Silvie Paladino In Sunset Blvd.

Australian soprano Silvie Paladino steps into the role of Norma Desmond two times a week for the Opera Australia / GWB Production of Sunset Boulevard. Les Solomon describes her performance.

It's an impossible to task to be an alternate in a production. It's not the same as being an understudy whereby you are in the ensemble and do one or two performances when the star is sick if you are lucky. An alternate means you are doing two shows regularly a week. This has become quite the norm in big musicals where the leading role is so demanding that doing eight performances a week can be too taxing on the voice. Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, and many more musicals often call on an alternate who only does the extra two shows a week.

Such is the case of Silvie Paladino as Norma Desmond in the current Australian production of Sunset Blvd. She plays Tuesday nights and Wednesday matinees, and that's all for the week, unless star Sarah Brightman is ill in which case Silvie will do all the performances until Sarah returns.

This happened in the Melbourne season where, soon after opening night, allowing Silvie to have more performances and more time to familiarise herself with the role. Yet the job is a tough one, often the expectation is that you do a carbon copy version of the main star in the show. In the case of Silvie her vocal style and voice are so different to Sarah, she must bring a different vocality to the part, consequently elements of the production change.

I have seen many people play Norma Desmond over the years - Glenn Close, Betty Buckley, Elaine Paige, Judi Connelli and of course Sarah Brightman (twice in this current season). Silvie Paladino manages to find her own way and her own style of performing the role and she does it with great success in most ways. Her vocals are totally different to Ms Brightman; she is more in the tradition of the role the way it has been sung before—that is, a strong mid-range belt that only occasionally ventures into full soprano, whereas Ms Brightman performs the role in her trademark high soprano throughout the show.

So seeing the role sung in way Silvie does can at times be most satisfactory and exciting as the role sits well on her voice. Her performance is a far cry from a carbon copy alternate— she is a darker and more agonised Norma in many ways. Her choices are different, especially in the first act and the final scene. At this point I must mention the remarkable nature of Tim Draxl as Joe and the way he so easily accommodates the differences with such ease and comfort. Draxl's performance with either Norma is one of the great music theatre performances of the last few years. He rarely leaves the stage and is a solid force that allows either Norma to feel supported as he narrates and plays the central character.

Silvie Palladino comes into her own in the end of the second act when she plays Norma’s tragic /mad scene finale; this is triumphant work, she delves deep into the tragedy of the situation and brings her powerhouse belt in the final moments to create a very satisfactory crescendo to the show. 

The audience at her performances are also clearly there to see her and they cheer her on throughout. This seems a common occurrence for the alternate in this unique show; a similar response apparently occurred with the alternate in the new London recreation of the show. The audience know who they are seeing and they are there to adore the performance, something that is equally common in Ms Brightman's performances. Her fan base is legion and they love every move she makes. 

There is one major difference that needs adding; Sarah Brightman is a recognised international star, and she knows how to carry star quality. When she moves every moment, every gesture is that of a star and that works perfectly for Norma, who totally believes she is still every inch the star of her youth. Silvie Paladino doesn't have the natural "grandeur" in parts of the first act, which belies Norma's moments a little, but she more than makes up for it when the stakes are at the highest at the end of the play. She is to be applauded for alternating so well in a role which she doesn't and can't own. It's a thrill to see such an accomplished performer in a role she has long desired and has now been so successful in bringing it to fruition.

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Images (above): Silvie Paladino as Norma Desmond. Photographer: Ben King.

(Picture below from Silvie Paladino's facebook page.)