Curve Leicester’s Sunset Boulevard concert to stream online

Curve Leicester has extended the online stream of its Sunset Boulevard concert production.

It follows the theatre being forced to cancel its planned in-person run of the concert due to ongoing pandemic restrictions.

But the show will go on online, with a full HD captured performance available between Tuesday, 22 December and Saturday, 17 January 2021.

Tickets are priced at £20 a household and are available online here.

The concert performances will be directed by Nikolai Foster, with Ria Jones and Danny Mac reprising their roles as Norma Desmond and Joe Gillis. Molly Lynch will reprise her role as Betty Schaefer, Adam Pearce returns as Max Von Mayerling, Dougie Carter as Artie Green and Carl Sanderson as Cecil B DeMille.

The Sunset Boulevard company will also include Benjamin Chambers, Owen Chaponda, Joanna Goodwin, Kristoffer Hellström, James Meunier, Gemma Naylor, Joanna O’Hare, Jessica Paul, Sam Peggs and Barney Wilkinson. The performances will also feature a 16-piece orchestra.

Curve’s Chief Executive Chris Stafford and Artistic Director Nikolai Foster said: “Due to Leicester entering Tier 3 and the uncertainty of when we will be able to reopen, we have made the difficult decision to cancel public performances of Sunset Boulevard. We are incredibly disappointed not to welcome audiences back to Curve this Christmas, especially as we have invested significantly in measures to ensure we can operate in a Covid-safe way.

“However, the show must go on and in a Curve first, we will be bringing back our terrific Sunset Boulevard company to film the production for audiences to watch from the comfort of their own homes. The concert staging will see our stalls cleared of seats to accommodate our socially distanced 16-piece orchestra and we will celebrate every corner of Curve’s astonishing in-the-round auditoria with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s magnificent score.

“Although we are sorry not to be able to come together in person this Christmas, we are delighted we can share this specially-created concert with audiences across our city and beyond. Our sincere thanks to Really Useful Group, Paramount Pictures, UK Theatre, the Musicians Union, our sponsors PPL and the Culture Recovery Fund for helping make this possible.”

Sunset Boulevard features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics and book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton.

Based on the 1950 film of the same name, it follows a faded silent screen star Norma Desmond who has a chance encounter with a screenwriter Joe Gillis that leads to romance, drama and tragedy.

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan