Star Scene Interview with Sarah Brightman & Tim Draxl, SUNSET BOULEVARD, by Karen Dean

Karen Dean asks Sarah Brightman and Tim Draxl about their favourite, and most challenging, scenes in SUNSET BOULEVARD.
Music by ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER
Book & Lyrics by DON BLACK & CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON
Based on the BILLY WILDER film
CURRENTLY PLAYING AT MELBOURNE’S PRINCESS THEATRE and then SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE FROM AUGUST 28
The much-anticipated lavish new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony Award winning musical masterpiece, SUNSET BOULEVARD, starring musical theatre and international superstar Sarah Brightman, is now playing in Melbourne.
Audiences have been offering standing ovations for the spectacular now playing at the Princess Theatre. A season at the Sydney Opera House will follow from August 28. Tickets are on sale at sunsetmusical.com.au
Marking her return to the theatre after more than three decades, Sarah Brightman stars as Norma
Desmond, the iconic role that catapulted Glenn Close to Broadway stardom and recently earned Nicole Scherzinger an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical in the West End. Alongside her will be critically acclaimed Australian actor and performer Tim Draxl in the role of Joe Gillis, a role last played on stage in Australia by Hugh Jackman in 1996.
Joining Sarah and Tim on stage in the role of Max Von Mayerling will be stage and screen veteran Robert Grubb, with the role of Betty Schaefer played by emerging leading lady Ashleigh Rubenach. Musical theatre performer Jarrod Draper will play the role of Artie Green, whilst the roles of Cecil B. DeMille and Sheldrake will be played by established theatre actors Paul Hanlon and Troy Sussman. The role of Norma Desmond, at select performances, will be played by the remarkable Silvie Paladino.
The extremely talented ensemble cast including Regan Barber, Amy Berrisford, Billy Bourchier, Campbell Braithwaite, Benjamin Colley, Grace Driscoll, Madison Green, Peter Ho, Leah Lim, Mary McCorry, Charlotte Page, Morgan Palmer, Caity Plummer, Taylor Scanlan, Tom Sharah, Lisa Sontag, Riley Sutton and Dean Vince.
Based on the Billy Wilder film, the musical version of SUNSET BOULEVARD had its world premiere at London’s Adelphi Theatre on July 12th 1993. The show received its American premiere in December 1993 at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles starring Glenn Close as Norma Desmond. The show subsequently opened on Broadway at the Minskoff Theatre in November 1994 with the highest advance ticket sales in Broadway history at the time. The original Broadway production won six Tony Awards of the eleven Tony Awards for which it was nominated including Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Book.
This spectacular new staging features stunning sets and costumes, evoking the glamorous Golden Age of Hollywood. The thrillingly atmospheric score features the hits ‘With One Look’, ‘The Perfect Year’, and the anthemic ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye’.
SUNSET BOULEVARD is presented by Opera Australia and GWB Entertainment by arrangement with The Really Useful Group. This newly imagined revival will mark SUNSET BOULEVARD’S first return to Australia in almost thirty years, where it played to sold out audiences.
SUNSET BOULEVARD has Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Book and Lyrics by Don Black and
Christopher Hampton, and is based on the Billy Wilder film. This new production will be Directed by Paul Warwick Griffin with Set and Costume Design by Morgan Large. Choreography by Ashley Wallen with Musical Supervision by Kristen Blodgette.
SUNSET BOULEVARD weaves a magnificent tale of faded glory and unfulfilled ambition. Having been discarded by Hollywood with the advent of “talkies", legendary silent movie star, Norma Desmond, is tortured by her longing for a return to the big screen. When she meets struggling Hollywood screenwriter Joe Gillis in a dramatic chance encounter, their subsequent passionate and volatile relationship leads to an unforeseen and tragic conclusion.
SUNSET BOULEVARD is the theatrical event of the year.
CURRENTLY PLAYING AT MELBOURNE’S PRINCESS THEATRE
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE FROM 28 AUGUST 2024
www.sunsetmusical.com.au
@SunsetMusicalAU

[@Mali-D1]

People need to see this - it’s amazing!

[@emmanuelle9739]

i just got home and saw SUNSET BOULEVARD AT PRINCESS THEATRE TIM DRAXL YOU ARE SO AMAZING .. HOPE TO SEE YOU MORE DOING MUSICAL

[@souLmauri]

Love U Sarah ❤

[@tinotiralongo252]

Why not in Europe?

[@joshuaodaugherty8117]

I have to be honest, after first seeing Sunset Blvd during it's original LA run with Glenn Close, and then seeing it again on Broadway with Glenn Close and Betty Buckley, and now with what I am seeing with the current Broadway Cast, I am so opposed to this casting in every way. This is one of my favorite Weber shows and I love Sarah and have been a follower of hers since I saw the original Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera and have attended several of her concerts, but she was so wrong for this role. And Tim is just too effeminate (and this is coming from a gay man). He doesn't come across like the typical Golden Era Hollywood type that Joe is supposed to be. Sexuality doesn't matter in casting, but the ability to perform the character realistically does. He fails in that. And whoever did Sarah's hair and makeup... should be fired. Even in her heaviest days, she still looked beautiful. But here she looks like a caricature of herself. Like she was drawn for Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I am sad for what they chose to do with this show in Australia vs what they are currently doing on Broadway after the successful West End run. But they went to the same extreme when they opened Heathers as well (My husband performed JD in an East Coast production last year and is slated for Kurt in another production in October and will be making his first NYC debut later in the year). Theatre is a major part of our life.

[@1dannaa]

looked better when she was thinner. great artist.