‘SUNSET BLVD.: Nicole Scherzinger. Photo: Marc Brenner.

SUNSET BLVD.
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton
Based on the Billy Wilder movie Sunset Boulevard

Directed by Jamie Lloyd
St. James Theatre

246 W. 44^th Street
https://sunsetblvdbroadway.com/

By Scott Harrah

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard is a blend of illusion and reality. In previous productions, it featured a lavish, opulent set and costumes. Director Jamie Lloyd has totally reimagined and reworked the musical into a Sunset Blvd. (complete with an abbreviated title) for a new generation.

This production features projections instead of sets, all-black costumes and haze that may remind one of the smog on a Los Angeles freeway. It received seven Olivier Awards in London, including one for Best Musical.

A revolutionary reboot

In this revolutionary reboot of the classic musical, one must suspend reality and work on the illusion. The illusion is former Pussycat Dolls pop singer Nicole Scherzinger giving a younger, darker interpretation of the neurotic narcissist Norma Desmond. Understandably, Norma Desmond’s age has been changed from 50 to 40 since Ms. Scherzinger is in her 40s. One forgets about past revivals of the show because Ms. Scherzinger’s stage presence is so imposing, and her voice so soaring and ethereal that it’s almost operatic. She has the audience spellbound from the first moment she enters the stage.  The original version was a brilliant adaptation of Billy Wilder’s magnificent screen version of the same name. It was directed by Trevor Nunn and the set by John Napier was truly one of the greatest and most memorable sets of all time. They anchored the show and gave it splendor and meaning.

However, Mr. Lloyd’s version still has lots of meaning but a different type of splendor and no lavish sets. The plot centers on the same premise as the 1950 classic film Sunset Boulevard: Norma, a faded 1920s screen star of yesteryear who hasn’t worked in years, falling for a younger, broke screenwriter, Joe Gillis (Tom Francis). All the main characters from the Billy Wilder movie are here, from ambitious fellow screenwriter Betty Schaefer (Grace Hodgett Young) to the mysterious Max Von Mayerling (David Thaxton), Norma’s loyal and creepy servant.

A stylized Sunset Blvd.

This production lacks the grandeur of the original; it instead aims instead for a stylized approach. Here, we have people running around with handheld cameras—and that is not exactly original as this technique has been used on Broadway in recent years by other European directors. However, in a revival of musical adaptation of a classic Hollywood film, it somehow works here.  A screen is suspended above the stage, used as a backdrop on which to project close-ups of Norma and Joe. Credits are seen scrolling both at the beginning and end of the show, like one is watching an old black and white film noir on late-night TV. Video designs and cinematography by Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom, lighting design by Jack Knowles and sound design by Adam Fisher all help to create this ambience.

Mr. Francis, as Joe, sings the titular song “Sunset Boulevard” on camera, off stage, as we see a projection of him walking through the Broadway theatre district outside. He finally enters the stage of the St. James. Norma stands there eerily, waiting for him.

Purists may quibble that, without the garish costumes and ornate sets of previous productions, this Sunset Blvd. has none of the glamour necessary to evoke the time period and truth of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s score and the original book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. However, everything about Jamie Lloyd’s twist on both the visual exposition and narrative of the musical is fresh and innovative, and that is truly rare in normally gimmicky “modern” revivals of classic Broadway. Fortunately, most of the cast are exceptionally good.

Outstanding cast

Nicole Scherzinger’s Norma is snarkier and more quick-witted than the vulnerable Norma Desmond many are accustomed to, and she has brilliant timing when reciting such iconic lines as “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small,” and “We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces!” When Ms. Scherzinger belts out any of the show’s songs, her vibrato is stratospheric. Her vocals are magical and truly unforgettable.

Equally important, Mr. Francis as Joe also has a powerful voice, as does David Thaxton as Max Von Mayerling. Both actors give first-rate performances. In addition, Grace Hodgett Young is also superb as Betty Schaefer, the upbeat screenwriter with romantic designs on Joe.

In conclusion, Jamie Lloyd’s avant-garde spin on Sunset Blvd. is so provocative, outrageous and stripped bare of everything that many will either hate it or love it. At the performance this reviewer attended, the audience was definitely loving the show, judging from the thunderous applause after each song. One thing is certain: This unconventional Sunset Blvd. is a must-see phenomenon.

Published October 28, 2024
Reviewed at October 24, 2024 press performance

SUNSET BLVD.’: Tom Francis & Nicole Scherzinger. Photo: Marc Brenner.

‘SUNSET BLVD.’: Nicole Scherzinger & Hannah Yun Chamberlain. Photo: Marc Brenner.

‘SUNSET BLVD.’: Nicole Scherzinger. Photo: Marc Brenner.

‘SUNSET BLVD.’: Tom Francis (center) & cast. Photo: Marc Brenner.

‘SUNSET BLVD.’: Grace Hodgett Young. Photo: Marc Brenner.

