Opera Australia has announced a new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard for Australia, premiering in Melbourne in May 2024 at the Princess Theatre, followed by a season at the Sydney Opera House in August.

The revival will mark Sunset Boulevard’s first return to Australia in almost 20 years.

OA has also announced that British performer Sarah Brightman will star as Sunset Boulevard’s Norma Desmond. It will be Brightman’s first theatrical role in more than three decades.

Ready for her close-up. Sarah Brightman. Image supplied

“We’ve been having conversations with Sarah Brightman for at least six months,” Opera Australia’s Artistic Director Jo Davies told Limelight. “It’s quite a challenge to make something like this happen but Sarah is so excited about doing it, and Andrew [Lloyd Webber] is just as excited about having her doing it.”

Davies believes that Brightman is a good fit for the role of Desmond, the reclusive movie diva at the heart of the story’s sticky web of sexual intrigue and Hollywood myth-making.

“Her voice is amazing and she’s got all of the sensibilities required to play that role,” she says. “I think it’s really exciting casting and she...