Theater News

Musical Theatre West to Close 60th Season with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard

Webber’s seven-time Tony Award-winning musical celebrates its 20th anniversary this July in Long Beach, California.

Production logo, courtesy of Musical Theatre West.
Production logo, courtesy of Musical Theatre West.

Norma Desmond is finally getting close to Hollywood.
Musical Theatre West will conclude its 60th season with a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, set to run from July 12-July 28 at the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach, California.

In addition to a Tony Award-winning score by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the musical features a Tony Award-winning book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. Based on the classic 1950 film of the same title, the plot follows washed-up silent film star Norma Desmond who lives in a dilapidated mansion on Sunset Boulevard. When she encounters a young screenwriter named Joe Gillis, she sees him as her opportunity to make a comeback to the silver screen.

Sunset Boulevard first opened in London in 1993 in a production starring Patti LuPone before transferring to Broadway in 1994 (with Glenn Close replacing LuPone in the lead role) where it ran for 977 performances and earned seven Tony Awards including one for Best Musical.

The Musical Theatre West cast will include Valerie Perri (1st National Tour of Evita) as Norma Desmond, David Burnham (Wicked) as Joe Gillis, Norman Large (The Woman in White) as Max von Mayerling, and Ashley Fox Linton (National Tour of Les Misérables) as Betty Schaefer. Larry Raben will direct, with musical direction by David Lamoureux and musical staging by John Todd.

For tickets and more information, click here.

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Sunset Boulevard

Closed: July 28, 2013