CLOC Creates Hollywood Magic for Sunset

Melbourne’s CLOC Musical Theatre has a firmly established and well‑earned reputation as one of Australia’s pre‑eminent community musical theatre companies.  Since its establishment in 1964, CLOC has produced 95 shows covering the entire gamut of music theatre, incorporating numerous Australasian premieres, and has won over 100 Music Theatre Guild awards for excellence, including eight times being awarded Production of the Year.

In May, CLOC will present its 96^th show and fifth Andrew Lloyd Webber production, following Evita (1987), Song and Dance (1997), Cats (2006) and most recently, Aspects of Love (2011).  Sunset Boulevard will be the Australasian non-professional premiere, and the first fully staged Australian production since 1996, when a young, handsome rising star Hugh Jackman played the lead role of Joe Gillis opposite Debra Byrne as Norma Desmond. 

Sunset Boulevard is a show as famous for its technical complexity as its dramatic storyline. CLOC’s production team (led by President Grant Alley, who remarkably has devoted the last 45 years to the company) has been determined to produce an elaborate and breathtaking set that is also authentic and faithful to the era and the feel of the story.  To this end, Grant and his building team have been working full-time for three months to construct faded movie star Norma Desmond’s grand and opulent mansion, as well as recreating other well‑known Hollywood icons, including Schwab’s Drug Store, Paramount Studios and the instantly recognizable Paramount Pictures gates. Then Set Designer and head Scenic Artist Brenton Staples with his small but highly skilled volunteer scenery painters have come in to work their magic on the huge set frames, backdrops, furniture, and pieces, including Norma’s much admired and rare Isotta Franchini car, which has been made and painted as a two dimensional cut out looking for all intents and purposes like a real three dimensional motor vehicle (see Graham McGuffie with the car below).

One of the most remarkable and unique aspects of CLOC is that, despite being a community non-profit organization, it has managed, through prudent oversight and careful decision making, to acquire a set of permanent and exclusive building facilities to make feasible the preparation of a show that is the scale of Sunset Boulevard.  So CLOC has its own permanent rehearsal venue and props store (CLOC Central), a custom-built two-storey high shed where CLOC constructs its sets (CLOCworks) and a costume store (the Costume Resource Centre or CRC), housing over 10,000 costumes and accessories, which also serves as CLOC’s costume making hub.  CLOCworks allows casts and crews the invaluable advantage of rehearsing on the set prior to moving into the theatre (something which has enabled CLOC’s set designs to become increasingly sophisticated and intricate, as clearly evidenced by Sunset Boulevard), and the CRC has also enabled CLOC to run a viable and lucrative costume, sets and props hire business, which has been an important secondary income source for the company.

Image: Norma's mansion nears completion.

The use of CLOCworks to rehearse on the set prior to moving into the theatre has provided new challenges for the CLOC technical team, as they must build a set that is easily mountable, demountable, movable and transportable. So despite the fact that Norma’s mansion is 11 metres wide by 6.3 metres deep, 5 metres high, weighs between 4 and 5 tons and is supported by over 70 castors, it is able to be moved upstage and downstage as required smoothly and silently by just two stage crew.  Not only that, but the entire set has been constructed along modular principles, so that it can flat pack, be easily transported, and fully assembled in half a day.

While the set design and construction has been going ahead full steam, CLOC’s costume department has been busy designing, sewing and fitting the cast of 26 with more than 250 costumes (including shoes, hats, gloves, jewellery and wigs), recreating Hollywood of 1950.  Ensuring authenticity has been the focus of the costume team, a dedicated group of 12 women who meet every Saturday to bring to life the creations of costume designer Nerissa Saville.  Although the show is set in 1950, Nerissa is quick to point out that Norma Desmond is still living in her past glory of the silent movie era of the early 1920s, which will be emphasized through Norma’s 11 elaborately layered, furred and sequinned costumes, requiring two full-time dressers and a wig person in the theatre to manage the many lightning quick changes.

CLOC continually lifts the bar in terms of artistic vision and goals, and then manages to not only achieve, but outdo its own highly set standards to do creative and technical justice to every show to which it commits, no matter how great the challenge.

Sunset Boulevard runs from May 4 - 19 at the National Theatre in St Kilda for twelve performances, including a special Mother’s Day matinee on Sunday May 13, in which all members of the audience will receive a gift of appreciation from CLOC.

Tickets can be purchased by phoning 1300 362 547, or you can book online at www.cloc.org.au

Image below: The Sewing Team

More on Sunset Boulevard at CLOC

www.stagewhispers.com.au/community-theatre/maureen-gets-ready-her-close

www.stagewhispers.com.au/community-theatre/balancing-family-and-theatre-sunset-boulevard-cloc

Community Theatre Seasons 2012 - www.stagewhispers.com.au/community-theatre/community-theatre-seasons-2012

More Community Theatre - www.stagewhispers.com.au/community-theatre