ARTICLE: Melbourne     Many a long day fades into the Sunset By GREG BURCHALL 25 October 1996 Yes, this is Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California . . . a murder has been reported from one of those great big houses in the 10,000 block. You'll read about it in the late editions, I'm sure. You'll get it over your radio and see it on television because an old-time star is involved - one of the biggest. But before you hear it all distorted and grown out of proportion, before those Hollywood columnists get their hands on it, maybe you'd like to see the facts, the whole truth. If so, you've come to the right party . . . -- deadbeat B-grade screenwriter Joe Gillis in the opening lines of Billy Wilder's acerbic satire of Gothic Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard (1950). July 1993: Working hard for Victoria in London, Premier Jeff Kennett spends a "magnificent, breathtaking and emotionally draining" night at the theatre - the musical version of Wilder's film, adapted by Christopher Hampton and Don Black, with tunes by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Kennett had Webber over to Government House earlier in the year and now announces he (with a little help from David Marriner) secured the $15 million show for Melbourne, which he hopes will become the Broadway or West End of the Southern Hemisphere. "People will be able to spend five days in Melbourne, see three shows and spend the rest of their time shopping and sight-seeing," he dreams. July 1993: Normie Rowe isn't happy: "A lot of people in our industry are pretty angry at Jeff Kennett. How dare he go to England when there's no guarantee it will succeed and here in Australia there are equally promising productions he won't have a bar of?" December 1993: Sunset Boulevard opens in Los Angeles with Glenn Close as the demented Norma Desmond (after Webber sacks Faye Dunaway two weeks before August opening night). Productions follow in New York (December 1994), Toronto (October 1995) and Frankfurt (December 1995). August 1995: It is announced that Sunset will be the first show in the reopened Regent Theatre, after a $25 million refurbishment of the baroque picture palace acquired by Marriner in January 1994. 1 November 1995: After much speculation (Robyn Nevin? Judi Connelli? Helen Reddy?) former Young Talent Timer and Grizabella the Cat Debra Byrne lands the role of Norma after auditioning for director Trevor Nunn in London. Byrne is "thrilled". Webber is "thrilled". January 1996: The first round of auditions for the other 28 parts begin in all Australian capital cities and some overseas cities where Australians are known to be living. American musical supervisor Paul Bogaev is "thrilled" with the depth of talent that parades before him - "You're in E flat, go down to D flat" - but filling out the company takes longer than expected. The creative team is having a hard time finding someone for Betty the ingenue and Max the butler. There is another round of auditions in May. February: The building of John Napier's Tony award-winning set, with its 40-tonne mansion interior, 50 pieces of scenery and 15 scene changes begins at the Adelaide Festival Centre workshops under Australian technical director Mort Clark: "In August, we'll need 33 semi-trailers to send all of this across to the Regent - well, not really - 33 truckloads, the same three trucks going back and forth." The painting of the set and the huge imported canvas backdrops is done at Ross Turner's Scenic Studios in North Melbourne: "You only get one shot at it." 21 April: Tickets go on sale through Marriner and Kerry Packer's Bass rival Ticketek. One thousand people front the box-office on day one - 100,000 tickets are sold in the first week. On 12 October, advance sales hit the $12 million mark. 28 May: Hugh Jackman wins role of Joe Gillis. Beauty and the Beast's Gaston had been a hot tip since January. He is "thrilled". So is Byrne. So is Webber. 13 August: The full cast is finally announced. The team finally found a Betty in American Catherine Porter (who was Betty in the London production) and a Max in German Norbert Lamla (Max in the Frankfurt production) and everyone is thrilled. Actors Equity gives its OK but insists the two be replaced by Australian performers after six months. September: Rehearsals begin in Prahran at Chapel off Chapel as the set is bumped into the Regent, and workers rush to have the theatre completed in time. The cast of 29, orchestra of 23, the four stage managers, five wigmasters, 10 dressers and 54 backstage crew move into the Regent for the final weeks of rehearsal. Jeff Kennett turns up to cook them all sausages for breakfast. 12 October: Preview performances begin. Director Trevor Nunn, writer Christopher Hampton and costume designer Anthony Powell drop into town and watch proceedings. They are thrilled, declare the cast the best in the world, and promptly leave. 21 October: Unbalanced by an inner-ear infection, Debra Byrne takes a spill on the staircase at the end of the first act and can't continue. The following night's preview is also cancelled as "alternate" Normas, Maria Mercedes and Suzanne Lee, have not been rehearsed enough to go on for their moment of glory. As Norma Desmond, Byrne must constantly negotiate the spiral staircase of the show's mansion set. It has been calculated that she will climb 700 steps a week, or 2800 a month. That's 33,000 steps after the show has run a year. Break a leg indeed.