Sunset Boulevard
Closed 2h 40m
Sunset Boulevard
84

Sunset Boulevard NYC Reviews and Tickets

84%
(1050 Ratings)
Positive
91%
Mixed
7%
Negative
2%
Members say
Great acting, Entertaining, Great singing, Absorbing, Must see

About the Show

Three-time Tony Award-winner Glenn Close returns to Broadway in her most iconic role, Norma Desmond, in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony-winning musical. 

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Show-Score Member Reviews (1,050)

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79 Reviews | 5 Followers
100
Great acting, Entertaining, Clever, Must see, Great writing

See it if you enjoy great acting; Glenn Close was amazing in the role.

Don't see it if you're depressed about your age.

336 Reviews | 45 Followers
100
Delightful, Great acting, Great singing, Epic, Outstanding

See it if you want to see the very definition of what Broadway should be

Don't see it if you want to miss Glenn Close's absolutely amazing performance as well as the great performances of the entire cast

535 Reviews | 155 Followers
100
Great staging, Great acting, Must see, Riveting, Exquisite

See it if You want to see the finest musical theatre playing in NY now ! You saw Glenn Close in her last turn as Norma Desmond, she has grown !

Don't see it if No reason not to see unless you don't care for classic musicals ! This one is as perfect as the genre can possibly be !

65 Reviews | 8 Followers
100
Absorbing, Delightful, Enchanting, Entertaining, Great acting

See it if Love Glenn Close and can't miss her

Don't see it if You don't like period pieces

69 Reviews | 11 Followers
100
Absorbing, Great acting, Great singing, Entertaining, Resonant

See it if You love a great story with great acting and great singing thrown in ...

Don't see it if You are not interested in a night of really memorable musical theatre.

54 Reviews | 11 Followers
100
Absorbing, Entertaining, Great acting, Epic, Riveting

See it if If you love Glenn Close. She owns the stage. Beautiful production

Don't see it if I don't know why anyone would not want to see it. It's amazing

54 Reviews | 13 Followers
100
Epic, Masterful, Great acting

See it if you want to see one of the greatest diva performances of all time.

Don't see it if you don't like Andrew Lloyd Webber shows.

92 Reviews | 25 Followers
100
Absorbing, Enchanting, Must see

See it if you want to see pure class and amazing acting on a Broadway stage. If you don't want to regret it for years to come.

Don't see it if You don't like a classic story and standing ovations every few moments.

Critic Reviews (74)

The New York Times
February 9th, 2017

"It is a show that exists almost entirely to let its star blaze to her heart’s content. The light she casts is so dazzling, this seems an entirely sufficient reason to be...What was one of the great stage performances of the 20th century has been reinvented, in terms both larger and more intimate, that may well guarantee its status as one the great stage performances of this century, too...The musical, on the other hand, seems and sounds thin, despite the velveteen lushness of its orchestra."
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Time Out New York
February 9th, 2017

"Those who go to see Close reprise her celebrated turn in the musical’s 1994 Broadway production will not be disappointed...Close holds the stage with a feverish intensity that transcends camp...If only she could be in every scene! For the rest of 'Sunset Boulevard,' adapted from Billy Wilder’s timeless 1950 film, is mostly a languorous slog...This is second-rate Lloyd Webber: filler songs that loop and repeat exhaustingly, set to lyrics that often clunk."
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New York Magazine / Vulture
February 9th, 2017

"A train wreck of a revival starring a woeful Close...At every opportunity Hampton and Black take material that kept its balance at the edge of camp and shoves its way over the line...The current revival, in attempting to emphasize the show’s musical strengths, only exposes the nonmusical elements to further criticism...It pains me to say that Close's second outing as Norma is no triumph...Her new interpretation of Norma—a mite more playful and less otherworldly—actually makes things worse."
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New Yorker
February 20th, 2017

"Webber doesn’t write music that one can sing without 'soaring'...I never really warmed to the movie that the musical is based on, just as I haven’t warmed to the musical: its atmosphere is at once messy and banal; its relentless pop façade and the constant drama of its music preclude intimacy and distance us from feeling, while encouraging a kind of aggressive contempt. None of the characters are truly big, let alone human, even as they play big."
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The Wall Street Journal
February 9th, 2017

"Ms. Close’s performance, by turns adamantine and childishly needy, is as memorable in its own way as was that of Gloria Swanson in the movie. No, the fundamental problem with turning 'Sunset Boulevard' into a musical is that it is perfect...The truth is that 'Sunset Boulevard' doesn’t need songs, or anything else that it doesn’t already have in abundance. Saving Ms. Close’s presence, to change anything at all is necessarily to diminish the film’s overwhelming effect."
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Deadline
February 9th, 2017

"Close brings an added vulnerability that would be maudlin if it weren’t so fragile-seeming...This company is spectacularly well cast...There are a couple of good songs and one great number in the show...The book and lyrics by Christopher Hampton and Don Black pay homage to the film’s celebrated lines and have their smart-ish moments. There are some deeply silly passages...Still, the show holds together and Close is every ounce the star she is playing."
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New York Daily News
February 9th, 2017

"If a few vocals are strained, Close commands the stage in this concert production from the English National Opera. That goes double during 'As If We Never Said Goodbye'...The song is beautiful. The visual is stirring. The 40-piece on-stage orchestra soars, as does Close. The moment is as good as musical theater gets. Otherwise the musical is a mixed bag with choppy tonal shifts. Director Lonny Price can’t fix that. But he has assembled a fine cast."
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Variety
February 9th, 2017

"Glenn Close makes a triumphant return to the star role of Norma Desmond...Some roles you really have to grow into, and Close claims diva status this time around...Lloyd Webber’s luscious music (burdened by clunky lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton) is performed by a huge on-stage orchestra that lives by its strings...Close delivers a genuine show-stopper in 'As If We Never Said Goodbye'...If you want to see grown men weeping in the aisles, this is your moment."
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