Sunset Boulevard - Alexandra Palace / RAH

[FrontroverPaul]

If there has been no discounting almost every seat that has sold for tonight will have fetched over £100 so the event will not necessarily be loss making. Apart from that, from what little I know about Alpha they can take a hit anyway. The sad thing is all the people not there tonight who would have liked to see the show but were unable to do so due to the high pricing.

[FrontroverPaul]

Dec 3, 2021 20:52:18 GMT steve10086 said:

Doesn’t feel as “empty” as the seating plan implied. Sound better than can often be the case at the RAH. Prompters have replaced in-hand scripts.

Prompters needed for a professional show at a prestigious venue. That's a bit shocking I think.

[BurlyBeaR]

People have paid £100 to £300 and the cast still haven’t learned it? Seriously what is going on with this production?

[Seriously]

Judging by Twitter, people are being "upgraded" when they get there.

[steve10086]

Dec 3, 2021 20:56:53 GMT FrontroverPaul said:

Dec 3, 2021 20:52:18 GMT steve10086 said:

Doesn’t feel as “empty” as the seating plan implied. Sound better than can often be the case at the RAH. Prompters have replaced in-hand scripts.

Prompters needed for a professional show at a prestigious venue. That's a bit shocking I think.

Didn’t really notice them being used, so don’t see it as an issue.

[pomegranate]

I bought a £15 standing room ticket about an hour before the show and got upgraded to stalls.

Also didn’t notice anyone using a script? Unless they were supposed to be holding a script in context of the show.

[steve10086]

Compared to the Alexandra Palace:

- more word perfect
- didn’t have to social distance, so Norma and Joe could actually dance together
- Joe’s quick chance behind the screen (which didn’t happen quick enough at Ally Pally) abandoned in favour of getting changed in full view (nicely filled pair of trunks Mr K!)
- car chase more artistically staged than the big standard headlights

[mattnyc]

I didn’t see any sort of prompt for anyone on stage tonight. Also, it looks like they were moving people from the top level down, as that was basically empty - however the rest of the house seemed fairly filled.

As for the show itself - WOW. That was pretty incredible. I’d never seen Mazz before so I had no idea what to expect and she did NOT disappoint. Her vocals were out of the world and she just completely nailed her portrayal of Norma.

And then there’s Ramin. Ah, Ramin.
Say it loud and there's music playing,
Say it soft and it's almost like praying.

Maybe the best Joe I’ve ever seen. I wish we could have a cast recording with this cast because I’d listen to it nonstop.

[fiyerorocher]

Wonder what ALW thought. He was watching, although turned up late.

[max]

Dec 3, 2021 23:14:33 GMT mattnyc said:

I didn’t see any sort of prompt for anyone on stage tonight. Also, it looks like they were moving people from the top level down, as that was basically empty - however the rest of the house seemed fairly filled.

As for the show itself - WOW. That was pretty incredible. I’d never seen Mazz before so I had no idea what to expect and she did NOT disappoint. Her vocals were out of the world and she just completely nailed her portrayal of Norma.

And then there’s Ramin. Ah, Ramin.
Say it loud and there's music playing,
Say it soft and it's almost like praying.

Maybe the best Joe I’ve ever seen. I wish we could have a cast recording with this cast because I’d listen to it nonstop.

That's good to hear.  They didn't deserve to fall flat - as probably had some investment to make up from Alexandra Palace, but ...wow calm the risk down next time.  Plus it's gone in a flash - could have done a week and made a bigger mark (ironically, in a smaller place).

Great to hear the leads were so strong.  Perhaps we'll see this mutate, if not grow, as a production.

[chernjam]

an excellent cast, a 40 piece orchestra - and not recorded, again... absolutely maddening.

BTW did they use the revised "overture" like they did in the 2017 revival?

[scarpia]

Dec 4, 2021 3:35:24 GMT chernjam said:

an excellent cast, a 40 piece orchestra - and not recorded, again... absolutely maddening.

BTW did they use the revised "overture" like they did in the 2017 revival?

They did at Ally Pally, so yes.

Thank you so much to the posters above who mentioned there was a programme. I managed to ask a friend who was seeing the RAH to get me one, which will make up for the lack of one entirely at Ally Pally.

Sounds like this was a lot more refined than what was essentially a glorified dress rehearsal at AP.

Did they still use that bizarre lyric change in 'Girl Meets Boy'? Was the orchestra rehearsed this time? Did Cecil B DeMille have a costume to wear? How was the sound balance? 

So many questions...

