I saw Betty on Broadway and I've loved her ever since. She's brilliance. I am also in love with the slow closeup at the end, bravo to the tv director on that one! Thanks for giving us this video!
I saw her in this role in 1995 on Broadway. It was the second Broadway show that I had EVER seen. I was a silly little theatre major and she made me cry. (That's why I came back 2 other times.) LOL!
I saw Sunset Bloulevard in New York and Betty Buckley was out sick that night......we were disappointed until her stand in came out and blew us away. The stand in was Karen Mason, Bravo! She was outstanding.
I saw the most amazing Ms. Buckley play Norma Desmond!It has been the only show that I DID not look around to see who was standing before me! I was moved to tears by her rendition of - "Never Say Goodbye" Betty was the ultimate Norma. I have yet to see a performance to match. This lady is a legend.
After seeing Sunset Blvd in LA (w/ Glenn Close), I spent the rest of 1994 in the UK. I saw Sunset at least 5 times with Betty Buckley. Her Norma Desmond was amazing...he voice was so powerful so easily. I've been amazed by her ever since. Thank you for posting this...this is the Sunset Blvd I fell in love with. If you have more Betty, please post!
I saw Patti, Betty and Elaine! Patti is so original in being the Original, Betty is the perfect actress with the perfect vocal abilities, and Elaine is the perfect local singer/actress for the London stage! I loved them all, much more then you can imagine, if you did not see them all.
I blamed so much when I realized that Ms Glenn Close would not be singing Sunset Boulevard that day... but when I heard Betty Buckley I was really amazed and astonished for such outstanding performance
Why people have to be always so judgmental, Just enjoy the performance :( even if someone was better than the other you will be nothing next to them. I Just want to say John Barrowman is sooooo amazing and soooooo talented in everything he do.
I was very impressed with this Betty Buckly interpretation. I found it quite haunting. I saw glen in person but I really like this version. It was eerie
How I love her in this role - that voice just gets to me You can keep Lupone,Close and all the rest.If anyone has any more clips of Betty Bucley in this role please post them
This was performed BEFORE barrowman/buckley had opened and it meant LuPone was the only nominated leading lady prevented from performing that year. For those that are unaware, LuPone's reviews in london were raves. It was a final insult before she flew home. They key's were lowered for Buckley.
Saw this performance in May 1994 in London....Miss Buckley rules.... and Joah Barrowman is one sexy Joe! I went to this performance with Hollywood Icon Joan Fontaine, during the performance. The funny thing was, the sets were acting up and Betty had to walk around the stage wall to sing her big song..then...we went back stage to say hello to the cast..awesome memory!
amazing! she's the smoothest and the most effortless Norma Desmond I've seen but she doesn't dave the pain and sadness that Glenn Close's Norma evokes...
I love Patti - duh, but I didn't see her do Sunset. I saw Glenn. I saw Elaine. And I saw Betty. Betty Buckley was the only one who, IMHO, brought the whole package together. Her incredible voice, her acting, her phrasing and interpretation, her gestures - perfection.
She is VERY powerful vocally, but there is no passion or emotion whatsover in her performance. It seems like all of her energy is going into belting each note.There is so much emotion in Patti's performance and also Elaine Paige and Petula Clark. Does anyone have footage of when Rita Moreno did it?
@pnyc1969 Good comment.. I have only seen videos.. and by the looks of it Buckley brings a classy element to everything she touches, always regal in some way.
To the Merry Misanthrope: Sunset Boulevard deals with dark subjects. It is almost horror. Norma Desmond is the "monster" living in a creepy mansion. I think the theme of a generation gap relationship is interesting. It features one of ALW's most thrilling scores. It's one of my favourite musicals.
@onlyalittlewicked Thank you for the dose of reality. Her NY Times and Wall St. Journal reviews in particular would have been career-destroying if she did not have a track record.
Favorite Joe (I heart John Barrowman!), and I love Betty's singing, but it feels more to me like "Betty Buckley singing a song from SB!" than "Norma Desmond singing a song!" I feel like Patti LuPone (personality wise as well) fit the character more. As an out of context song, I like Betty's version best, but within the show, I prefer Patti.
