Lotte Wakeham to direct a new actor-musician production of Sunset Boulevard

Bolton Octagon’s artistic director Lotte Wakeham will direct a new actor-musician production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard next spring.

Co-produced by Octagon Theatre Bolton, Royal & Derngate Northampton and York Theatre Royal, the production will be the first new professional staging of the musical to be created by a theatre in the north of England.

The production will launch at the Octagon from 2 April to 1 May 2027, before playing the Royal & Derngate from 5-27 May 2027 and York Theatre Royal from 9-26 June 2027.

Commenting on the production, Wakeham said: “Sunset Boulevard is a story about ambition, reinvention and the price of chasing the spotlight. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s extraordinary score is full of drama and longing, and staging the show with actor-musicians gives us the chance to make every musical moment feel immediate and alive.

“At the Octagon, audiences are always close to the action. I’m excited to create a brand-new production which embraces that intimacy, drawing people into Norma and Joe’s world and allowing them to experience this iconic musical from a fresh perspective – literally in ‘close up’. It is also a privilege to make the first ever new professional production of  Sunset Boulevard created by a theatre in the north of England, alongside our brilliant partners at Royal & Derngate and York Theatre Royal.”

Based on the classic Paramount film by Billy Wilder, the show features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber with a book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, and orchestrations are by David Cullen and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Sunset Boulevard opened in the West End in 1993 with Patti LuPone as Norma Desmond. The award-winning star of the first Broadway production, Glenn Close, also played Norma Desmond in the second West End revival and in the first Broadway revival.

Angela Thomas