Also I think they were comping/giving out freebies eventually. Seen a few big names mention it on social media and the posts suggested they were basically hospitality guests. They really ought to have known that at those prices it was never going to fill well.

[inthenose]

My friend was there last night and had (foolishly) paid full price in the stalls. Absolutely hated it, thought Mazz Murray was really poor. Loved Ramin. She noticed lots of mistakes and reading off prompt screens. Can't verify any of this, but as always when I post, no reason to doubt the source.

I do hope the producers learnt a lesson from this about pricing. I suspect the RAH fee was a huge factor in its pricing.

knowledge is the one who will know for certain

[digne]

Dec 4, 2021 3:35:24 GMT chernjam said:

an excellent cast, a 40 piece orchestra - and not recorded, again... absolutely maddening.

BTW did they use the revised "overture" like they did in the 2017 revival?

There were two cameras - one installed on the left side of the stalls, another handheld one that I saw once used to film one of Norma's entries from the wings and saw later on pop up on the right side of the stalls.

Might just be for archival reasons though.

[distantcousin]

Dec 4, 2021 3:35:24 GMT chernjam said:

an excellent cast, a 40 piece orchestra - and not recorded, again... absolutely maddening.

BTW did they use the revised "overture" like they did in the 2017 revival?

Yes, that's "set" now. Has been used on all productions since AFAIK

[scarpia]

Dec 4, 2021 13:45:21 GMT inthenose said:

My friend was there last night and had (foolishly) paid full price in the stalls. She noticed lots of mistakes and reading off prompt screens. Can't verify any of this, but as always when I post, no reason to doubt the source.

This is astonishing. It was bad enough that they hadn't learnt it for Alexandra Palace but at those prices they STILL couldn't be bothered to learn the lines? It's not as if it's a hard show to learn; it's not exactly Sondheim. 

[mattnyc]

It’s not too astonishing since I don’t think that’s true. I was close in the stalls and noticed no prompters and I can only remember one line where someone spoke a split second too early, going over someone else.

[steve10086]

Dec 5, 2021 13:01:19 GMT mattnyc said:

It’s not too astonishing since I don’t think that’s true. I was close in the stalls and noticed no prompters and I can only remember one line where someone spoke a split second too early, going over someone else.

There were two “auto-cue” screens at the front of the stage, so that can’t be disputed. However, I didn’t really notice them being used, and I only heard a few wrong lyrics, and they were mostly the odd wrong word rather than anything major.

[mattnyc]

^Fair enough but that doesn’t equal a “I can’t believe how unprepared” they were kind of review.

[inthenose]

There were definitely screens, despite your denial, and perhaps your idea and hers of what constitutes a "mistake" is different. I don't know, I wasn't there. If I recording appears, I'll check it out. I certainly wasn't going to pay hundreds of pounds for this though!!

[mattnyc]

Ok. And I never “denied” anything, simply said I didn’t see. There’s a BIG difference there.

[drowseychap]

Caught a clip on you tube really didn’t like her closing speech etc seemed to be shouting all the lines …. Clips I saw at AP she seemed a lot better
I still loved Katherine evens portrayal a few years go

[distantcousin]

Dec 6, 2021 1:24:05 GMT drowseychap said:

Caught a clip on you tube really didn’t like her closing speech etc seemed to be shouting all the lines …. Clips I saw at AP she seemed a lot better
I still loved Katherine evens portrayal a few years go

I have to say, for me Kathryn Evans is still the all round best Norma since the original Adelphi production.

[BurlyBeaR]

The podcast I mentioned upthread The Sunset Project covers several Normas, with nice little clips, including the stories behind Patti and Glenn, Faye Dunaway, Diahann Caroll (who ALW didn’t want for the Toronto production) Debra Byrne, and a fabulous sounding German actress. It’s a lot of fun if you haven’t listened yet. ALW and RUG don’t come out of it well! 

[Deleted]

Dec 6, 2021 10:49:42 GMT distantcousin said:

Dec 6, 2021 1:24:05 GMT drowseychap said:

Caught a clip on you tube really didn’t like her closing speech etc seemed to be shouting all the lines …. Clips I saw at AP she seemed a lot better
I still loved Katherine evens portrayal a few years go

I have to say, for me Kathryn Evans is still the all round best Norma since the original Adelphi production.

Kathryn Evans should have been a bigger name than she was/is. She was amazing in everything I've seen her in, but never got to create a role for herself, apart from Lotte in Mack and Mabel but that didnt last very long. She was the beat Rose in Aspects of Love.