@laluponeista88 Yes, Betty did do a great Norma! It's refreshing to meet a LuPone fan who isn't automatically against all other Normas like some tend to be. I like LuPone's Norma too, but I also appreciate other actresses who've played her :D
You are both so far out of your minds (ooo!!!! after all these years, the Norma Wars wage on! Teeheeeheeeheeeee! I LOVE Patti, and I love Betty, and I love Karen, and Glenn is my favorite SCREEN actress -- Help me!!!!)
she's good of course, but you can tell this is back when they were still directing her to perform this in the glenn close style that they felt worked. like i said, it's good, but much prefer her performances on broadway - by then they let her vary her interpretation from this... hell, they even fixed the makeup by then too :) thanks for sharing this though. haven't seen it in ages!
@karrezza it may be a "fatal attraction meets cruella deville" call it as u want but damn I liked that crossing and even for Norma coz I imagined her character as impressive and imposing as Glenn Close... Buckley is the second best according to me... but i do get ur point i just don't think I'll agree for now...
He must have some voice because I just read today he's in the lead as the Phantom in London right now and Webber wants him to play the Phantom in the sequel next year; Phantom: Love Never Dies.
I have to disagree with you rugger0430...I think John is amazing singing this song. Not only does he sound the part of Joe Gillis but he looks it. I'm sure I read where John won the 'Olivier' award for playing Joe Gillis in this production...If you really want to weep, and I don't mean tears of joy, check out Michael Ball's version of Sunset Boulevard...
i know. she played a sympathetic young and very beautiful teacher in the movie. sorry she died. i watched the whole movie cause i had no idea what it was all about. the scariest part for me when her mother's arm came up from their burned down house...or was it carrie's. i don't remember that. i know for sure i always got an eerie feeling anytime i saw sissy spacek (winning an academy award changed my percetion of her however. i didn't know what to make of her in real life. lol.
Never worked with her, never saw her live, did hear she was a little crazy during "Cats," (I had a visiting professor who worked with her). But, I also had a visiting prof who walked out of Paul Newman's studio because he mistreated his students. So, who knows? Talented people aren't always nice. That much I have learned.
@karrezza oh and I just realized buckley went flatt while going in high notes... very inaccurate when she says "the girl next door" and it annoys my ears... but again that's me! if u don't agree ignore...
I am answering FIVE years later.. and all I can say is OH BROTHER. SNobbery in your comment.. "Oh I have perfect pitch so I know when she goes flat.." Here commencing with the BIGGEST eye roll ever.
I have to agree with you, Betty's performance is very sub-par, it ranks right up there with Pattie Def-tone (lol) Glen close not only has the VOICE, but she is Norma.
@FaceTune Nope no way no how, not even in the stands of the baseball field in terms of singing talent.. she can act but she turned Norma into a near Fatal Attraction meets Cruella DeVille..." Betty is all Broadway, and is beautiful so is believable as the fallen star...
My comment was nothing to do with ignorance, more to do with my personal opinion which this type of forum is here to provide. I am more than happy for you to disagree with my opinion but not for you to say that my opinion is ignorant..........Dude.
i would pay £10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 to have dinner with him (not a legal contract)
Sorry, don't remember saying I was a performer in my comment. I was merely expressing an opinion which I guess this facility is there for people to do. I recognise that performing as this sort of level is hard work. However, as I said in my last comment I don't think Betty is vocally up to this part. Think she acts very well, but her voice is shaky now.
Look, as long you're not drooling over Petula Clark and that theatrical abortion known as the "The 2nd US Tour," you're okay in my book! ;-) PS- Just please don't go around burning cast recordings in effigy!
I'm not sure I enjoy John Barrowman in this role; and I hugely regret this, as I'm a big fan of both him and the song. It's like he either rushes the line, or slows it down unrealistically. "Beneath... the... tan... the... battle rages. Smilearentedsmile,fillsomesglasskisssomeswife kiss some ones... ass..sss...ss we... do... whatever... paysthewages." That sort of thing. Perhaps exaggerated, but that is how I feel about his version. And hell. I don't even like Michael Ball.
Got to disagree. Her voice sounds like a chainsaw! Saw four different Normas and vocally Elaine Paige has to be the best. Betty acted it well, but just not up to it vocally. John Barrowman is just gorgeous isn't he?
Oh boo hoo! Betty Buckley hurt some students feelings. Get used to it. If you can't get through a master class without wimpering, GET OUT OF THE BUSINESS!
omg this is aweful. She is shouting most of the song and facial expressions are not there.Where is the passion. Glen was so much better,and I hope Glen is in the movie version cause this woman is terrible.
![The Graham Norton Show - Saoirse Ronan, Richard Gere, John Malkovich,Taylor Swift [FULL]](/img/n.gif)
I saw Betty on Broadway and I've loved her ever since. She's brilliance. I am also in love with the slow closeup at the end, bravo to the tv director on that one! Thanks for giving us this video!
I saw her in this role in 1995 on Broadway. It was the second Broadway show that I had EVER seen. I was a silly little theatre major and she made me cry. (That's why I came back 2 other times.) LOL!
Bravo!!!!
I love Betty's Norma. She did such a wonderful job. Easily one of the best Normas.
BETTY BUCKLEY WAS A REMARKABLE STAR !
Of all the various "Sunset" clips I've seen of Betty, this was by FAR the best I've seen.
I saw her on Broadway doing this and she was fantastic.
She was born to play this role. WOW!
I saw Sunset Bloulevard in New York and Betty Buckley was out sick that night......we were disappointed until her stand in came out and blew us away. The stand in was Karen Mason, Bravo! She was outstanding.
I saw the most amazing Ms. Buckley play Norma Desmond!It has been the only show that I DID not look around to see who was standing before me! I was moved to tears by her rendition of - "Never Say Goodbye" Betty was the ultimate Norma. I have yet to see a performance to match. This lady is a legend.
After seeing Sunset Blvd in LA (w/ Glenn Close), I spent the rest of 1994 in the UK. I saw Sunset at least 5 times with Betty Buckley. Her Norma Desmond was amazing...he voice was so powerful so easily. I've been amazed by her ever since. Thank you for posting this...this is the Sunset Blvd I fell in love with. If you have more Betty, please post!
I saw Patti, Betty and Elaine! Patti is so original in being the Original, Betty is the perfect actress with the perfect vocal abilities, and Elaine is the perfect local singer/actress for the London stage! I loved them all, much more then you can imagine, if you did not see them all.
I blamed so much when I realized that Ms Glenn Close would not be singing Sunset Boulevard that day... but when I heard Betty Buckley I was really amazed and astonished for such outstanding performance
1994 baby! Best time in the world at the Adelphi!!!! AMAZING!!!!
Why people have to be always so judgmental, Just enjoy the performance :( even if someone was better than the other you will be nothing next to them. I Just want to say John Barrowman is sooooo amazing and soooooo talented in everything he do.
I was very impressed with this Betty Buckly interpretation. I found it quite haunting. I saw glen in person but I really like this version. It was eerie
I love this musical!
Betty Buckley is simply a Goddess
thanks for posting!!
John Barrowman looks hot and i like how he sings sunset boulevard.
How I love her in this role - that voice just gets to me You can keep Lupone,Close and all the rest.If anyone has any more clips of Betty Bucley in this role please post them
barrowman is awesome and well received was he...
interestingly I like her for her voice.
she has by far the greatest female voice I have ever heard, no question
This was performed BEFORE barrowman/buckley had opened and it meant LuPone was the only nominated leading lady prevented from performing that year. For those that are unaware, LuPone's reviews in london were raves. It was a final insult before she flew home. They key's were lowered for Buckley.
JB was and is wonderful. M
Saw this performance in May 1994 in London....Miss Buckley rules.... and Joah Barrowman is one sexy Joe!
I went to this performance with Hollywood Icon Joan Fontaine, during the performance. The funny thing was, the sets were acting up and Betty had to walk around the stage wall to sing her big song..then...we went back stage to say hello to the cast..awesome memory!
amazing! she's the smoothest and the most effortless Norma Desmond I've seen but she doesn't dave the pain and sadness that Glenn Close's Norma evokes...
she is amazing! And she was pretty much the best thing in "The Happening" lol
role = a part in a play
roll = a dinner roll, a roll in the hay
I love Patti - duh, but I didn't see her do Sunset. I saw Glenn. I saw Elaine. And I saw Betty. Betty Buckley was the only one who, IMHO, brought the whole package together. Her incredible voice, her acting, her phrasing and interpretation, her gestures - perfection.
She is VERY powerful vocally, but there is no passion or emotion whatsover in her performance. It seems like all of her energy is going into belting each note.There is so much emotion in Patti's performance and also Elaine Paige and Petula Clark. Does anyone have footage of when Rita Moreno did it?
@pnyc1969 Good comment.. I have only seen videos.. and by the looks of it Buckley brings a classy element to everything she touches, always regal in some way.
I have an incredible sense of song appreciation.
