Eldergays, tell me about the drama surrounding the "Sunset Boulevard" musical

Dude. This was JUST discussed at length in the Theater Gossip thread.

[quote] Was it shocking at the time that Patti Lupone was fired from the production?

It was wrong!... [italic]Shockingly[/italic] wrong!

r1, no one except for you two or three who post on it reads the Theatre Gossip because you're creepy and "chat" too much.

Patti Lupone opened with it in London. The British critics were OK with the production. There was some chatter that Patti was too young and didn't really connect with Norma. The New York Times critic came over and panned her for those reasons and more.

(You can see from bootleg clips on YouTube that he was right — she just kinda sleepwalks through it.)

Glenn Close opened with the show in L.A. The reviews were rapturous. With the Broadway opening approaching, investors got nervous and pressured ALW to dump Lupone for Close. That happened.

It was pretty clear from published reviews that Close was just better in the part, and she looked like Norma while Lupone didn't at all. Glenn was also a more relevant name in Hollywood, and the prospect of seeing her was more exciting to most people. So the change didn't really "shock" the average paying customer, or seem random or controversial, no.

I remember when it was first announced that Faye was taking over the L.A. production. I was shocked and thrilled - she had won the part over Streep and others. Dunaway is my favorite actress so the excitement and anticipation was overwhelming. It seemed like a dream - too good to be true - and then I tuned into E! News Daily (my channel was scrambled at the time - no picture - but I could still listen to it) and there was Steve Kmetko saying "Has Lloyd Weber Dunaway with Faye in Sunset Blvd.?" My heart sank and the next few weeks SUCKED!

Ahh....memories.

It really is a shame that we never got to see Dunaway as Norma. Or, rather, it's a shame that she didn't have the pipes for the role. But, in this case, Dunaway was right. It was up to the composer and producers to determine whether she was vocally right for the part. That vocal part is not Henry Higgins. Heck, it's not Roxie Hart. What made Lloyd Webber think they'd be able to get her voice up to par?

Has this site been temporarily taken over by an 80 year old crackhead? Either that or he's in a bipolar manic phase.

R1 can you link that thread? I can’t find it.