Sunset Boulevard (Kennedy Center)
A review of Sunset Boulevard at the Kennedy Center
As soon as I heard the news for this show come out, I knew I wanted to buy a ticket and would find anything to get myself there no matter what. Stephanie J. Block and Derek Klena was a combo I knew I was not going to miss, and I love shows with this kind of premise.
The fact it’s also based on a film noir movie is straight up my alley, too, and so I dragged myself all the way to D.C. to see this show. A note on the Eisenhower Theater: I got the cheapest seats and found the view to be really good, so it does not matter where you sit. You might not want to sit far right though, as you’ll miss some stage action that happens right on that side of the stage.
But oh my god. I’m going to be thinking about this show for a long time. It’s more concert style and minimalist, with the band on the stage, but it has so much impact. Stephanie J. Block deserves to be on a Broadway stage for this performance and win awards.
Onwards with the review!
A struggling Hollywood screenwriter becomes involved with a former silent film actress—but with a cost.
In this review, I do not find it worth recalling the entire plot of Sunset Boulevard when there’s the original version that this is adapted from: the film from the 1950s. If you need a basic premise, it’s that a struggling Hollywood screenwriter named Joe is trying to find work in order to dig himself out of a hole, but accidentally ends up at a former famous actress’ house, one who goes by the name of Norma.
Norma is clearly not well mentally, and while her quirks become a laughing point for the audience, I found that her behavior was seriously concerning starting with the death of her beloved chimpanzee, which is where Joe meets her. As they become romantically involved and tango in a deadly game, Joe realizes he wants a life outside of her.
This is a Broadway Center Stage production at the Kennedy Center, which means it only runs for about a week and is a concert style.
In this stage design, it’s stripped down to have a back screen that shows some background scenery, such as a mansion or film set, a bunch of stairs that actors enter/exit from, the front portion of the stage, and the orchestra sits right in the center of the stage. I found this experience, having only ever experienced it with Into the Woods, to be very effective—especially considering Sunset Boulevard is an expensive show to run from its past history.
I knew the basic premise of the show going into it, and was blown away by how it was executed. I think there’s obvious holes in the plot and source material that you couldn’t get ironed out with a pure adaptation, but that’s just my perspective from the story side of things.
The performances truly do make the show here, and I think if this were a Broadway show, Stephanie J. Block would hands down take the Tony Award for Best Performance. She’s incredible and owns the stage way more than anyone else. She was clearly having fun with the material and it showed; a lot of the humor came from her delivery and improv.
At her first big single song, Derek Klena even broke character once she finished and starting clapping with the audience for her. With her second big number, she got a couple minutes of clapping from my audience, which was well deserved.
Derek Klena is the other big star of the show. I love Derek, I really do. I saw him originally in Jagged Little Pill, and although that show has many problems, I think he has such a great voice.
His character is a bit sarcastic and offers dialogue in song format about what’s going on, and slips some wise cracks. I liked his performance a lot—I thought his rendition of “Sunset Boulevard” that opens the second act is fantastic. The audience I was with absolutely loved how they played with his little booty short moment in that scene; this audience was dying laughing throughout the show until it got really serious, which shows how balanced the tones can be at times.
The rest of the cast was wonderful as well. The girl from Moana was in it, and while she was a good singer, I don’t think we get enough of her to really gauge her range as a musical theatre actress. I do want to see more of her in the future though from what I saw!
With the limited stage this cast really works together blocking wise with the dancing and movement to make it seem much larger than it actually is. People are constantly moving horizontally and up and down the steps. But the real star is Stephanie—that’s hands down one of the best performances I’ve honestly ever seen in a musical, and I’ve seen over thirty shows already.
I do think it would be worth my free time to do some feminist theory on this show, though. I also found it hilarious the parallels to The Great Gatsby towards the end of the show, and if you know what I’m talking about, you cannot unsee the comparison. There’s also some moments that had be going like it’s very 1950s, and the romance was a bit forced between Joe and the girl—who’s one of his good friend’s fiance.
That isn’t bro code, Joe. But man I wish this one would transfer to Broadway so I can see again. Everyone was talking about how fantastic it was we left the theater. It was worth almost missing my train back home because I misjudged the run time (it ended after two and a half hours).
There’s a lot of relevant themes packed into this one. What does it mean to use someone, and are you actually really winning in certain situations? Both Joe and Norma can be two sides of the same coin in this situation, aa he doesn’t actually love her, but she’s also using suicide as a method to keep him with her.
What does it mean to be forgotten? Or chase after glory? Joe, too, chases after glory, albeit in a slightly different way, than Norma. But, in the end, she made it when he never truly go to do so. She had the talent and used it to her potential, but could never let go. While, on the other hands, he could never let go of the potential to come.
Go see it if you get the chance. Fingers crossed that this transfers to Broadway!
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