Barrowman has about as much talent as a mediocre summer stock actor.
To the Merry Misanthrope: Sunset Boulevard deals with dark subjects. It is almost horror. Norma Desmond is the "monster" living in a creepy mansion. I think the theme of a generation gap relationship is interesting. It features one of ALW's most thrilling scores. It's one of my favourite musicals.
i'm such a betty buckley groupie.pls post more scenes from sunset blvd with la buckley.preferably "as if we never said goodbye."
@onlyalittlewicked Thank you for the dose of reality. Her NY Times and Wall St. Journal reviews in particular would have been career-destroying if she did not have a track record.
Young Barrowman *-*
He had the exactly voice like now, I'm surprised.
Barrowman is really really lucky to be good looking because he's Glee material, not Broadway or West End. Next to Buckley, he's ridiculous.
Favorite Joe (I heart John Barrowman!), and I love Betty's singing, but it feels more to me like "Betty Buckley singing a song from SB!" than "Norma Desmond singing a song!" I feel like Patti LuPone (personality wise as well) fit the character more. As an out of context song, I like Betty's version best, but within the show, I prefer Patti.
wow john barrowman was soo good
@laluponeista88
Yes, Betty did do a great Norma! It's refreshing to meet a LuPone fan who isn't automatically against all other Normas like some tend to be. I like LuPone's Norma too, but I also appreciate other actresses who've played her :D
Well both were, given Close and Buckley are the same age. Both are 62, born in 1947, Close is a few months older.
I saw her in the role - was impressed - having said that I was more impressed [against my will] with Petula Clarke!
I'm very sorry to say this, but as far as I'm concerned, this is as good as she gets in this role.
i love this song i try to do it at kareoke! lol..
I love JB too :-)
@BG54BG
i remember, but do you remember her as the new mother in "eight is enough"?
You are both so far out of your minds (ooo!!!! after all these years, the Norma Wars wage on! Teeheeeheeeheeeee! I LOVE Patti, and I love Betty, and I love Karen, and Glenn is my favorite SCREEN actress -- Help me!!!!)
Heck, she was in Carrie first before she was Abby! Though my first memory is as Abby, I was too scared as a kid to see Carrie!
she's good of course, but you can tell this is back when they were still directing her to perform this in the glenn close style that they felt worked. like i said, it's good, but much prefer her performances on broadway - by then they let her vary her interpretation from this... hell, they even fixed the makeup by then too :)
thanks for sharing this though. haven't seen it in ages!
@karrezza it may be a "fatal attraction meets cruella deville" call it as u want but damn I liked that crossing and even for Norma coz I imagined her character as impressive and imposing as Glenn Close... Buckley is the second best according to me... but i do get ur point i just don't think I'll agree for now...
He must have some voice because I just read today he's in the lead as the Phantom in London right now and Webber wants him to play the Phantom in the sequel next year; Phantom: Love Never Dies.
I couldn't agree with you more. He's like a decent college musical theatre major. He annoys the shit out of me.
I am gay man too. I think JB has a great voice and is truly talented. As for looks: WOOF!!! :-)
I have to disagree with you rugger0430...I think John is amazing singing this song. Not only does he sound the part of Joe Gillis but he looks it. I'm sure I read where John won the 'Olivier' award for playing Joe Gillis in this production...If you really want to weep, and I don't mean tears of joy, check out Michael Ball's version of Sunset Boulevard...
@onlyalittlewicked that would explain why the replaced her before the broadway opening with gelnn close.
i know. she played a sympathetic young and very beautiful teacher in the movie. sorry she died.
i watched the whole movie cause i had no idea what it was all about. the scariest part for me when her mother's arm came up from their burned down house...or was it carrie's. i don't remember that.
i know for sure i always got an eerie feeling anytime i saw sissy spacek (winning an academy award changed my percetion of her however. i didn't know what to make of her in real life. lol.
Never worked with her, never saw her live, did hear she was a little crazy during "Cats," (I had a visiting professor who worked with her). But, I also had a visiting prof who walked out of Paul Newman's studio because he mistreated his students. So, who knows? Talented people aren't always nice. That much I have learned.
is that john barrowman? I wonder if he was in the one i saw
@karrezza oh and I just realized buckley went flatt while going in high notes... very inaccurate when she says "the girl next door" and it annoys my ears... but again that's me! if u don't agree ignore...
I am answering FIVE years later.. and all I can say is OH BROTHER. SNobbery in your comment.. "Oh I have perfect pitch so I know when she goes flat.." Here commencing with the BIGGEST eye roll ever.
I think John Barrowman is beoynd fabulous.
I saw Patti Lupone, an understudy, Betty and Elaine Paige in this.....Betty was the best.
I have to agree with you, Betty's performance is very sub-par, it ranks right up there with Pattie Def-tone (lol) Glen close not only has the VOICE, but she is Norma.
@FISTRIG Was? IS! She isn't dead!
Just want them to finall make the darn movie. I know I want Glenn Close for Norma but torn between Jackman and Barrowman for Gillis.
@FaceTune Nope no way no how, not even in the stands of the baseball field in terms of singing talent.. she can act but she turned Norma into a near Fatal Attraction meets Cruella DeVille..."
Betty is all Broadway, and is beautiful so is believable as the fallen star...
lol i feel like i don't need to see the actual production after seeing the five-minute summary, hah
My comment was nothing to do with ignorance, more to do with my personal opinion which this type of forum is here to provide. I am more than happy for you to disagree with my opinion but not for you to say that my opinion is ignorant..........Dude.
I've very sorry to say it but she was under the note for most of that performance. The last note especially.
Vocally, I don't think anyone can tackle "Sunset Boulevard" like Kevin Anderson
I'd say 16, but that may be pushing it.
i would pay £10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 to have dinner with him (not a legal contract)
My favorite version. I think she could've done an even better job if she didn't have so many kids; eight, I believe.
How is Elaine self-conscious?
Sorry, don't remember saying I was a performer in my comment. I was merely expressing an opinion which I guess this facility is there for people to do.
I recognise that performing as this sort of level is hard work. However, as I said in my last comment I don't think Betty is vocally up to this part. Think she acts very well, but her voice is shaky now.
Grizabella with a turban :)
And you call yourself a "Sunset Boulevard" fan? FRAUD!!!!!
well clearly I needed to say it or I wouldnt have written it :-0
Please dont try to censor people
( leave that to the Bush administration :-) )
*LuPone
And no, she wasn't. ;-)
She kind of looks like Voldemort too in this clip
Look, as long you're not drooling over Petula Clark and that theatrical abortion known as the "The 2nd US Tour," you're okay in my book! ;-)
PS- Just please don't go around burning cast recordings in effigy!
barrowman's freaking awesome...luff him to death
I'm not sure I enjoy John Barrowman in this role; and I hugely regret this, as I'm a big fan of both him and the song.
It's like he either rushes the line, or slows it down unrealistically.
"Beneath... the... tan... the... battle rages. Smilearentedsmile,fillsomesglasskisssomeswife kiss some ones... ass..sss...ss we... do... whatever... paysthewages."
That sort of thing. Perhaps exaggerated, but that is how I feel about his version. And hell. I don't even like Michael Ball.
jessica simpson could have done that part better. betty is okay but she hit 5 sour notes on the crescendo adioet...part 4
"sure I came out here to get a real voice..."
Glenn was the best...as always
Glenn was TERRIBLE in her singing, great in her acting.
UGH...who the hell hired that man playing Joe?? I've heard high school students better than him!
Close is too old for the role now.. the character is in her late 40's I believe
are you joking? the only thing that glenn close is good at it boiling rabblts!
Betty is playing a crazy woman - she works often and is not crazy hereself-jeez
Betty was not at her best that showing as she was suffering from a yeast infection. good performance, nevertheless.
No, only the most narrow minded fanqueer would think that.
she's not bad, although patti lipone is SOOOOOOOOOO MUSCH BETTER!
Damn Barrowman is barely bearable. Such mediocrity. I never got why the hell he made it to where he is.
You're not! Preferring the original is original
I completely agree. His performance is horrid.
I thought you were going to stop on this subject??!! Obviously you need help as in professional help!
Got to disagree. Her voice sounds like a chainsaw! Saw four different Normas and vocally Elaine Paige has to be the best. Betty acted it well, but just not up to it vocally. John Barrowman is just gorgeous isn't he?
Oh boo hoo! Betty Buckley hurt some students feelings. Get used to it. If you can't get through a master class without wimpering, GET OUT OF THE BUSINESS!
omg this is aweful. She is shouting most of the song and facial expressions are not there.Where is the passion. Glen was so much better,and I hope Glen is in the movie version cause this woman is terrible.