SUNSET BLVD preview (harsh, with spoilers)
Last Edit: lordofspeech 01:36 pm EDT 10/10/24
Posted by: lordofspeech 01:30 pm EDT 10/10/24

The crowds applaud the lead (Nicole) as passionately as if she were Judy Garland or The Beatles, which seems disproportionate. But I have no history with her. She has the sleek, sculpted beauty of a Kardashian with long straight black hair and a powerful dusky voice. The directoral esthetic is all of a piece. Stark, reader’s theatre style with bold chairoscuro lighting and costumes all black and white.

I left at intermission.

If there is a story, either of a lonely attention-starved woman who betrays her humanity in her hunger for love, or the story of a young man who prostitutes himself for ambition and loses any chance for love, I didn’t get it. (I was never a big fan of the film or of Gloria Swanson’s emotionally impenetrable work.). I remember Betty Buckley was able to locate the woman’s purity and yearning underneath the grotesqueries and was moving when she played it.

The young man is very appealing and carries most of the show on his shoulders. The Betty is fine, and, partly because of the on-screen close-ups, makes a better impression than usually. The leading lady is energetic, lithe, and sexy, a peculiar actress making peculiar choices, and she does a few front-and-center singing numbers which make the crowd roar. The supporting players and ensemble are fine. There’s nothing human here. But they work hard.
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