Sunset Boulevard (West End) London Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (229)
See it if You want an incredibly unique staging for a big West End musical of a classic show.
Don't see it if You're a purist and don't like bold re-imagining or use of video.
See it if you love over the top, noire-ish meets Gothic musical melodrama or clever staging which uses all of the theatre and the movie theme
Don't see it if you don't like sexy Oklahoma staging styles (uses roving cameras to project singers faces a lot) or a less traditional interpretation Read more
See it if The best show I have ever seen! Nicole Scherzinger absolutely unreal! The cast are excellent with great direction and brilliant orchestra!
Don't see it if You want to see a light hearted show
See it if Superb and groundbreaking staging
Don't see it if You want a traditional production
See it if you want to see real theater. OMG, it really was that good!
Don't see it if No reason not to, I wouldn't recommend it for kids, though. Read more
See it if You want inventive and epic storytelling with a cinematic score by ALW
Don't see it if Jamie Lloyd Productions
See it if Nicole Scherzinger gives the performance of a lifetime. The score is cinematic, and the use of cameras is so clever. Perfect, modern revival
Don't see it if you want to see a traditional production. I wouldn't recommend missing this revival though...
See it if you want to be caught off guard in a good way by this stunning reimagining of a classic.
Don't see it if you expect to see Norma in a turban
Critic Reviews (14)
“Nicole Scherzinger absolutely bloody smashes it as Hollywood diva Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1993 musical, dazzlingly reborn by director Jamie Lloyd. She brings not only an operatically powerful voice but shrewd comedy, harrowing pathos and a dancer’s physical precision to the washed-up silent star, besotted with young screenwriter Joe. It’s a physically and emotionally exposing performance”
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“As a piece of live theatre this is truly awesome stuff. Jamie Lloyd has been one of our best directors for a long time now, but for me this feels like a landmark for him, a perfect synthesis between the gleeful, gory showmanship of his earlier work and the more challenging artiness of his recent stuff. The pictures may have gotten small, but theatre has rarely felt so alive with possibility.”
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“The show has a stupendous sense of reinvention, with an end scene so arresting that it surprises even those who know what’s coming...it is sure to incite strong reactions. For some, it may be the show of the year. For me it was emotionally empty. Either way, few people will walk out indifferent.”
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“The unrelentingly stark evening has its longueurs, but it’s hard not to salute Scherzinger’s unmistakable triumph or fall in love with Lloyd Webber’s satisfyingly sinister opus once again.”
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“This audacious production from the enfant terrible Jamie Lloyd will no doubt pull in audiences purely on the strength of Scherzinger’s name. She looks fantastic, although that isn’t necessarily an advantage when you are portraying a star whose best days are far behind her. But in the end this is a show that exposes her limitations as an actress and a singer.”
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“Her voice is a wonder, both seductive and subtle, but big enough to raise the roof. It’s an extraordinary performance in a beautiful rethinking of one of Lloyd Webber’s greatest shows. A ‘Sunset Boulevard’ like no other, revealing its dark heart and deep grandeur.”
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“Throughout, Lloyd walks a wavering tightrope between postmodern wit, in concert with the snarky, satirical book, and visceral emotion that makes Lloyd Webber’s gorgeous score, with modified orchestrations, soar afresh. This is a ‘Sunset Boulevard’ for a new generation.”
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“This is an unsparing depiction of a world in which everyone uses everyone, nothing is quite what it seems and no one is completely sure who they are. It is Joe and Norma’s world, and it’s also ours. ”
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