for Brightman's artistic opera precedes musical theatre as silent cinema does talkies, I suppose. And if the aria busting vocals had been deployed with a sharper sense of parody and attention to character, they might have worked. Interesting footnote here. Sondheim was at one point approached to write a musical version of Sunset Boulevard, but I believe it was Billy Wilder who told him that he really thought it ought to have been an opera. Sondheim agreed and therefore decided not to. Lloyd Webber did it anyway and admittedly gave us what I think is a brilliant score. Now, we've been talking a lot about Sarah Brightman. She's not the only person on stage in this production, and it doesn't all fall entirely on her shoulders. Let's read about some of the other details in this production. The web of erotic attraction and revulsion between Norma and failed screenwriter Joe, played by Tim Draxel, doesn't stick either, which neutralises some of the complex tensions that make noir work. Draxel is a bit lightweight vocally to be going toe to toe with Brightman, and the portrayal is probably too nice for a Chandler esque anti hero succumbing to moral decay. Ashley Rubenak as the optimistic love interest is Norma's worst nightmare. Young, clever, vivacious, with a voice as crisp as a bell, Jared Draper makes a striking impression as her lovely but limited fiance. You can't fault Robert Grub as the gothic butler with a secret past, or Troy Sussman's cigar waving film producer, or Paul Hanlon's cameo as Cecil B. DeMille. But this production doesn't exude the confidence and energy you would have hoped for on opening night. That isn't to say the ensemble performs badly, nor that the period inspired choreography and big chorus numbers aren't entertaining. It's just that the cast look like they're still on tenterhooks and it may take a week or two for all traces of effort to be properly disguised. We're left with a sunset boulevard that looks the part. Vibrant period costume, stormy projections and silhouetted palms a set dominated by an imposing Spanish Gothic Revival mansion, but often fails in performance to be funny or dark or tense enough to deliver the guts of the show, and that was reviewed by Cameron Woodhead, but they didn't go without positive reviews. Let's look at a little bit of the praise here as well. This is from JWire.com this new production about faded glory and unfulfilled ambition at the Princess Theatre retains the strong impact it had when I first saw it all those years ago. The staging, beginning with multiple lace curtaining, is spectacular. An opulent, dark mansion interior set, complete with winding staircase is a compelling sense centerpiece for much of the action. The setting is enhanced by the evocative lighting and sound design, along with elegant gowns worn by Sarah Brightman in her role as Desmond. Slick choreography from Ashley Wallen and tight direction by Paul Warwick Griffin are other hallmarks of the piece. Much creative praise there, with a powerful and enduring stage presence. Soprano Brightman, who is noted for her wide vocal range, is suitably melodramatic with perfect diction. Her vocalisation is often operatic, a sharp contrast to other cast members who adopt a conventional musical theatre tone. Everyone is framing this like a choice. I think her voice is just what her voice is, honestly, which a the producers must have known when they produced this and b ticket holders must have known when they bought tickets. Like anyone who is turning up to see Sarah Brightman in Sunset Boulevard and getting mad about the fact that she doesn't sound like Betty Buckley is acting too brand new for my taste anyway. Tim Draxel impresses in his representation of Joe Gillis, a rousing rendition of the title track immediately after interval being among his many highlights. Does he do it while walking outside, though? That's the question. And then we just sort of praise our way to the end of the review. And so this one, which was written by Alex Furst, spoke briefly but positively about Sarah Brightman. Paul Cashmere for Noise11.com says, Never before have I seen an Australian production with all of the ingredients at perfection level. I could simply not fault this show in any way. He calls Sarah Brightman's casting a major get for Australia, and the payoff is her mesmerizing voice and performance. I still get chills thinking of her singing, although a paragraph later he also says, for a Lloyd Webber musical, Sunset Boulevard has no standout song. Instead, the show works as a complete body of work, more so than the concept album format many shows follow. This show features the Melbourne Orchestra of musical director Paul Christ. There he is again Filling the room with sound unlike a more common band backing the performances, that also lifts this show to a traditional and often intense theatrical level. What I'm hearing here is a yearning for the musicals of yesteryear. That, you know, the classic nature of all of this is what made it appealing to this particular critic. And that's a very valid response. I think it has. Is it saying it has multiple great songs rather than not one standout song? Because if it's saying no song emerges from the score, I have issue with that. But if it's saying there are multiple strong songs, as in as if We Never Said Goodbye and Sunset Boulevard, and with one look, then clearly we disagree. Let's go to Patricia Maunder, writing for Limelight. This was a three star out of five, a little bit more positive than some of the early star rating ones that we'd seen. Brightman's underwhelming performance on opening night, especially in the first act, was a surprise. Her voice lacked power, her phrasing tended to be limp, and diction's at time unclear. We're hearing very contrasting things here. While Norma should be a monstrous, tragic cartoon, Brightman's interpretation is wooden, which is a very damning adjective. There is little of the push pull chemistry one might expect between Brightman's Norma and Tim Drax Axel's Joe. I do have to say a lot of what they're taking issue with in the overall production are things that I think the Jamie Lloyd one does very well. And there's a lot that it sacrifices. Like it doesn't deliver that same classic feel. We don't have the same visuals for sure, because it's very visually different. It is an entirely different aesthetic. But the chemistry between Norma and Joe in this new production of the show and the vitality and the lust and the intrigue that that creates, I think is, you know, I think that speaks for itself. There is praise for Tim Draxel here as Joe. His performance is one of the show's best assets, she writes. He neatly conveys the character's varied moods and his strong voice soars in the show stopping title song solo. Drexel's romantic drip with Ashley Rubinak's Betty. Too Much in Love to Care is also a show highlight. I mean, that's a positive thing that I can only take to be a massive indictment on this production. Because if Too Much in Love to Care is a highlight of Sunset Boulevard, something's not right. I'm sorry, with that Sunset Boulevard, that is not meant to be the standout moment. Of the show. Oh, she was Nancy in the recent Groundhog Day. There you go. I'm finding myself already getting very invested in these Australian performers. She has a sweet, astute voice and gives Betty plenty of classic Hollywood Girl Next Door spirit. Morgan Large's set and costumes look fabulous at the intimate Princess Theatre. Norma wears a series of glittering draping gowns and caftans that always catch the eye. Then we have multiple paragraphs talking about the visuals and the design. But despite its winning design and many strong performances, this Sunset Boulevard ultimately lacks emotional impact. It would be interesting to see if Norma alternate Silvi Paladino can make it a more satisfying experience. So this is the other thing I need to tell you, because Sarah Brightman is not playing the role of Norma Desmond at every single performance, just like Nicole Scherzinger didn't In the recent London run, there is an alternate playing the role of Norma Desmond, an Australian actress named Sylvie Palladino. And interestingly enough, I do believe that it was the mega musicals of Andrew Lloyd webber in the 80s that first began to introduce the concept of an alternate performer into the world of musical theatre. Christine Daae had an alternate. Eva Peron in Evita had an alternate. And I was recently reading a comment from Australian theatre fans talking about how Silvi Palladino had more pull to Australian audiences than Sarah Brightman. However, it seems like that may not in fact be the case, and here is why. So this finally is the main news that we have come here to talk about today. The fact that they are scaling back performances for the show's Melbourne run. Now this was reported yesterday by Elizabeth Flux in the Age. Lavish Opera Australia production of Sunset Boulevard cuts back shows Less than two weeks since it opened, Opera Australia has scaled back the number of shows being performed for its Melbourne production of Sunset Boulevard. The cast has been told Tuesday performances of the Angela Dwebber musical will be cancelled from next week. Sources involved in the production, not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed the move to the Age. Then we talk about the show and it notes that the lavish Opera Australia staging marked star soprano Sarah Brightman's return to musical theatre after a 34 year absence. But both the show and her performance have had mixed reviews and they pull a quote from one that I hadn't read, which is Peter Craven, writing for Spectator Australia, said Opera Australia had taken a risk on such a big production and in the case of Sarah Brightman, there's magic in that risk and there is also triumph. Now, they note here that Brightman had been sharing the role with Australian performer Sylvie Palladino, who until now had been performing in Tuesday evening and Wednesday matinee shows. And it's the Tuesday performances that are going to be cancelled. So any suggestion that Silvi Palladino's shows are selling better may not necessarily be the case. It will be interesting to see subsequently if Silvi Palladino only does the Wednesday matinee or if she still does two performances and they're cancelling the Tuesdays because they are the least likely to sell well. That's kind of what we see with shows everywhere. It's the weekend shows that are going to sell better. People are more likely to go out and go to the theatre. And the start of the week, your Monday nights, your Tuesday nights are probably going to be the worst selling. And occasionally a midweek matinee. But with a show like this that appeals to a more classic audience, potentially of more retired people, perhaps slightly older demographic, fans of Sarah Brightman, I dare say, then a midweek matinee probably sells quite well. So here's a little bit of journalism that they did then. As of Wednesday morning, all Tuesday performances from June 18 onwards in Melbourne had been marked as unavailable on the production's ticketing website. Similarly, all Sunday shows starting from July 1, as well as the entire final week of Sunset Boulevard, are unable to be booked. It is unclear at this stage whether this is due to further cancellations, but it would seem to imply that it might be so. Possibly they are taking the last week off of sale, as well as multiple shows during the run. It will be interesting to see what the plan is for Sydney. I dare say it would be worth us taking a look at tickets