Portland Center Stage

Ben Waterhouse | Willamette Week [Review 22 Sep 2010]

In the spirit of fairness, I’d like to say right now that Sunset Boulevard—Andrew Lloyd Webber’s slavish stage adaptation of Billy Wilder’s 1950 film—is not the worst piece of musical theater I’ve ever seen. There have been many that are less original (Spamalot), less interesting (Bark! The Musical), less comprehensible (Das Barbecü, a retelling of Wagner’s ring cycle set in Texas). But those shows are not, to my knowledge, currently being produced by major regional theater companies, and Sunset, Webber’s only musical since Phantom of the Opera to have any success whatsoever, is pretty awful. The music is not memorable, the lyrics are not clever and the plot is not original. There is nothing to recommend the show but spectacle.

Grant Butler | The Oregonian [Review 22 Sep 2010]

Norma Desmond is the greatest star of all. Millions worship her every move, and when she’s in front of the camera, the mere raising of an eyebrow can send people off the deep end. At home, she’s surrounded by opulence, her entourage is a “who’s who” of Hollywood elite, and every day she receives mountains of fan mail.

Trouble is, that was 20 years ago, the glitter of the silent-film era has faded, and the world has moved on, leaving Norma nearly alone with nothing but memories and madness to fill up her empty mansion.

That’s the enticing premise of “Sunset Boulevard,” the classic 1950 Billy Wilder film that was adapted by Andrew Lloyd Webber in the 1990s into a big-budget musical, which Portland Center Stage premiered Friday as its season-opening production.

Alison Hallett | The Portland Mercury [Review 20 Sep 2010]

Apart from its existence, there’s really nothing wrong with Portland Center Stage’s production of Sunset Boulevard.