The brand-new production of Sunset Boulevard which opened at the Sydney Opera House last night is nothing short of a triumph and, perhaps most importantly, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s brilliant score comes out on top.

Sarah Brightman as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Photo © Daniel Boud

Starring Sarah Brightman, Tim Draxl, Robert Grubb and Ashleigh Rubenach, it also boasts arguably the finest interpretations of the musical’s lead roles in this glittering homage to the Golden Age of Broadway.

When it first opened in London in 1993, everything about the original production of Sunset Boulevard was big – big voices, big sets, big hype – and its creative team seemed preoccupied with replicating filmic techniques live on stage (remember the flying mansion used to create a split-screen effect?).

Fast forward three decades, and director Paul Warwick Griffin and designer Morgan Large have fashioned a production that is true to the style of the Broadway musicals staged in the 1940s and 1950s – the period in which Sunset Boulevard is set.

Large’s beautiful set evokes the designs of the legendary Oliver Smith (e.g. My Fair Lady), its lace curtains a clever nod to Edward Steichen’s photo...