LIVERPOOL BOULEVARD_

LIVERPOOL DAILY POST
The day I made Andrew Lloyd Webber burst into tears
by Philip Key

FAITH Brown is in jovial mood. A polite request about her health is immediately met with the report that she is "better than I was before I was and as bad as I am now, know what I mean?" followed by a huge laugh.

Yes, Liverpool's own funny girl still likes to joke and play around. But don't let that fool you.

Ms Brown is getting serious.

Early next month she arrives at Liverpool's Empire Theatre in the starring role of Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Sunset Boulevard. It's a dramatic singing role with not a gag line or impersonation in sight.

She has, by all accounts, made the role very much her own with standing ovations all over the place. She cannot stop raving about it.

Faith has been in the show since August. "But every time I walk down that staircase it is like the first time - every single performance."

It is, of course, the sort of stage entrance every actress dreams of, some 10 minutes into the show, gliding serenely down what she describes as an amazing staircase.

As a singer and television star she has walked down other staircases in her career - "a lorra, lorra, staircases, love," she laughs in the Cilla Black impersonation she can't avoid doing - but this one is rather special.

The role has collected a lot of fan mail and most of the letters have one question: "Faith, have you ever fallen down the steps?" Until the other day, she was happy to reply in the negative.

Then came Canterbury. "I was doing my staircase walk in my glitzy dress full of beads and had got two steps from the bottom - and I went flying.

"There were gasps from the audience but I held out my hand to my leading man Jeremy Finch as if it were all part of the act and carried on with the dialogue. He thought it was amazing that I pulled it off."

It was a slip with style but it left her with a swollen ankle and a bruised hip. But there was no cancellation. "The show must go on, darling," she laughs. "So I have had my first fall and I hope to God it is the last."

In the musical, as in the film, Faith's character Norma Desmond is a fading film star who after 30 years thinks she is ready to face the cameras again.

It was a role Faith, best-known for her comedy and impressions, dearly wanted. So when a friend told her they were casting for the show she was excited.

"People know me for my impressions and comedy but I knew in my heart I could do this. It was getting other people to believe it."

She was told she would have to audition, a frightening prospect for a performer who had practically no experience of auditions. "I have done only two in my life, for Brookside and now for this. And both were serious roles."

Her manager told her to go to the audition with a clean slate - no impressions and cover the blond hair with a turban like Norma Desmond. "I'm a typical Gemini and I do get nervous and can hide behind my characters," she says. "But not on this occasion."

SHE arrived at Sadlers Wells in the turban, make-up and long black coat and thought she looked like hell. "I can't do it, I feel sick," she told her husband Len who had to virtually push her through the door. "If he had said I didn't have to do it I would have gone home," Faith admits.

All the show's heavyweights were there including director Robert Carsen who has worked across the world. The only person she knew was the rehearsal pianist who had once acted as her musical director. "At least there was one friendly face."

She sang from the heart and the director told her: "That was magnificent - we will let you know." Faith thought it was the brush-off particularity as some big name actresses were also after the part. But she was recalled and recalled again over the next few days.

Her knees were still knocking when she arrived at the last call. When told that the composer was there the penny did not drop immediately. When she realised Andrew Lloyd Webber himself was in the theatre "my legs started to go".

Lloyd Webber had flown in from Paris just to see her and she was to learn that Sunset Boulevard was his favourite show and With One Look his favourite number from it.

"My tongue went dry and my lips were sticking to my teeth - all those nervous things," reports Faith. "When I started singing I could see Andrew Lloyd Webber in the middle of the row and he had his head in his hands. I thought, he hates it!"

It turned out that he had been crying, the first time according to director Robert Carsen. Still redeyed, Lloyd Webber took her hand. Congratulations," he said. "When can you start?"

If the composer is pretty emotional about the show, so is Faith. She still cries when she sings in the show.

She can relate to the fate of Norma Desmond, the star whose star faded. "I can see where she's coming from. It could have happened to me. There was a time when I was on television all the time then all of a sudden, nothing. Thank God I have other irons in the fire, I do impressions, sing and after dinner speaking. I do all these corporate things at places like the Savoy, Dorchester and Hilton and get rebooked. If I had just been an actress, though, I could have been a Norma Desmond."

Faith, married with a daughter Danielle, today lives in Buckinghamshire near Pinewood Studios. Danielle didn't follow her mother into theatre and works as an interior designer.

"She didn't want to know. She had seen what I have gone through and it's a hard business, not easy."

While she has never stopped working, Sunset Boulevard is something else. "People have said I am a star reborn and it IS beyond my wildest dreams. I always wanted to be a serious actress but I needed people to have faith - excuse the pun - in me to do that.

"Now I am doing it and it is better late than never as far as I'm concerned. I am getting inundated with offers and Andrew Lloyd Webber says this production is better than the original. And that's from the horse's mouth."

But she remains slightly nervous again playing in her home town. She still has friends and family in the city and visits as regularly as she can, particularly for charity events.

"I am having a fantastic time at the moment," she says. "But I never forget where I come from."

* Sunset Boulevard opens at the Liverpool Empire on Wednesday, June 5 and runs until June 29.

ICLIVERPOOL
Sunset Boulevard: reviewed
by Sophie Baines, icLiverpool

THE SUCCESS of the production of Sunset Boulevard currently showing at the Liverpool Empire has been so resounding that a West End run looks certain.

In a move that looks set to buck the common trend, this touring production (at the Empire until June 29, 2002) will more than likely play to audiences on one of the capital's major stages this summer.

And critics agree that Faith Brown's powerful performance in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is the quintessential interpretation of the lead role of Norma Desmond.

As fading silent movie star Desmond, Brown, who until now has pursued a career as an impersonator, conveys a fragile ego in turmoil.

Refusing to bow out of show business gracefully, Desmond decides she wants a crack at the Talkies.

She befriends, seduces and as a good as kidnaps young script writer Joe Gillis whom she believes can help her re-ignite the dying flames of her film career.

In her take on the role, Brown has mastered the art of revealing Desmond in all her terrifying glory, painting her tragic fragility and scary intensity with bold brush strokes.

This is a musical that hits you in the chest from the outset and holds you with a fierce grip until its dying notes.

The set and costumes are lavish and the company numbers set the stage alight, but it is Brown that dominates the production. Her voice and presence fill the stage and auditorium, and her energy never falters.

Book now to witness a performance of Sunset Boulevard that is likely to make musical history.

Sunset Boulevard will enjoy a four-week run at the Liverpool Empire Theatre from Wednesday 5th June to Saturday 29th June, 2002.

To book tickets call the 24 hour booking line on 0870 606 3536.