Sunset Boulevard (1995 German Cast)
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Edition: Music CDFormat: Cast Recording, Import
CD Release Date: 1996-10-16
Music Label: Universal/Polygram
Free Music Notes for Sunset Boulevard (1995 German Cast)
Free Music Review: AN EXCEPTIONAL HIGHLIGHTS ALBUM OF LLOYD WEBBER'S MASTERPIECE
Hit: 5 Stars
Sunset Boulevard is certainly one of the best scores Andrew Lloyd Webber has ever written. The composer admitted that it was his wish for a long time to make a musical based on the 1950 classic movie directed by Billy Wilder. After the successful 1991 revival of Joseph and the amazing Technicolor dreamcoat, Lloyd Webber began working on Sunset together with Don Black, his long-time lyricist on "Tell me on a Sunday" and "Aspects of love" and Trevor Nunn as a director.
The plot concerns Norma Desmond, once a big silent movie star, who, after 20 years of being out of the picture business, still believes to be "the greatest star of all". She accidentally meets a 20 years younger unemployed writer Joe Gillis, who grabs the opportunity to edit the script she wrote for her big comeback to the screen, even though he knows it will never happen. That fact is also evident to Norma's butler, Max, but none of them has the heart to tell her the truth. Eventually Joe becomes Norma's lover and uses all the benefits that a life with an elderly and a rich woman has to offer. In the end, when Norma finds out that Paramount won't shoot her script and that Joe is in love with a young girl, she shoots him. When the police arrive at her house on Sunset Blvd, she is in a world of her own, completely unaware of who or where she is, thinking that she is in the studio making her comeback movie and says to all that she is "ready for her close-up". The plot itself is very beautiful and original, showing what can become of a human being when one can't deal with the rejection or acceptance of the present.
The show first opened in July 1993 in London and was later transferred to Broadway. This highlights album contains all the principal musical numbers performed by the 1996 German Cast and with its 78 minutes of duration is the best as a highlights disc can get. One of the main assets of this recording is the exceptional German translation of the lyrics. It is obvious that Michael Kunze put an extra effort to retain the faithfulness of the original and yet not to be literal at the same time. The expressions and slight alterations were coined perfectly and thusly convey the richness of the story.
The cast here is fantastic. Helen Schneider shines all the way through. Equipped with a strong soprano voice, she is able to sing the role while acting it convincingly as well (Glenn Close, the Broadway Norma, sadly fell flat in the former). This is most obvious in the final scene. Her voice suddenly becomes ominous and darker and with her lunatic giggling there is little doubt that this persons is descending into madness. Ms. Schneider therefore deserves to be at the very top of best Normas up to date, together with Patti LuPone, who created the role and is often sadly overlooked. Uwe Kröger, the handsome blond German actor makes and interesting Joe. One can tell he plays the role with great gusto judging from the way he emphasises some of his lines. He also has a great singing voice, as shown during `Sunset Boulevard' number. The rest of the cast, including Norbert Lamla as Max, are all fine.
The recording has some nice little sound effects unavailable on the other ones, like the tyre screech during the car chase scene and Joe's plunge into the pool in the end.
As far as the score, it is simply beautiful. The rich and lush melodies perfectly bring the old Hollywood alive, and jazzy threads work perfectly. The themes tend to repeat themselves, but that is almost a Lloyd Webber standard, and here they form a nice whole so you don't notice it much. The two big numbers, "Nu rein Blick" and "Als hätten wir uns nie Goodbye gesagt", performed by Norma, are pure gold. Other melodies include "Kein Star wird jemals größer sein", sung by Max; "Ein gutes Jahr", Norma's hail to the New Year; "Sunset Boulevard" in which Joe sings about her new life with Norma; "Viel zu sehr", a beautiful duet between Betty and Joe and many more. The orchestrations on this recording are wonderful, fresh and lush.
The CD comes with a booklet containing production pics and the full libretto on German.
The recording, albeit somewhat difficult to find, is a must-have for all Sunset Boulevard aficionados. However, if you are looking for a more complete recording, you should try either the 1993 London cast with Patti LuPone or the 1994 LA cast with Glenn Close. The latter is the most complete, while the former lacks some dialogue. Since Patti LuPone is a much better singer, the London recording would be my first recommendation.
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