Sunset Boulevard at Sydney Opera House | Premiere and Review

[@scipio7766]

I just saw this show in Sydney last Sunday during a business trip from the US to AUS. I loved everything about this production..... except Sarah Brightman. I often could not tell what she was saying during her songs, and, since I had not seen the show before, that really mattered. Draxl and Rubenach both had great stage presence and great chemistry together, and "Too Much in Love to Care" was the standout piece for me. I had special appreciation for the stage. At certain points in the show they slid the mansion off stage during transitions by taking it straight back while the actors continued speaking in the foreground, making it seem the vision of grandeur, and Normas dreams, were shrinking. It was a great show, I'm a little sad I didn't have the chance to see it again with Paladino.

[@chrisjacobs7417]

I have an audio of Silvie's first performance. She was phenomenal. The difference between her and Sarah is night and day. My email address is in my profile. If you want to send me an email I will happily send you the recording of Silvie

[@sebastiankinnunen5549]

❤Glenn Glose at original production was sensational. Year 1994.❤Saw it! ❤love from Finland

[@timtam9110]

I ❤ Sarah Brightman's voice

[@anicav100]

So very sad to have missed Sarah in Melbourne when she was injured. Came from Canada to see her. I know the voice and role portrayal would have been different and pure in the best possible ways to the other many actresses who have played this role. Also Sarah is such a talented dancer.

[@gavindean6708]

I’m from Melbourne and am coming to Sydney just to see this at the Opera House.. btw.. I’m seeing the amazing Silvie!!! Can’t wait!

[@adriankmita]

That’s great. The orchestra at the Sydney Opera House is amazing! Have been told that it’s a very different show and experience with Silvie as Norma. She’s fantastic!

[@adriankmita]

How was it seeing Silvie in the show?!

[@chrisjacobs7417]

Silvie is absolutely phenomenal in the role. She is the better Norma by far

[@ejbabc]

​@@adriankmitaI've booked to see both next Wednesday! 🤭😃 I've always wondered how shows differ from performance to performance. And I've wanted to see Sylvie, and I thought it would be great to see Sarah. So, thanks to a sale on tickets, I thought, heck it, I'll see both! 😂 Can't wait! It will be interesting to see the comparison, but it sounds like I might be best appreciating them as two separate shows. Anyway, I'll see! Should be fun! 👏😋💫

[@王笑一-s8e]

I saw this yesterday in Sydney opera house , and can’t help to review it again on KZbin. Sara Brightman voice is so beautiful although I have problem understanding what is she singing.

[@jtturner3367]

I don’t care for her voice either, but she has had such a positive outlook around doing the show, and I think it seems like she is enjoying the experience, and I like that. I think I could still enjoy seeing her in the show.

[@bbcbbc1717]

Saw in Melbourne. Orchestration, staging/production was amazing. Thought Sarah was ok, other actors were very good. Might see again in Sydney with understudy.

[@adriankmita]

Silvie Paladino is a bit more than an understudy… more of an alternate. Saw her last as the fairy godmother in Cinderella. I’ve heard it’s a very different experience with her in it. My guess is much more musical theatre. Definitely worth checking out in Sydney again!

[@adriankmita]

Glad you enjoyed the rest of the show otherwise! The staging and orchestra and fantastic.

[@martinjohnsoncomms]

Saw this in Sydney yesterday with Silvie Paladino as Norma - she was stunning and judging by the other comments was superior to Sarah Brightman. Great that we have such a talented Aussie in the role. (alternate).

[@souLmauri]

I Love Sarah❤, thx for sharing !!!!

[@adriankmita]

You’re very welcome! Glad you liked it.

[@medici172]

I saw the American premier in Los Angeles in June 1994. Nobody can replace the original magnificent jaw dropping set design of Mr. John Napier!!! Glenn Close is the perfect Norma Desmond!!! Sarah Brightman as Norma has lost its fierceness! Too operatic! The voice, style and projection of Norma is just not there!!!

[@grahamfrear9270]

I'm from the UK and it looks like it was a fantastic production. 💯

[@reauxcoco]

Thanks for capturing the lobby crowd!

[@adriankmita]

You’re welcome! Have to include everyone!

[@MrBBunny-rv1mk]

Patti LuPone actually originated the role in London. Glenn Close opened it in Los Angeles next, where Weber saw her and decided to cancel LuPone's contract to open the show on Broadway and replaced her with Close for the Broadway opening.

[@adriankmita]

Yes! Thanks for the clarification! I was meaning Glenn Close establishing the role more in the context of Broadway and Tony Awards, considering she is the performer that is most synonymous with the role… But yes, you’re absolutely right. Patti was first!

[@MrBBunny-rv1mk]

@@adriankmita The funny part of the story is that Patti LuPone sued Webber over firing her, won and according to her, built the Andrew Lloyd Webber Memorial Swimming Pool in the backyard of her Connecticut home with the funds awarded to her.

[@adriankmita]

⁠​⁠@@MrBBunny-rv1mk I’d heard about Patti suing Andrew Lloyd Webber for contract infringement… but I didn’t know about the pool! 😆 That’s a crazy story!

[@adriankmita]

@@MrBBunny-rv1mk Do you think Patti would have won the Tony if she’d played it on Broadway instead of Glenn Close?

[@MrBBunny-rv1mk]

@@adriankmita Possibly. I have always characterized the two in the role of Norma Desmond this way...Patti LuPone is a singer who can act while Glenn Close is an actress who can sing. LuPone is the stronger singer; Close is the better actress.

[@SJHUE]

Looks wonderful!

[@adriankmita]

It is a great night out! The staging and orchestra is fantastic. Definitely check it out if you can. Especially at the Sydney Opera House!

[@helencramp9947]

I saw Sylvie 4 weeks ago and Sarah last night - was day and night - go and see Sylvie ! Sarah struggled with most of the songs and even spoke the lines in The Lady’s Paying instead of singing. Tim Draxl is outstanding and Ashley Rubenach just fabulous.

[@jonsampiro]

I'm glad this one isn't stripped down. I "need" Norma's mansion.

[@adriankmita]

Yes! The mansion is amazing! It’s opulent, ornate and grand, and decaying at the same time. So much attention to detail! It shines on stage.

[@kateweatherwax6484]

I am grateful i knew all the words to Norma Desmond's songs... Would have been a challenge to get the most out of the story otherwise. Agree the opera emphasis was a bit strong and drowned out the acting potential that drives home the tragedy. Still, fabulous male lead, fabulous set and costumes, a bit more brighter lighting in the right place and time would have elevated some of the emotional moments. So glad I saw it and I'd honestly go again to have goosebumps during the namesake Sunset Boulevard song once more.

[@jjphoenix4055]

Sarah is a godess, and all the backlash she and this production have received are ridiculous. From what I see and hear in this video, this IS Sunset Blvd The Musical, and not that bloody modern "diverse" version they put together in London recently. That was utter crap, while this one looks and sounds luscious and wondreous. Sarah Brightman Forever!

[@adriankmita]

Have you seen the new West End version with Nicole Scherzinger? How was it?

[@adriankmita]

Yes the staging is amazingly! So much attention to detail. Definitely more luscious and wondrous! Very much like the original movie.

[@adriankmita]

I think the backlash was because Sarah sounds quite operatic in the show, and they were expecting typical musical theatre. But it’s Sarah Brightman, she’s as soprano… that’s what she does!

[@Leamichellefan2244]

She’s not a goddess an operatic does not Norma Desmond make she squeezing into a role that she doesn’t belong in and the fact that you’re supporting it blindly is really scary.

[@ryanindypa]

@@Leamichellefan2244you like Lea Michelle, I think that speaks volumes on your taste!! 😂😂🤮

[@adriankmita]

Hope you enjoyed all the action from the opening night of Sunset Boulevard at the Sydney Opera House. Leave a comment below to let us know what you thought of the show!

[@simonetrinder1493]

This is fantastic, thankyou!.

[@adriankmita]

@@simonetrinder1493You’re very welcome! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@simonetrinder1493]

@@adriankmita I did!, thankyou!. (The performance, was totally amazing!!). The sets, and the entire thing!!.

[@adriankmita]

@@simonetrinder1493 Completely agree! The sets were stunning. Did you see it with Sarah Brightman or Silvie Paladino?

[@simonetrinder1493]

Yes!. I saw Sarah, (she was incredible).

[@musicbox63]

I want to see the mad scene.

[@adriankmita]

Norma’s mad scene?! Don’t have any footage of that! haha

[@musicbox63]

@@adriankmita Glenn Close's was explosive. I want to see how Sarah approaches it. I imagine her either becoming very quietly childlike or bouncing off the walls, wild eyed giggling maniacally.

[@swaingles]

Amazing production but, although Miss Brightman is a fine singer and an icon from The Phantom, the role is unsuitable for her. The role requieres more acting than singing; I mean, singing is required but with a lot of interpretation in it. It happens the same, in my opinion, with Glenn Close: she is great at acting but her singing is poor.

[@Leamichellefan2244]

I’m gonna say something and I mean no disrespect to you when I say it, but I have never, and I mean, never cared for Sarah Brightman‘s voice and in my honest opinion, I truly feel like the only reason she’s even doing musical theater to begin with is because of who her husband was in the 80s Again that’s no disrespect to you. That’s just how I feel and also somebody said oh Sarah Brightman is a goddess in the backlash she’s receiving is ridiculous and I’m just sitting here thinking oh God here we go.

[@wongsiawee8373]

SB's operatic vocal not suitable for this larger than life hollywood legendary over the hill grotesque super star. And SB is too princessy. No one does it better than Glenn Close whos monstrous in earlier production!

[@Leamichellefan2244]

It sounds to me like we’re having another funny girl situation only this time in Australia and what I mean by that is when funny girl opened in 2022 beanie Feldstein originated the role and the majority of people we’re getting tickets just to see Julie her alternate because they had no desire to see her for obvious reasons and now from the sounds of things that’s what’s happening with Sarah Again they gave Sarah this part because she’s treating it like an opera and it’s not not even close.

[@Rx6666]

Rubbish.

[@Leamichellefan2244]

@@Rx6666 tell yourself whatever you need to tell yourself.

[@Rx6666]

@@Leamichellefan2244 I’m telling myself that you’re a moron.

[@ieny24]

When Christine Daaé turns into a Carlota. She's too old for the role. She doesn't sound good. And she was never a good actress. Her voice in her 20s was unique and it made up for her shortcomings. It's gone now and she has no skills to make up for it. And this is not "hating". It's just reality.

[@swaingles]

I completely agree with you. Even before she played the role of Christine on Broadway, I actually bet she would not get a welcoming, an award. She is doing musical theatre thanks to Andrew, but her acting is poor and she has lost her voice either for following wrong advise or due to age and neglecting voice's care.

[@1pureboy1]

Her vocal coach should’ve been honest with her, she’s lost her head voice and has no middle to speak of. As for breath control, she’s gasping like a 40 a day smoker and unable to maintain the musical line.

[@gavindean6708]

And from this video she’s ballooned as well!

[@Leamichellefan2244]

Thank God, somebody said it way better than I ever could have and please for heaven sake don’t hate me please I beg of you, but I never really cared for her as Christine. Yes, I know she was the original, but I didn’t really care for her but now, oh my yikes and not in a good way yikes, bad very very bad.

[@Leamichellefan2244]

@@swaingles another person I’m gonna say thank you too and I hope to heaven you don’t mind I’m saying thank you because people get so mad at me when I point out the fact that the only reason she got the role of Christine and the first place was because she was married to Andrew. They get so mad at me and the fact that she got that role because of him is proof of why she’s doing musical theater now is only because of him you’re absolutely right I mean think about it think about it. Phantom was his musical Sunset Boulevard his musical. Do you see a pattern here? I’m not asking to be hateful, I promise I’m just asking do you see a pattern here?

[@beanmelano1125]

SB completely miscast for the role of Norma Desmond. She can get operatic notes (not as before) but she can't project the emotions, and her acting is wooden.

[@jeffreygreasley8362]

Doesn’t seem to have the stage presence like Elaine Paige had.

[@cliffordroberts5783]

I don't like SB's voice at all

[@adriankmita]

She is very much leaning into her soprano and operatic range… But there is Silvie Paladino on alternate nights which is much more musical theatre! You may prefer that.

[@1pureboy1]

⁠@@adriankmitaNorma Desmond isn’t a soprano role. I played in the original London production with Patty, Betty Buckley and Elaine. They were all sensational. This role needs a strong middle voice which SB just doesn’t have, and I hear her gasping for air in the middle of phrases. Her vocal coach should’ve been honest with her, it’s not a part that suite her voice.

[@Leamichellefan2244]

Thank God, I thought it was the only one who had that opinion.

[@Leamichellefan2244]

@@1pureboy1 OK look I’ve never had an actual singing lessons so please please please please don’t laugh at me, but even I know gasping for air in the middle of phases is a big huge no no you just don’t do it and you’re right. Norma is not a soprano role why they gave it to Sarah is truly beyond me that makes no sense.

[@simonetrinder1493]

That's who the director chose. ​@@Leamichellefan2244

[@michaelwilkinson9382]

Oh gosh , she isn't up to the role

[@foreignparticle1320]

I saw both Brightman and Paladino in Melbourne. Brightman is woefully miscast, and given the rarity of a full-scale production of Sunset Boulevard, its was a ridiculous and wasteful decision to cast her as Norma. Paladino on the other hand is absolutely terrific, and should have been given the role outright.

[@garybowsie8275]

Melbourne thought she was not good enough

[@stevecallum7933]

SB was totally miscast as Norma Desmond. There was no fire in her performance at all. She thought she was playing Chritine again, or thats how it came across. No passion, no inner monologue, no depth, just flat and lifeless. Not a patch on her many predeccessors who have come before her in this role. She still has a good operatic voice, but she cannot act the part of a neurotic ego driven half sad half mad old movie star. Sorry Sarah, but this was not your finest role.