Buckley, Sills, Cariou, Etc. Star in LA 'Sunset' Reading
By: BWW News Desk Jul. 27, 2006
A starry cast of theatre, TV and film performers has been lined up to bring the decaying glamor of Sunset Boulevard to the Hollywood Bowl. A staged reading of the classic 1950 Billy Wilder movie will be presented on August 6th at 7:30 PM.
Tony Award-winner Betty Buckley (Cats, The Mystery of Edwin Drood), who played the role on Broadway and in London in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical version, will once again take on the role of faded silent film goddess Norma Desmond. The cast will also feature Douglas Sills (The Scarlet Pimpernel, Little Shop of Horrors) as ambitious screenwriter Joe Gillis, Tony Award-winner Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd, Little Night Music) as mysterious butler Max von Mayerling and Jean Louisa Kelly (The Fantasticks movie) as Joe's inamorata Betty Schaefer, according to the Hollywood Bowl's website.
Also featured will be Hal Sparks ("Queer as Folk") as Artie Green, Conrad John Schuck (Annie) as Cecil B. DeMille, Tom McGowan as First AD, Ken Howard (1776, Seesaw) as Repo Man, Charles Durning (Gore Vidal's The Best Man, The Gin Game) as LA Captain, Fred Forrest as BH Captain, James Cromwell (films such as L.A. Confidential, Babe) as Sheldrake, Bruce Davison (The Glass Menagerie) as Morino, Ted Heyck as Jonsey, Tom Costello as Guard, Tony Award-winner Daisy Eagan (The Secret Garden) as Connie, Alan Johnson as Hog Eye, J. Todd Adams as Cop and Holland Taylor ("The L Word," The Truman Show) as Hedda Hopper.
The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, under the direction of John Mauceri, will perform the movie's Oscar-winning score by Franz Waxman. Peter Hunt will direct.
The reading will feature David Rambo's adaptation of the original screenplay by Wilder (who directed the movie), Charles Brackett, D.M. Marshman, Jr.; his adaptation was also used for the 2004 Actors' Fund benefit reading of Sunset Boulevard. Sunset Boulevard centers around Norma Desmond, a reclusive, aging silent movie star intent on making her comeback with a new film based on Salome--and on holding onto the jaded screenwriter who has come under her influence. The film also won Oscars for art direction and for its screenplay, while star Gloria Swanson was nominated for her performance as Norma; William Holden, Nancy Olson and Erich Von Stroheim co-starred. A musical version--with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton--won the 1995 Tony Award for Best Musical. Originally starring Tony-winner Glenn Close, it also became a star vehicle for an array of leading ladies.
Videos