This Show Is Not The One I Should Pin My Hopes On

Sunset Boulevard - Stadttheater Lüneburg, 16th November, 2013

Another theatre season at the Stadttheater Lüneburg, another musical production at that house.
After years of dull - rubbish productions as the dire Dracula and the lame La Cage Aux Folles this year the theatre decided to bring on stage the decent Sunset Boulevard so this post will also just be rather decently short.

The musical Sunset Boulevard, based on Billy Wilder's Academy Award-winning 1950 film, comes with a book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, revolves around the former silent movie star Norma Desmond who is living in the past in her mansion on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard.

When young unsuccessful screenwriter Joe Gillis crosses her path accidently after trying to escape some pursuers, she sees in him a chance to make her comeback to the big talking movie screen. Having written a script called "Salome" herself she hires Joe to revise the story in exchange for accommodation and board in her mansion only occupied by her and her loyal butler Max.

Joe quickly realises soon that the poor script cannot be fixed with any editing but he does not tell anyone and continues the work.
In the meantime he builds up a working relationship with a young woman Betty Schaefer, who is the fiancée of his friend Artie, writing a script together, and eventually it starts to blossom into romance.

Not aware of this Norma lavishes Joe with gifts, becomes very possessive over and declares her love for him but when Joe turns her down and rushes off to go to another party on New Year's Eve she tries to commit suicide.
When Joe learns of that he comes back, reassures her and their relationship turns sexual with Joe becoming her kept man.
Over the next weeks Joe still meets up with Betty who declares her love for Joe.
Norma has become suspicious and eventually deduces that the two are an item so she calls Betty to confront her but Joe grabs the phone and tells Betty to come and see for herself how he lives as he also realises that the romance is doomed. When Betty learns the truth she departs broken-hearted and Joe decides to leave too but not without being frank about Norma's script and everything else that is going on in the house. Furious and hysterical she shoots Joe fatally.
Completely insane now Norma mistakes the police which arrives soon after the shooting for her fans and employees at the film set of "Salome" she slowly comes down her mansion staircase and declares that she is now ready for her close up.

Cast:
Norma Desmond - Masha Karell

Joe Gillis - Kristian Lucas
Betty Schaefer - Luisa Rhöse
Max von Mayerling - Ulrich Kratz
Cecil B. DeMille - Volker Tancke
Artie Greenufer - MacKenzie Gallinger
Sheldrake - Steffen Neutze
Mr. Manfred - Oliver Hennes
Hogeye - Wlodzimierz Wrobel
Beauticans - Elke Tauber, Kirsten Patt, Dobrinka Kojnova-Biermann
Masseuses - Astrid Gerken, Stefanie Becker
Astrologer - Brigitte Hauck
Doctor - Bianca Stüben
Others - Choir and Extra Choir, Ballett Ensemble, Extras, Lüneburg Symphonic Orchestra

Musical Director Nezih Seckin
Director Frank-Lorenz Engel
Stage Set and Costums Barbara Bloch
Choreography Olaf Schmidt

I had seen the musical a few times before. 

The last production was the stunning actor.-musician Watermill one in London with the incredible Kathryn Evans as Norma Desmond and the charismatic Ben Goddard as Joe which had left me in pieces at the end. 

I didn't expect the same effect from the Lüneburg production and it was the case at the end but still a decent production though knowing what could have been even with limited budget I may sound more negative than I intend to.

Directed by Frank-Lorenz Engel whose average Cabaret in Kiel was the last thing I saw from him continues to deliver just an average piece.

Sticking more or less to the original book the production is not the most innovative approach, the original storytelling is still visible lacking a clear individual stamp of the director for me but then I did not mind as the book is as good as it possible could be (and let's face it I also cannot stand too much personal touches of a director as I learnt too often especially this year). 
Some reviews mentioned how well the director captured the various characters well, sharpening dialogues and scenes etc. but then this is already the case of the book delivering that  - not so much the director for me. 
The show has some great moments as when Joe gets chased by the repossession agents with just two people dressed in black, main light switched off and two pairs of torch lights - clever. 
But then there are moments again especially certain staging when in the Paramount staging which I found rather amateurish. Also, while certainly a good intention, video projections as of e.g. Norma in silent movies slightly failed as projected on the full mansion set so were distorted and did not have the same effect as they might have had on a plain wall. 

Also decent are the set, costumes, lights etc supporting the directing concept. 

Barbara Bloch is not only inspired but copying closely from real 1950s designs creativity is limited but then I neither would want that and the result is satisfying most of the times though I always need to keep in mind that this theatre is not a massive West End one and that I cannot expect the full glamour e.g. in the mansion I would expect from such a star. Norma's costumes though show the glamour I would expect to see though WTH was she thinking when designing Betty's costumes looking more like sacks than clothes, so unfitting, not proportional that I was seriously wondering whether they had been tried on before. What again though needs more practice is the scene change - a show needs to flow, there is nothing worse than interrupting unnecessarily the show because they cannot manage to get the set changed. 

Positive were also the decent sound, normally a major issue for me pretty much every time I am at that theatre, and the orchestra conducted by Nezih Seckin sounding full and intoned most of the times, just in the more tangy and energetic musical moments the orchestra lacks the needed drive and the miss the sharp and fine tuning. Still, compared to what I was used to at this theatre, a massive improvement.

But what a piece as "Sunset Boulevard" especially needs are convincing actors as the focus is not on show effects as too often the case with newer shows but on the people and their story told here. 

Kristian Lucas' Joe is a bit too dull for me lacking the cynicism in his play and in his voice especially a number as "Sunset Boulevard" so needed, while he certainly can sing the songs with ease, and he just seems occasionally uncomfortable being more a wimp  than light headed man already at the beginning and I miss the presence of the inner conflict. Yes it is there in the dialogues but too often I did not believe that what the actions and words were the character presented on stage were sincere. But then e.g. Ben Goddard in the London production was SO good that my expectations these days to that part are high knowing what is possible and maybe with some more routine he might get there.

Ulrich Kratz as Max was convincing always controlled, rationally acting and well balanced between being reserved most of the times but then in the actual "Max moments" as you may want to call them he shows enigmatic stage presence and not just be the butler but a caring man and can also impress with his strong baritone.

Luisa Rhöse as Betty Schaefer is a bit invidious casting for me and directing seems to fail here with Betty massively not only by looks (as also not wearing the wig as on the picture but what seemed her natural hair) but also by how she acts reminding me way too much of Amy from "The Big Bang Theory". 

She is for me personally too snappy and touchy, way too much a geek, always a bit too OTT that it was very hard for me to believe why someone as Joe would fall in love with Betty. 

The smaller parts  were cast with people from the in house ensemble, largely opera choir, some satisfying as Steffen Neutze as Sheldrake, definitely one of very few that theatre can always bank on delivering a good job, some not as again issues with strong accents were apparent and I could not understand a word of e.g. most of the lines sung by the female ensemble members during "Eternal Youth Is Worth a Little Suffering". Seriously rep theatres, give me and other audience members a break and ballet was also badly timed in their scenes that the choreography looked a bit on the cheap side. 

But all that was forgotten for her - the grand dame, the femme fatale Norma Desmond most triumphantly portrayed by Masha Karell.
She is THE show and when she is on stage she just simply OWNS the stage being a goddess capturing not only the imperiousness and the ferocity of the character ("I am big; it's the pictures that got small") so well but also the vulnerability too when facing destructive loneliness.

Every movement even when just climbing up and down the stairs, the extravagant hand gestures with so much strength, the big wild eyes giving the character depth and edginess, every reaction by Norma are even larger than large with her taking everything to extremes.
Especially in the final scene when she has become totally insane after shooting Joe she catches the audience so much it being so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

Also vocally she can convince with the right volume in the right moments, full and expressive in some, quiet and torn in other, something that she not always did when she was e.g. playing Grizabella in Cats a few years ago.

Overall a decent evening: I will not rush to see it again as I have seen more convincing and more elaborated productions but this year's musical production at the theatre Lüneburg is worth a visit for Masha Karell alone.

After a couple of years of most disappointing musical productions there is some light now though only next season can tell whether it is the famous end of the tunnel or just a another train. 

All show pictures taken from the official Theater Lüneburg website. A couple more pictures can be seen >>here.


Private picture from curtain call: