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'Sunset Blvd.' Story and Characters | The Box Seat Babes Podcast · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  that being said, we're going to just dive right in.
• 0:03
  I don't know about you, RJ, but I had no idea what to expect from Sunset Boulevard because I have not seen it and or heard it or have seen any adaptation of this film before.
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  Film, story, musical.
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  Um, and I think that my reaction that night after the show pretty much sums it all up.
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  Uh, I was Would you say blown away was an accurate description of how I was after that show?
• 0:28
  Yeah.
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  Yep.
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  I think it, I think you were blown away with how blown away you were.
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  Yeah, so like again, no prior knowledge to the show.
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  I had no idea what to expect.
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  I had heard that the West End, where this came from originally, people were raving about it.
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  I knew that Nicole Scherzinger was covered in blood at some point.
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  Other than that, I could not tell you heads or tails of what was gonna happen in the story.
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  And I was equally blown away.
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  What did you know about Sunset Boulevard prior to seeing this revival on stage?
• 1:04
  So I did see the movie actually recently, about a year ago, and forgot that that's what it was.
• 1:16
  Okay, that's a hard thing to forget.
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  Yeah, I mean, I remembered the movie, but I didn't remember the title.
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  Like, just, it didn't put the two and two together until the obvious, the moment that it opened.
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  And then I was like, yeah.
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  Here we are.
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  But yeah, I actually kind of watched it.
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  Well, I was going to watch it with a friend.
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  We watched maybe the first like couple minutes and we were both like confused and like, this isn't very entertaining.
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  And so we turned it off.
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  And then apparently enough of me was enamored that I went back and finished it by myself.
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  And I liked it more like by the end, but it is, I mean, it's.
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  you know, very 50s movie that it is.
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  Yeah, it's very much inspired by the golden age of cinema.
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  I mean, guess that's exactly where it takes place.
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  Like in the 1950s, the idea of like, this is how cinema should be, and this is how the actors and actresses should be, and this is what life was like.
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  And it's like very much an old story, I think is a good way to put it.
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  It's an old story that is...
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  Could become, they could be very outdated.
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  Like it could be a very outdated story.
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  And yet there's something about this that is so, enamoring.
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  Like, like I was very enamored watching this show, um, because of the characters and the story that was kind of playing out.
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  Did you, I guess, so guess first off, let's go back to Andrew Lloyd Webber.
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  What's his obsession with haunting musicals?
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  He's just, I don't know, he's just a...
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  Kooky guy.
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  Yeah.
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  Yep.
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  Just likes the, you know, minor, minor tones.
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  music.
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  Sure, sure.
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  Okay, so then I'm gonna start with an easy question.
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  While this show is about, pretty much about Norma Desmond, who is the main character to you?
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  Is that an easy question?
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  I mean, Joe.
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  seems like the main kit, like Joe is who we are following.
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  So to me...
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  Like I would consider Norma like a close second, but Joe, I feel like I'm following Joe.
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  Okay, so basically joe is this struggling screenwriter who gets He kept he's hiding his car correct am I remembering that correctly He's hiding his car and ends up getting
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  enrolled into this like lifestyle plan with norma desmond who's looking to regain
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  her power in a way by bringing a movie back to Hollywood and back on the screen.
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  What of this show do you feel like really pulled you in or kinda called to you?
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  I mean the music.
• 4:28
  Sure, okay.
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  What about the story though did you like?
• 4:32
  It's kind of, it leaves space for interpretation, I think.
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  Okay.
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  Like we were getting these kind of the timeline is blurred so you can kind of.
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  imagine what's happening or how this relationship seemingly is developing without actually seeing it all of the time.
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  Like we see moments but we don't see it.
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  continuously.
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  There's like the very interesting but I do like that that Joe's kind of this like the person you're following in this really weird world of Hollywood is someone who actually
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  has their head kind of on straight, you know, like yeah, he owes some money to some people he probably shouldn't owe money to.
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  And he's kind of entangled with a few people that he shouldn't be entangled with but truthfully he's the only one that's kind of questioning the sanity of everybody else of
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  being like we're all in this together in this weird world Why are we playing these games?
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  Because everybody just seems to kind of be playing around Playing the same game, you know, and so I did like that he's kind of a straightforward character stuck in this really
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  creepy world of what Hollywood could and probably is
• 6:16
  Yeah, I mean, he brings to light how kind of cutthroat screenwriting is, right?
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  And what is going to work and what's not going to work.
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  And he just, he says it exactly how it is.
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  Granted, I do think that obviously changes with who he's around.
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  Norma being kind of the exception to the rule, just because of the situation that he becomes like.
• 6:47
  that he's in.
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  Sure.
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  But yeah, he's very, when he's, you know, talking with Betty, talking with his, like, friends, he says, like, this is gonna work, this is not gonna work, this is a good
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  screenplay, this isn't a good screenplay, you're better off without me, things, you know, seemingly not all.
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  Conceited?
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  Like he's just saying it, saying the truth.
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  Absolutely, and he's speaking quite like this the show speaks to a lot of different themes, but he kind of is calling to light this Idea of like legacy almost you know just
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  like he wants to leave this legacy and he's watching somebody like Norma who had a legacy try to regain that and
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  He almost is like, don't know if I really wanna mess with that in that same way.
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  I want something that speaks to my own, but how do I get that without riding on these coattails of somebody like Norma?
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  And so he sacrifices quite a bit.
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  I should say more like he actually, not sacrifices, but he...
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  He compromises a lot of his morals to achieve his goals here, which again makes him very flawed, but you're also rooting for him to make it out alive.
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  And think what's telling about the story too is that you know from the beginning he doesn't make it out alive.
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  Like right from the beginning, he comes out of a body bag and he's like, this is the story of how it happened.
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  Which, I know that's a huge spoiler, but.
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  What other themes do feel like really speak to you of this show?
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  Because there's quite a few themes.
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  There's a lot of layers to Andrew Lloyd Webber's show here, Sunset Boulevard.
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  I mean, we of course have the, like, I shouldn't say stereotype, but that like, the faded, I mean, you have Norma, right?
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  Her entire storyline being at this kind of glory-ridden days that, I mean, really for her, technically haven't ended, right?
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  She thinks that she's still living in it.
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  So maybe it's the...
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  What's the word I'm looking for?
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  The inability to see the truth in what's happening around you.
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  Granted, she has Max kind of covering for her in regards to covering the truth from her, shielding her from that.
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  But I think whether we apply the narrative to just stars or to any of us, I think that everyone goes through chapters and then some folks have a really hard time letting go of
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  that chapter.
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  And so they just keep extending it even though it's far past its due date, right?
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  It's kind of like if you see, you know,
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  an elderly person trying to pretend like they're 20 years old, like that just, doesn't make sense.
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  Um, and that can happen in many, many facets, whether it's age or, um, activity or whatever in this case, you know, career or theatrical career.
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  Um, the, the line between reality and
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  what we wish to be reality is, it's a little blurred.
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  You know what's interesting about Norma for me is the delusion.
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  Because at first I thought like clearly girl you're delusional.
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  know the therapist inside of me was like let's talk about it.
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  But as the show's going on I'm starting to realize I'm like is it actually her delusion or is it all just Max orchestrating it all because he's the one kind of pulling the strings
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  of being like don't let her know that like she doesn't have a career anymore.
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  And that feels like he's the puppet master of everything behind this.
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  I'm like, so is she truly delusional or is she living in a reality that she doesn't know because he doesn't allow her to know it?
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  Which is a different form of delusion because you're living in like a
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  You don't know that cereal tastes like like Reese Puffs tastes good because your mom won't let you have Reese Puffs.
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  You know what mean?
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  Like there's like there's like there's like a level of like caretaker there that he is kind of losing himself in, especially when you find out that he's her ex-husband and or
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  maybe they're still married kind of thing, you know, and still taking care of her.
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  Like like it's almost like that.
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  Wow.
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  Is he responsible for Tom's death because is he the one that's clearly holding her Fragile ego together and when it snaps, there's nothing left to go So I think there's that that's
• 11:42
  another layer to all of this like who's actually delusional Or like what level of delusion does everybody in the show have is everybody delusional and we're just missing parts of it
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  I know do you think that there's a there's an aspect of this that there's more than just normal being delusional
• 11:58
  yeah, yeah.
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  I think most of them are.
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  And I think with hers too, very much so.
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  Like it is him.
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  covering for her.
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  just there.
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  I think in order for there to be a cover you have to not be looking for the cover.
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  So I think as much as he is creating this delusion, she is accepting of it.
• 12:23
  Sure.
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  But I mean, yeah, everyone, I think almost every character, I mean, you have the young Betty who thinks that this screen play is gonna go all the way.
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  And then Joe, like, I'm not even sure what still, what his end game was or would have been because
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  He was obviously playing into the delusion willingly.
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  And yeah, he was getting stuff out of it by...
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  you know, living there and getting everything out of it.
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  But at the end of the day, like you had to know.
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  that you didn't want to live there forever.
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  So what are you taking with you?
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  Obviously, towards the end, he starts to realize he isn't going anywhere ever.
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  But yeah, lots of the whole thing is delusional, which is probably what makes people drawn to it.
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  Do think that's what it is?
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  Because I was wondering, we were in a packed house.
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  I'm trying to remember when we saw this.
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  Did we see this in the middle of a week?
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  There was a packed house.
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  And you're just like, wow, this show seems to...
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  seems to be crossing a lot of barriers because there was a lot of young people, there was a lot of old people, there was a lot of...
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  you know, there was gay couples, there were straight couples, they're like everybody was there to see the show and I'm just like what granted after I knew kind of what it was,
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  it's like what is drawing people to this so hard and in such droves because there's been other revivals of Sunset Boulevard there was something about this one that still spoke to
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  them.
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  Yeah, yeah, and I think, I mean, once again, cult classic story.
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  Actually, the the original reason that I even knew it existed was because a local group was doing like a.
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  Not a book club, but like a movie club where they everyone watches the movie and then they all meet to talk about it.
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  I didn't actually end up going, but.
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  But that tells you like it's still significant.
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  Like people were still doing that.
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  They're still watching it.
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  Yeah, no there's and I think it's because There's there's like a creepiness to the reality of it I think it's kind of where it falls.
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  I think people are intrigued and kind of attracted To that aspect of this.
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  So just being like though.
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  What is that about Norma Desmond?
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  That is just so intoxicating
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  she is kind of intoxicating to watch and i think this speaks to maybe even the performances too of like Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond and no that was not on my
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  bingo card for 2025 but like she was great in this role
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  because she was so terrifying.
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  I think that's a good way to put it.
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  There's a terrifyingness to Norma Desmond.
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  yeah, I mean it is exactly, I mean she is just the right amount of, was just the right amount of haunting.
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  Um, her stature.
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  Just, it was very appropriate to exactly how, you know, you would imagine an kind of old timey movie star to carry herself.
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  When you think that you're all that, then you're all that.
• 16:03
  Absolutely.
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  mean, they've heard like I think that like again, we'll talk about this more in part two, but like there's not much on stage There's not a lot of costumes.
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  There's not a lot of props.
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  In fact, there's almost no props You just have Nicole Scherzinger in Like like a nightie like I think that's the best way to put it like like negligee Maybe I'm aging myself with
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  these words here
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  like what it gave her that it was like the way she moved her body and the way that it was like very like rigid and almost like the like somebody who's not moving in time Who should
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  be moving in time?
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  You know what mean?
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  And so That was very interesting and that like she was very much She was captivating to watch and I think her against The guy who played Tom
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  Joe, Tom Francis, Joe, was, I don't know, there was an intoxicatingness between the two of them of how just terrifying it was to watch them still be spiral through Act 1 and Act 2.
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  Yeah, yeah, I mean she moved like, like royalty, very, like every move was intentionally.
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  It wasn't delicate, but it wasn't bold.
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  was like just, it was strong enough.
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  Um, and then, yeah, and he was.
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  And he was kind of the opposite.
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  mean, she, she appeared to be frail where he appeared to be strong.
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  And, but they both were equally strong when it came to their individual beings and or opinions.
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  Um, so yeah, they they played off each other well.
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  And then kind of paired with them too was max and the actor who played max David Thaxton Was just so creepy as well.
• 18:01
  I just I feel like they casted the show Very well, they cast the show.
• 18:06
  Sorry not casted and I should use the proper English here, but they cast the show very well That you couldn't help to just become so Overly involved in the drama that's
• 18:18
  happening on stage that like
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  think this was one of the quickest movie shows that we saw for me.
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  think like pacing wise when it came to the show, came to the story, I was so enwrapped up in it that by the time the act one ended, I was like, a we just got here.
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  Like, what are you talking about?
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  It's time to get up and stretch my legs.
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  And that has to do with their acting through and through.
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  When it comes to the ensemble, because there's a lot of moving pieces here.
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  I mean, I'm going through the list, I'm looking right now, there's like so many ensemble pieces.
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  How do you think that like that helped?
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  Like, did that help or deter from the story?
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  Because it was such an intimate story with so many, so little people.
• 18:59
  Did having all those extras around the stage, did it distract at all?
• 19:02
  Did it deter from the story or did it seem to add something to it?
• 19:06
  No, I mean, I it was the right amount.
• 19:10
  I mean, it was applicable to what they were trying to do storytelling wise.
• 19:14
  I mean, most of the time they weren't on stage or they were, if they were, it was very intentional.
• 19:23
  and then as we'll talk about later regarding the way that this entire show is staged, uh, they're important, right?
• 19:33
  Like I imagined that the ensemble are the ones doing that.
• 19:36
  So, um, aside from obviously like the opening number, or it's not technically the opening number, but the group number, there's a couple of group numbers, but nothing that I think
• 19:50
  deters from our primaries.
• 19:55
  Okay.
• 19:57
  Who was your favorite standout performance?
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  Was there anyone that just like took the cake for you?
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  I mean, Nicole is Nicole.
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  I mean, like it's,
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  It would be wrong of me to not say that she's a standout, but also I feel like, of course, she's a standout.
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  Her name is literally above the title.
• 20:19
  Um, but with that being said, I thought the, those four,
• 20:26
  Our four leads were all incredible.
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  Like you said, well cast, all did very, very well.
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  especially for the way in which the show is done.
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  It takes a certain kind of person, I think, to be able to have the intensity that the cast did have.
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  And I think that what we've known about Nicole since the Pussycat Doll days, she's been part of our lives in some capacity for decades.
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  I was really blown away by Tom Francis, who not only is 25 years old on stage from England, but he's literally...
• 21:16
  He's done rent.
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  He's on & Juliet and he's on Sunset Boulevard.
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  Like he's he played Romeo and and Juliette.
• 21:22
  He played Roger and rent, but he's only been on the stage for five years now.
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  And you could not tell me that that wasn't a seasoned professional.
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  He absolutely killed it.
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  Like there was just.
• 21:35
  I would have thought they were about the same age or had the same amount of like same amount of like time being in front of people.
• 21:42
  You couldn't have convinced me.
• 21:43
  I mean, he went through
• 21:44
  Half of the time that he was on stage, we had COVID and the stages were closed.
• 21:49
  It's insane.
• 21:50
  like that that there's like a level of impressiveness to that because As we'll talk about in episode 2 there's a technical thing at the beginning of act 2 That I think would scare
• 22:01
  most people this new in their career Because it scared it scared me and how they did it because it was so impressive so yeah, obviously Nicole a absolute goddess Grace Hodgett
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  young
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  What's fantastic is Betty, David, Thaxton, great as Max, but I was really blown away by Tom Francis.
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  So I got to give a shout out to Tom.
• 22:30
  And with that, we are actually wrapping up our first episode of the Sunset Boulevard podcast.
• 22:36
  So look out for part two, where we'll be discussing some of the technical aspects of the show.
• 22:41
  Thank you again for joining us here in our box seats until the next curtain call.