on the website for that one. But before we do, there is a statement here from Opera Australia confirming the cancelled shows, confirming that the Tuesday shows have been cancelled. The performance schedule for Sunset Boulevard's Melbourne season is being adjusted to reflect the current market conditions. And that is something that we hear a lot, and that's because, you know, it's always the truth. But there is also a truth behind that truth, because the reality is that it's not selling as well as they would have hoped when they originally, you know, set out the number of performances and the ticket prices and all of that stuff. But what is the reason behind that? Why is the show not selling? That's the thing that they haven't really commented on here, as you would expect for them not to. All ticket holders for the affected performances will be contacted. If you're watching this and you've somehow found out from my video that a performance you had booked to see has been cancelled. Don't worry, you are allegedly going to be contacted, presumably at the point of sale. And then an interesting note to finish here, that despite previous criticism for Opera Australia staging many musicals as well as opera, previous musicals have proven popular. Last year's productions of Miss Saigon and the Phantom of the Opera, they've got a big thing for the mega musical, clearly attracted nearly half of the entire 2023 audience for whatever reason. Sunset Boulevard not doing as well. And I don't think it has the same popularity as a Miss Saigon or a Phantom of the Opera for sure. I mean, it certainly doesn't have the popularity of a Phantom of the Opera, few things do. But you have to imagine that the word of mouth and the critical reception have been a factor in helping people make the decision as to whether or not to get tickets. Listen, I'd have been there if it was not on the other side of the planet. I would be there to see Sarah Brightman doing Sunset Boulevard out of sheer fascination alone. Let's take a look then at ticket availability in Sydney. So currently in Sydney, they are still advertising performances Tuesdays through Sundays with two matinees. So still an eight performance schedule with a note that Sarah Brightman will not be appearing on Tuesday evenings or Wednesday matinees. And if I was to look at a random Saturday night that we would expect to see sold quite well. Let's take a look at this. Wow. A booking fee of $8.95. That seems like a lot. I'm already annoyed and I'm not even in Australia. Maybe that's the reason they've cancelled performances, honestly. Okay, so that's Saturday night performance on my birthday has sold quite well. Let's look at one of the Tuesday nights here later in September. Ah, that perhaps is where we start to see slightly more of a problem. There is still very much a lot of availability for that performance and I'm wondering why that is. Because I think when it comes to celebrity casting, and we call it stunt casting a lot, but certainly when you're casting with status, I think the best examples of that are where the show also ties in closely to that performer's personal brand. And Sarah Brightman doing an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical works very well for that. And you'd have thought that those same people who enjoyed the Phantom of the Opera last year would definitely come back out of the woodwork and book tickets to see this for whatever reason. Doesn't seem to be the case. Which is curious. Now, as we've heard time and time again, and as was implied in that brief statement, it is still financially a very challenging time to produce theatre. It's a financially challenging time to be human that's going to affect producers and audiences simultaneously, neither of which do good things for ticket sales. It's also interesting to note the impact that reviews can have. We see shows in the West End that sell out before any critics have the chance to see them. Because of star casting, something like Romeo and Juliet starring Tom Holland, it was impossible to get tickets before the critics came to see it, so it would hardly have mattered what they said. Whereas in New York, I've always said it feels as though the reviews matter more because tourists pay attention to what is called the good show in town when they turn up in New York not knowing about the musicals on Broadway and they just want to see something of quality. It's been fascinating to note where Australia falls in the midst of all that. Where these reviews do seem as though they must have had an impact, could it also be that Sunset Boulevard is just a little bit less known in Australia? Ironically, would a movie musical based on Sunset Boulevard help give it more of an awareness around the globe? I don't know. It's at this point that I would love to hear from any Australians in the comments section, particularly if you've seen this production or perhaps you're going to be seeing it when it comes to Sydney. Let me know if you have any locally specific insights about any of this and also what you thought of the show and Sarah Brightman's performance as Norma Desmond. In the meantime, I am going to be following this story as it develops. We also have the Broadway transfer of the other Sunset Boulevard to look forward to, and for those who are studying the industry, maybe aspiring producers, I think there's a lot to learn from the parallels between these two shows, from their artistic approaches and their comparative success. Thank you so much for watching this video. I hope that you have enjoyed comment below with all of your thoughts and feelings and stay tuned for the next theatre video coming from me very soon. I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds, I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.