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Showtune Sunday: Compare “Sunset Boulevard” divas Glenn Close and Patti LuPone on “As if We Never Said Goodbye”
There will always be two camps when it comes to the first stage productions of Sunset Boulevard: the Glenn Close camp and the Patti LuPone camp.
I think they were both sensational in the role of Norma Desmond and it’s such a shame that only Glenn got to play the role on Broadway – a performance that won her a third Tony Award.
Miss LuPone debuted the role in London and triumphed in the West End. The plan – and her contract – called for her to then take the show to Broadway.
But before that could happen, Miss Close starred in a Los Angeles production of the new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and set all kinds of box office records. I saw her during this run and it was a wonderful show.
When the Broadway run drew close, Lloyd Webber made a shocking decision that people still buzz about 15 years later: he decided to have Miss Close be the lead on Broadway and paid LuPone at least $1 million for breaking her contract. She was famously furious and I cannot wait to read the chapter in her forthcoming autobiography about this whole episode.
I bought the soundtrack to that London production years ago and love it. I so wish I could have seen Miss LuPone on stage as Desmond. I found the grainy video on YouTube on As if We Never Said Goodbye – the quality is poor visually but the audio is terrific.
Miss Close’s performance is from the Tony Awards telecast.
Who would you have rather seen do the role on Broadway? Did Lloyd Webber make the right choice?
Glenn Close
Comments
(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)
chuckfll says:
Thanks for posting….Both ladies are great in their own style…Patti is the better of the two imo. Also, don’t forget the great Betty Buckley’s version…
2201 East says:
How could a person make a decision unless they had a chance to see each of them perform live?
Craig says:
I give the nod to Close. There’s a frailty and desperation in her performance that serves the character perfectly. I have owned both soundtracks since the day they were released, and I enjoy them equally. The L.A. show has a good extra song (“Every Movie’s a Circus”), but the London album has a better male lead on “The Lady’s Paying.”
Bluejea says:
This is very interesting as i saw them both live – Lupone gets my vote out of these two though! They were both amazing – Lupone had the vocal power, Close the superiour acting ability.
I believe I saw every UK and Broadway Norma, plus a few other on my travels – Betty Buckley (London), Petula Clarke (London and USA tour), Elaine Paige (London and NYC), Rita Moreno (London), Diahann Carroll (Vancouver), Karen Mason (NYC), Paula Scrofano (Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshore near Chicago)…I also saw many understudies, the names of whom I can’t even remember! Most recently I saw Kathryn Evans in a Watermill Playhouse and then in London – it was a very neat production indeed.
Of all the Norma’s my personal favourite was Faith Brown who took on a UK national tour in 2001 – she was incredible but as the tour never made it in to London she tends to relatively unknown in the role.
Sadly I never saw the first US tour, or German or Australian producions – but i did see the show hundreds of times as it gave me a great reason to travel to cities i would never have thought of visiting.