Sunset Boulevard
History and synopsis courtesy of Phosuns
Act I
As the curtain rises (OVERTURE), we find ourselves in the Los Angeles of 1950 at the bottom of a swimming pool, staring up at the body of Joe Gillis. Joe's voice informs us that he and an "old time movie star" have been involved in a homicide and offers to supply "the real facts" of the case (PROLOGUE).
Flash back to late 1949, at Paramount Studios. Joe, whom we learn is a screenwriter, is seen greeting several friends and colleagues on his way to an appointment with movie producer Sheldrake. Two financemen spot him and inform him that he's "way behind with the payments" for his car and owes them three hundred dollars. Joe cleverly avoids them, finds his agent, and asks for money; he is denied his request. He soon meets a friend, Artie Green, who loans him some money (LET'S HAVE LUNCH).
Joe darts into Sheldrake's office, where the two are to discuss the possibility of one of Joe's screenplays being filmed. However, Sheldrake's secretary, Betty Schaefer, enters and tells Sheldrake that she has made a synopsis of the script but that he shouldn't bother to read it, because "it's just a rehash of something that wasn't very good to begin with". Sheldrake takes her advice and sends Joe away, despite Joe's pleas for a loan. Outside the office, Betty, out of sympathy, offers to try to convince Sheldrake to look at the possibility of filming one of Joe's magazine stories. Joe agrees to meet her at Schwab's, a local drugstore, if she will distract the two financemen who have spotted him and are heading his way. She agrees to do so, and Joe flees the building and drives off, as the financemen chase him in their car. He finally backs into a large, empty garage on Sunset Boulevard, unseen by the financemen.
As Joe marvels at the garage's size, a woman voice calls to him: "You there - why are you so late?". A butler, Max von Mayerling, leads him into the house. Soon after he walks in, a woman wearing a turban and black-and-gold pyjamas descends an enormous spiral staircase. She asks him a few questions about burying her dead chimpanzee before singing a lullaby to it (SURRENDER).
Joe informs the woman that he has not come to bury her pet and explains to her that he backed into her driveway because he had "some trouble with [his] car". She orders him to leave, but, as he does so, he recognizes her as the ex-silent film goddess, Norma Desmond, whose career died when talkie pictures came into existence. "You used to be in pictures. You used to be big," he remarks. "I am big," she furiously replies. "It's the pictures that got small." He tells her that he's a writer, and she sings of her sadness that silent movies have died, of her conviction that one look is worth a thousand words, and of her firm belief that she is still a great star (WITH ONE LOOK).
As the song ends, she suddenly becomes aware of Joe's presence again and tells him that she has written the script for the silent movie which will mark her return to the screen, to be directed by Cecil B. De Mille. It is about Salome, and, despite its length, Norma wants Joe to read it (SALOME). Once he is finished with it, Joe tells Norma that it needs editing, and she insists that he do the job. Max leads him to a bedroom above the garage and describes to him Norma's former glory (THE GREATEST STAR OF ALL).
The next day, Joe arrives at Schwab's to keep his appointment with Betty. He learns that Artie will soon marry her (EVERY MOVIE'S A CIRCUS). Joe then meets Betty, and they discuss turning "Blind Windows" (the name of Joe's story) into a screenplay (GIRL MEETS BOY). He asks her to write the script and to call him if she has any problems doing so. He returns to Norma'smansion, where Max informs him that he has been sending Norma all of the fan mail Joe has seen. Later, Joe accompanies Norma as she watches her old movies and relives her past triumphs (NEW WAYS TO DREAM).
When he has finished revising the script, Norma has Max send it to De Mille. Joe tells her to call him when she gets a response from Paramount and informs her that he's moving back to his apartment. Norma frantically tries to convince Joe to stay with her and breaks down, begging him to stay. He finally agrees not to leave until they receive a response from Paramount.
On Joe's birthday, Norma calls "the best men's shop in town" and has them "close down for the day" to help Joe select suits for himself (THE LADY'S PAYING). She also convinces Joe to come to her New Year's Eve party despite the fact that he had planned on going to Artie's. A few days later, at the party, Norma gives Joe a gold cigarette case that reads: "Mad about the boy". The two dance together (THE PERFECT YEAR). When Joe finally asks Norma where the other guests are, she tells him that she has invited no one else and that she is in love with him. He is shocked at this revelation and panics, telling her that he is the wrong type of man for her. "What you're trying to say is that you don't want me to love you - is that it?", she asks. He turns away from her, and she slaps him in the face. He immediately leaves the house and goes to Artie's party.
At the party, the young guests are announcing their New Year's resolutions (THIS TIME NEXT YEAR), and Betty convinces Joe to help her with the script. He decides to temporarily move in with Betty and Artie, and he calls Max to ask that his belongings be sent to their apartment. Max, however, tells Joe that Norma has found his razor and cut her wrists. Joe quickly rushes back to the mansion, where a distraught and angry Norma tells him to leave her. Joe kisses her and wishes her a happy new year. She finally gives in, pulling him down on the sofa as the first act ends.
Act II
As the orchestra plays "Sunset Boulevard"'s musical themes, Act II begins (ENTR'ACTE). Joe, lounging by Norma's pool, cynically describes the way he has compromised his dreams to stay with Norma (SUNSET BOULEVARD). Norma excitedly tells Joe that Paramount has called and that they want to see her right away. Joe is skeptical, but manages to conceal his feelings (THE PERFECT YEAR (Reprise)).
