For Christmas, Nicole and I exchange theater tickets. For her gift, we saw The Master and Margarita done by the Synetic Theater and for my gift, the Signature Theater's Sunset Boulevard. For those unfamiliar with this popular Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, it tracks an aging, mentally-ill silent movie star, Norma Desmond, searching for a comeback in mainstream movies at what turns out to be any cost and the out-of-work 30-something writer who crosses her path.
For this show, the Signature assembled a power-house cast, led by Broadway institution Florence Lacey as Desmond. Haunting and macabre in parts and sweet and vulnerable in others, this show takes its place in a long line of tremendous runs the Signature has offered these past few years. The high point, in a performance packed with them, was Lacey's performance of "As If We Never Said Goodbye", followed closely by the moment at the end of the show where you watch her, playing an already weak and ill woman, come completely unglued.
All-in-all, two thumbs up to the Signature's still-running rendition of Sunset Boulevard. If you're in the DC area and enjoy musical theater, even at the theater's sometimes steep prices, this show will not disappoint.
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