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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Roseburg shooting victim describes gunman's rampage ... Habitat for Humanity volunteers raise walls and hope for Medford family ... Gold Hill residents say city dawdled as streets flooded ... Roseburg shooting victim describes gunman's rampage ... Habitat for Humanity volunteers raise walls and hope for Medford family ... Gold Hill residents say city dawdled as streets flooded ... THEATER Andrew Lloyd Webber's lush musical 'Sunset Boulevard' opens at Camelot Theatre in Talent Comment By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune Posted Mar. 18, 2015 at 10:54 AM By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune Posted Mar. 18, 2015 at 10:54 AM » Social News “Sunset Boulevard,” Billy Wilder’s 1950 movie, is an American classic. With a closing scene that is a favorite of film buffs, it's familiar even to audiences who have never seen the movie about the faded silent film star and the ambitious screenwriter. The aging diva dramatically descends a winding staircase. Lost in her delusion of a return to the silver screen, she announces, “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.” Wilder’s film masterpiece inspired theater impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber to create a dazzling, musical version of “Sunset Boulevard” for the stage in 1993. The show is filled with lush music and elaborate stage effects, trademarks of Lloyd Webber’s Broadway productions. The stage version of “Sunset Boulevard” opened with the illusion of the audience looking up from the bottom of a swimming pool at a floating body. The Tony Award-winning spectacle that is “Sunset Boulevard” previews Wednesday and Thursday, March 18-19, opens Friday, March 20, and runs through April 19 at Camelot Theatre, 101 Talent Ave., Talent. Curtain is at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays. The March 18 performance is a benefit for Rogue Valley Sunrise Soroptimists, and tickets cost $25. A pay-what-you-can performance will be offered Wednesday, March 25. Tickets for the March 19 preview cost $12. Tickets for all other performances cost $27, $25 for students and seniors (except for Sunday matinees). Tickets can be purchased at the theater's box office, online at camelottheatre.org or by calling 541-535-5250. “Sunset Boulevard’s” book and lyrics, by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, stay true to the original’s movie script. The arrival of talking pictures ended Norma Desmond’s career. She secluded herself in her elaborate, crumbling mansion on Sunset Boulevard. In Desmond's mind, she is still young and beautiful and her return to film is imminent. Her accidental meeting with struggling young screenwriter Joe Gillis results in an unlikely bargain. He will help her write the script for her comeback; she will provide all the lavish material comforts he desires. Each sees the other as a means to an end — until Desmond’s delusion and Gillis' ambition inevitably clash in a shocking conclusion. Camelot’s resident production manager, Roy Von Rains Jr., directs “Sunset Boulevard,” with choreography by Sarah Gore and musical direction by Michael Wing. Livia Genise, Camelot's artistic director, plays Desmond, Nathan Monk is the stardom-hungry Gillis and Mark Schneider is Desmond’s hovering butler, Max Von Mayerling. Gore plays Betty Schafer, the young script editor whom Desmond sees as her rival for Gillis. Jeff Golden plays Cecil B. DeMille. Rains says he sees “Sunset Boulevard” not as a melodrama but as a tragedy, the dark side of the show business dream. “I see Joe Gillis as swept up into the world of stardom,” Rains says. “He doesn’t start with a grand intention to take advantage of Desmond’s generosity. He initially tries to back away and then is pulled into it.” The Camelot production features an elaborate set designed by James Leyson, video projections by Brian O’Connor and a six-piece orchestra of two keyboards, a violin, reeds, trumpet and drums. There will even be the iconic swimming pool of the movie’s first scene and the exotic car that takes Desmond back to her beloved Paramount Studios. Genise says she does not view the Norma Desmond character as the grotesque “black widow spider” portrayed in the movie or the Broadway production. “I see her as someone whose memory ended when talkies arrived and her career faded,” Genise says. “She no longer fits in the world. In her mind, she is still the young woman who can play the 16-year-old Salome. “She’s not evil, she’s lost,” Genise adds. Roberta Kent is a freelance writer living in Ashland. Reach her at [email protected]. By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Roberta Kent for the Mail Tribune Posted Mar. 18, 2015 at 10:54 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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