‘SUNSET BLVD.’: The cast. Photo: Marc Brenner.

‘SUNSET BLVD.’: (projected onto the screen left to right): Nicole Scherzinger, Hannah Yun Chamberlain & Tom Francis (seated). Photo: Marc Brenner.

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‘A DOLL’S HOUSE’: Arian Moayed & Jessica Chastain. Photo: Courtesy of ‘A Doll’s House.’

A DOLL’S HOUSE
Written by Henrik Ibsen
New Adaptation by Amy Herzog
Directed by Jamie Lloyd
Through June 10, 2023
Hudson Theatre
141 West 44th Street
(855-801-5876), www.ADollsHouseBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Henrik Ibsen wrote his renowned drama A Doll’s House—one of the first and finest pre-feminist plays of the day— in 1879. Amy Herzog has translated it into a riveting post-feminist play, and director Jamie Lloyd has taken this splendid piece and reinvented it into his usual dreary manner of stripped-to-the- bone-bare minimalism. Remember his equally misguided venture in the 2019 revival of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal?  It appears that Mr. Lloyd’s vision of any revival is not to deal with the content and detail of the play, no anchoring of the play—just a gimmick of letting it play on any bare stage and let it land where it lands.

In A Doll’s House, Ibsen provided a wonderful grounded play of a beautiful, young, self-absorbed woman chirping like a bird at the onset of the play, to amuse her husband, and by the end to an open-eyed woman of her day to map out her life moving forward. Amy Herzog has modernized the language brilliantly, almost word for word, as the original text to simplify the dialogue for modern audiences.

Nora (Jessica Chastain) and Torvald Helmer (Arian Moayed) have been married for eight years and have three children. They’ve had hard times but now Torvald has been made manager of his bank and money will be easier to spend. Nora is visited by her old friend, the widower, Kristine Linde (Jesmille Darbouze) and Nora reveals her problems to Kristine. Nora has borrowed money from a loan shark at the bank years ago, and has been paying it slowly, paying as much as her allowance permits. Torvald believes the money was from her father before he died, but in reality, to save Torvald’s pride, she borrowed it from a loan shark to pay for his health retreat in Italy to save Torvald’s life.

Kristine needs and ultimately lands a job at Torvald’s bank through Nora’s influence. Kristine gets to replace Nils Krogstad (Okieriete Onaodowan), a man who is her ex-boyfriend. Nils has made shady forgeries at the bank and is being dismissed. Nils comes to Nora to plead his case to Torvald to let him stay at the bank. He reminds Nora that he is the loan shark, that it was she who forged her father’s signature on the promissory note. Nora goes into a freefall on how to avert this crisis. The suffering of Nora and Torvald’s rebuking Nora upon finding what Nora has done is the crux of living in a doll’s house. Nora was her father’s little doll, married Torval and became his chirping doll, had kids and played dolls with them. She has to finally assess her life and realize herself as the woman she wants to be.

Having seen Claire Bloom, Liv Ullmann, Janet McTeer, and now Jessica Chastain, never have I seen a Nora as disciplined as what Ms. Chastain displays in her performance. When one enters the auditorium of the theatre, one sees Ms. Chastain sitting on a hard wooden-backed chair, spinning around a bare stage for 35 minutes not moving a muscle while other cast members amble in and take their positions on stage. It is Ms. Chastain’s alabaster beauty that rivets you to her and with it being a bare stage, you can’t take your eyes off her.

Watching Ms. Chastain start as the chirping doll, coquettish and self-indulgent, morphing into despair and desperation, her disillusionment in her husband, and finally coming to her own resolve and what she must do is an entrancing and a formidable performance. What’s more amazing is that her performance is being given while sitting on this uncomfortable chair. She has to deal with each character, sitting down, and go through her emotions without being able to move. Even in the end when she asks Torvald to return her ring and in turn, she gives him back his, there are no rings to exchange. Wow, now that is minimalism.

Ms. Chastain is ably supported by Ms. Darbouze as Kristine, Okieriete Onaodowan as Nils Krogstad, but Arian Moayed is a different story. Mr. Moyaed’s character starts out as the obnoxious self-consumed Torvald, and his childish tantrum near the end is so over the top that a medic has to be called in. Dr. Lloyd, where were you when all this was taking place?

Amy Herzog has delivered a beautiful translation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, Ms. Chastain delivers what could easily be a Tony-winning performance for Best Actress in a drama, and Jamie Lloyd doesn’t even let the actors interact face to face with each other. They are either talking back-to-back, across the stage from each other. I guess this is to show the great divide between his characters. Go see this production simply for the sublime Ms. Chastain giving one of her best performances ever and overlook all the other shortcomings.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 17, 2023
Reviewed at March 16, 2023 performance.

‘A DOLL’S HOUSE’: Okieriete Onaodowan & Jessica Chastain. Photo: Emilio Madrid.

‘A DOLL’S HOUSE’: Jessica Chastain. Photo: Courtesy of ‘A Doll’s House.’

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‘BETRAYAL’: (left to right) Charlie Cox, Tom Hiddleston & Zawe Ashton. Photo: Marc Brenner

BETRAYAL
Written by Harold Pinter
Directed by Jamie Lloyd
Through December 8, 2019
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
242 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200),BetrayalOnBroadway.com

By David NouNou

I always found Betrayal to be Harold Pinter’s most accessible play. It has a lyrical flow and showcases a love triangle in the most mature manner without chronicling all the baggage that bogs down a ménage a trois. However, under Jamie Lloyd’s ultra-minimalistic staging, it has been stripped of any form or flow. It looks more like a first day rehearsal than a full performance. In this case minimalism is another way of saying pretentious.

Since the play spans a nine-year period and moves backward in time, when it originally opened in 1980, it had a specific time and was set in many places. The time now is irrelevant; it can be 1980 or 2019. However, there are many specific settings and on a threadbare stage, it is very difficult to decipher where you are in that moment. Since Mr. Pinter is a man of words and every word and sentence has to be listened to and digested, the audience has to now formulate where they are at any given time/year, thus robbing the play of the full attention it deserves.

As the curtain rises, Jerry (Charlie Cox) is having drinks “somewhere” with Emma (Zawe Ashton). It’s been two years since they have last seen each other and they are discussing their seven-year relationship. Jerry is a literary agent for writers, Emma runs an art gallery and is married to Robert (Tom Hiddleston), a book publisher. Robert and Jerry have been best friends since college, and Jerry was best man at Robert and Emma’s wedding. However, at this particular moment, various betrayals are being revealed. Emma is currently having an affair with Casey, an author, whose agent is Jerry and his publisher is Robert. Robert has been cheating on Emma for many years, and they are at the juncture of a divorce. Emma tells Robert about her seven-year relationship with Jerry. Betrayal runs through marriages, friendship and extra-curricular affairs, but all in a civilized manner without any mire to bring it down.

The next scene follows the previous one and is between Robert and Jerry. I’ve seen the play three times before, (so I know where it is being held) “in Robert’s apartment.” Robert and Jerry are casually conversing and it comes up that Robert didn’t find out about the affair the previous night but in actuality four years earlier in Venice. Betrayals in affairs and friendship keep mounting

The scenes keep moving backwards in time; the next is two years earlier at the flat where Jerry and Emma used to meet in the afternoons for their rendezvous but now are breaking up and giving it up. Moving back four years earlier to where Emma and Robert are in Venice where Robert first learned of Emma’s affair with Jerry. Time keeps going backwards to the time when a drunken Jerry surprises Emma in her bedroom and professes his love for her while a party is going on downstairs in her and Robert’s home.

A lot of movies and shows have since used this format of moving back in time. Betrayal was an original with its technique of reverse chronology. Affairs in general but especially extra-marital affairs have always been messy; how refreshing it was to see something handled so delicately and eloquently. Under this regime of “ultra-minimalism,” subtlety and nuances are being sacrificed under the guise of visionary directors. This means doing it on the cheap, especially for a play of this nature where time and places play such an important factor.

This is another movie-star vehicle and Tom Hiddleston making his Broadway debut as the cuckolded husband, Robert, is brilliant. His stage presence is palpable. His Robert is strong, venerable and multi-faceted. Even when he is off to one side of the stage and he is not in the scene, his presence and stature is felt. Mr. Hiddleston’s is probably the best Robert to date.

Charlie Cox as Jerry is effective but not commanding. Zawe Ashston as Emma seems more like she is modeling instead of acting in a Pinter play. Her staccato delivery of lines, which is good for a Pinter play, is overshadowed by her striking poses, and at times it appears she’s more into the poses than performing. Also, can anyone tell me why Emma is barefoot in every scene spanning over nine years? Couldn’t she afford a pair of shoes for one of those scenes? I guess this is yet another one of director’s minimalistic choices.

Like Sea Wall/A Life, another Hollywood star vehicle (which opened back in August), the latest Betrayal revival is another example of ultra-minimalism. This is the price we have to pay for seeing Tom Hiddleston or Jake Gyllenhaal. It seems minimalism must be the new theatrical experience for the rest of this season.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published September 9, 2019
Reviewed at September 8, 2019 press performance.

‘BETRAYAL’: (left to right) Zawe Ashton, Charlie Cox & Tom Hiddleston. Photo: Marc Brenner

‘BETRAYAL’: Tom Hiddleston. Photo: Marc Brenner.

‘BETRAYAL’: Charlie Cox. Photo: Marc Brenner

‘BETRAYAL’: Tom Hiddleston & Zawe Ashton. Photo: Marc Brenner

‘BETRAYAL’: The cast. Photo: Marc Brenner

‘BETRAYAL’: Tom Hiddleston. Photo: Marc Brenner

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