Still, Clark and company work wonders with their less than perfect material. Pitching her voice tightly into a Katharine Hepburn-like Yankee bark, running the gamut from scheming bitch goddess to Mary Pickford innocent and finally to utter madness, Clark delivers a Norma that is dramatically the equal, but on its own terms, to Glenn Close's, and she sings her songs with a still rich, powerful voice, rarely wandering into any of her familiar pop vocalist inflections. She also looks great in Anthony Powell's original elaborate costumes. Lewis Cleale rightly plays Joe Gillis more like the William Holden screen version, a user who ends up being used, and he gives more to his so-so songs than they give back. Cleale has strong chemistry with both Clark and with Sarah Uriarte Berry's feisty, brainy Betty Schaefer. Choreographer Kathleen Marshall gives the staging of the Betty/Joe duet "Too Much In Love To Care" a funny, Jeanette-and-Nelson spin that makes the number work for the first time. Allen Fitzpatrick is vocally outstanding and emotionally on-target as Max Norma's first husband and former film director, now her butler/caretaker, and George Merner is fine as Cecil B. DeMille.
The ensemble members are game and versatile, and are especially fun to watch as they gape, tear up, and puzzle over Norma's return to the studio. Sunset Boulevard may have missed classic musical status, but the current tour is a must for both Webber and Clark fans.