Three days later, Joe and Norma, driven by Max, arrive at Paramount Studios. It is Norma's first trip outside her mansion in twenty years, and she is dressed to the nines for the occasion. As De Mille leads her into the studio, she movingly recalls the sights and sounds of the studios that she loved as a Hollywood star and of her long-awaited return to them (AS IF WE NEVER SAID GOODBYE). Sheldrake meets Max and informs him that he has been calling the mansion because he wants to borrow her antique car. Meanwhile, Betty finds Joe and makes him promise to meet up with her and work on their screenplay. De Mille tells Norma that they should "have a good long talk one day", while Max gives Joe the news that the studio does not, in fact, want to shoot Norma's film. As they leave, De Mille sadly remarks that Norma will never learn to accept the fact that the days of silent films are over and that she is no longer a great star (SURRENDER (Reprise)).
Betty and Joe finally start to transform "Blind Windows" into a screenplay, as the attraction between them grows (GIRL MEETS BOY (Reprise)). Back at the mansion, beauticians are working on Norma's looks to make her appear younger (ETERNAL YOUTH IS WORTH A LITTLE SUFFERING). When Joe enters, she reveals that she has found a copy of Joe's script with Betty's name and phone number written on it. She suspects that they are lovers and and tells Joe that the preparation for her film has "been so hard [that] I got myself a revolver. The only thing that stopped me from killing myself was the thought of all those people, waiting to see me back on the screen. How could I disappoint them?". She asks for "a little patience, a little understanding", and Joe assures her that he "[hasn't] done anything".
Betty finishes the script at her office. As she and Joe walk to the water cooler on a movie set, she suddenly starts to cry. She tells Joe that she has received a telegram from Artie, who is currently filming a movie in Clinch, Tennesee. He wants them to marry in Clinch, but she reveals that she is in love with Joe. Joe, despite his promises to Norma, loves Betty as well (TOO MUCH IN LOVE TO CARE). At Norma's house, Joe finds Max in the garage. Max tells Joe that he is "greatly worried about Madame" and says that he made her a star and will never let her know that Paramount does not want to film her picture. When Joe questions how Max made her a star, he replies that he directed all of her early silent movies and was her first husband. She divorced him, and he became her butler because he was unable to stay away from her (NEW WAYS TO DREAM (Reprise)).
Inside the house, Norma, stripped of her makeup and wig, calls Betty to tell her that Joe is living with her. Joe, unseen by Norma, snatches the receiver from her and furiously invites Betty to come over to the house and "see for [herself]" where he is living. Norma begs Joe not to hate her and runs up the stairs, into her bedroom. She quietly re-emerges on to the landing holding a revolver. She sinks to the floor and waits. A terrified Betty arrives, asking Joe to pack his belongings and leave with her. However, he refuses, and she leaves the house in tears (SUNSET BOULEVARD (Reprise)). Norma, meanwhile, rises to her feet; the revolver is no longer in evidence. She thanks Joe for leaving Betty, but he ignores her, walking up to his room and reappearing with his old, battered typewriter. Norma does not understand that he is leaving her as well. When he tells her that he is leaving her, she forbids him to do so and calls Max to stop him. Joe tells her the truth about her picture and her fan mail. She does not want to believe him and slowly begins to collapse mentally. "I am the greatest star of them all," she says tonelessly, as if hypnotised. "No one ever leaves a star." She pulls the revolver out of her pocket and shoots Joe. Although wounded, Joe continues to walk out the door. Norma follows him down the stairs and shoots him two more times, until his body has landed in the pool.
The next morning, the setting is exactly as it was in the opening scene. Journalists and police crowd the mansion's living room. Suddenly, at the top of the staircase, Norma appears, and all noise and movement stops.Norma, dressed in one of Salome's costumes, begins to reprise broken phrases of song, having clearly crossed the brink into madness (THE GREATEST STAR OF ALL (Reprise)). Max asks her to descend the staircase, because the cameras are waiting for her dance (in reality, the police have planned to take her into custody once she comes down). As she begins to walk down the stairs, she is stunned by the flashes of cameras photographing her and collapses. Max helps Norma rise to her feet again, and she reflects on the fact that Joe could never surrender to her, just as she can never surrender her dreams (SURRENDER (Reprise)).
Believing that "Salome" is now being filmed, she again attempts to walk down the stairs, but stops and turns to face and imaginary Cecil B. De Mille. "I can't go on with this scene - I'm too happy," she tells him. "May I say a few words, Mr. De Mille? I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be back in the studio, making a picture. I promise, I will never desert you again. This is my life. It always will be. There is nothing else. Just us and the cameras, and all you wonderful people out there in the dark. And now, Mr. De Mille," she concludes, "I'm ready for my close-up."
She completes her walk down the staircase, reprising the final stanza of "With One Look", as a scrim falls and reveals Norma at age 20 in one of her silent films. As the chilling comparison between the on-screen beauty and the pathetic creature below is made by the audience, and as the police prepare to drag her away, Norma Desmond, a symbol of Hollywood's faded dreams, of holding on to past glories and loves, and of insanity, walks away from the staircase, still believing that somewhere, somehow, she is and always will be the greatest star of all. The final curtain falls.