Sunset Boulevard - Australia w/ Sarah Brightman 2024

‘Balls Aspects’ sounds like a very niche musical indeed.

That Broadway world article is just a re hash from the The Age that broke the story. Nothing new what so ever in that piece that is basically a copy and paste. Typical Broadway world reporting.

Burly bear sadly not yet, my chance was this coming Tuesday. But that’s now gone. Sarah has called out for the last couple of shows. I’ve heard unconfirmed rumors that Sarah is leaving the production altogether. Lots of backstage whispers.

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

It's scheduled for one if the theatres in the Opera House.

I am from Sydney and my parents and friends are still there and I was going to recommend it!

Given that Brightman has long been far more famous as a singer than as a musical theatre performer, it tells me something about her performance that they haven't, unless I missed it, used clips of her singing Norma's two big numbers to promote the production.

Supposedly Sarah hasn't been on all week... Can't believe that there's been so little news on any of the forums

Sad to hear. A look through tags on Instagram show that Silvie has also done the matinée today.
It's a shame, as Sarah did all her scheduled shows until this week and is now MIA.
I feel that she will take a week or two off and then come back and do half the shows in Melbourne until it closes. Or maybe just the last few weeks.
Then maybe open and do a couple of weeks in Sydney and leave early.

She could give up altogether, but that would be very embarrassing for her.

It's also disappointing that ALW has been so silent about everything that is going in. He is probably busy with Starlight Express and maybe was planning to go for the opening in Sydney, but there wasn't even as much as a good luck post. Maybe there is nothing for him to say in this instance, and it isn't his fault, but some sort of public support for his 'Angel of music' would have been nice.

What a shame for Brightman - no one wants to see an artist in the position she appears to be facing. The producers have to accept responsibility. She was never right for the part (vocally or as an actress) and 'Sunset', whilst a great score, is of limited box office appeal without a 'great' star. You have to feel sorry for her fellow company members, the crew and theatre staff. I wonder if they'd consider jettisoning someone in? But who? All the great ladies who've played it are too old.

Didn't know about the injury, but I feel if that is true that they would have already put it out as the reason she is not performing at the moment and had to take a break. I saw some posts on Facebook during the opening from someone whose ex-partner is performing in the show that she has apparently revealed to the cast and creatives about a medical condition. She hasn't said anything publicly, and she is a very private person anyway.

I feel the appeal of casting her as far as Opera Australia was concerned is probably because of her association with ALW. The prospect of his most famous leading lady/ex-wife/muse returning to the stage after 30 years, in a musical she hasn't been in before would have been too tempting to turn down, regardless of whether it was right for her or not. They probably imagined that ALW would turn up for the opening night and cry with joy during the curtain call, as he presents her with a bouquet and say it is the greatest night of his life to see his Angel of Music singing his music again.

What they would have not given any thought to is that (leaving her suitability aside) she is not well known in Australia. The last time she performed in Australia was 20 years ago in her Harem tour, and I believe ticket sales were very poor there for what is otherwise considered to be one of her best-selling tours.
Add this to the fact that most Australians in general do not like 'imports', which I guess is fair. There were loads of Australian theatre performers on opening night, and apart from Maria Mercedes and Erin Cornell, no one has said anything about her.
I've looked at a lot of posts by theatregoers on social media, especially when Silvie's performances are announced, and lots of the comments are along the lines of 'no disrespect to Sarah Brightman, but we would rather support an Australian talent'. And unfortunately for Sarah, Silvie is the sort of fantastic performer who is just born to play Norma Desmond and is an Australian legend.

It's not financially feasible, but the best thing would have been to have something like a 2 or 3 week 'event' of SB in SB (like the production in Washington DC last year), maybe in Sydney, and to have ended it there.
And maybe do an Asian tour as she has a huge fanbase all over. I've seen over the last few weeks thatba lot of people from China/Japan/Indonesia on socials have flown to Melbourne to watch the show. I feel bad if any have come in this week.

Removed cause it might have been miscommunication on what they meant

We travelled all the way from East Coast Canada (21 hours) to see Sarah in this production. When we finally get to Melbourne we were told she wasn't performing. They offered to charge the dates of the show which we did 3 nights in hopes to see her. A week later we are now on the way home without seeing her in thee show. VERY DISAPPOINTING as we were big Sarah fans.