Ria Jones tells us more about her starring role as Norma Desmond in the UK tour of Sunset Boulevard, coming to Birmingham Hippodrome this November...

When first approached by Steven Sondheim about the possibility of a musical inspired by his groundbreaking 1950 film Sunset Boulevard, director Billy Wilder was resistant. It would have to be an opera, went his argument, since it’s about a dethroned queen.

Wilder’s fictional “dethroned queen” is Norma Desmond, a silent era Hollywood megastar abandoned by the studios after the arrival of the “talkies” (i.e. films with sound). Describing her in such grand terms is not an overstatement in the least: in today’s media-saturated world, it can be difficult to imagine just how great would Norma’s fame have been in an age where celebrity was still limited to a select and cherished few. With the international reach and influence of Hollywood, we might even imagine her an empress.

Sondheim duly abandoned the idea, only for it to be later taken up by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Yet despite Wilder’s warning, the resulting show leaves little to be desired in terms of scale. With its sweeping, scintillating score, dramatic ambition and faithfulness to the film’s original script and vision, Lloyd Webber’s musical certainly gives due weight to Norma’s tragic fall. And now a brilliantly inventive new production by Curve Leicester Artistic Director Nikolai Foster takes things one step further, reimagining the whole world of the show as an elaborate Hollywood film set, complete with projection and highly stylised design.

With Foster’s touring show due to arrive at Birmingham Hippodrome this month, we spoke to leading lady Ria Jones about the musical and playing the iconic role of Norma Desmond.

“For me, it’s one of my favourite of [Andrew Lloyd Webber’s] scores because it’s so big and dramatic,” she says. “In this production, we have a wonderful orchestra, which I think is the largest touring orchestra in any musical currently on the road. And you need that because it’s so cinematic: you need the strings, the brass, the timpani – that rich, round sound with a cello and a proper double bass. Andrew quite rightly made it so that you need a minimum of 16 musicians to play this score, and our fantastic orchestra make that 16 sound like 40 or 50.”

When it comes to this particular show, if there’s any actor who knows her stuff, it’s Ria Jones. 26 years after she helped create the character on stage in a workshop production at Sydmonton Festival, she now comes to Foster’s version fresh from a stint in the same role in a different production at the London Coliseum.

“The first time I did it was the very first workshop, and it was very different at that stage because for a start there was a different lyricist. It was incredible: I had just been in CATS in London for two years when Andrew asked me to play Norma for the workshop. I knew I was way too young at the time but I’d always had quite a powerful, belt voice, and that was what was needed for Norma. We worked on it for a few weeks and it was great fun – Michael Ball was Joe Gillis and Frances Ruffelle was Betty Schaeffer. At one point I remember joking with Andrew about my age, and saying maybe one day I’ll get to do the revival. And then fast-forward 26 years and there I was waiting to do just that!”

Of course, it wasn’t just the book and lyrics that were a little different when she eventually returned to the show – not only was she serving as standby for Glenn Close in a major West End production, she’d also learned a thing or two herself during the intervening two and a half decades.

“I’d never been in that position before when I was standby for a Hollywood A-lister, so I didn’t really know how I would go about it. I wasn’t sure how much she’d let me in on her process and rehearsals. But she was lovely, and it was a real privilege to be able to learn from her. A lot of my friends actually thought it was a step back for me in my career, since I was leading shows myself by then, but I thought, no – this is a great chance to learn, and if I get on, that would be amazing, but if I don’t I’ve still had a fantastic time watching and observing.”

Jones did get on – to tremendous critical and public acclaim, in fact, and this despite having the tough job of persuading Glenn Close fans that they weren’t missing out by seeing her instead – an impressive feat indeed.

“It was a real thrill for me. I’ve been doing this job for 34 years now and during that time I’ve played some fabulous roles and loved every minute of it. But sometimes, one role just comes along at the right time in the right place and at the right point in your life. I’m an older actress now, with more life experiences I can bring to the part, so there’s a lot more now to colour her for me than there was when I was in my 20s. I’m just grateful I got the chance to revisit it.”

The challenges that the part presents to a performer are peculiar, in that Norma is herself an actor, both by trade and in her personal life. Scouted out by Paramount Pictures as a teenager, Norma is much a product of the Hollywood dream factory as any of its movies, raised and nurtured in its illusory, smoke and mirrors world, before ultimately being cast aside.

Refusing to acknowledge the truth of her abandonment by the only home she really knew, Norma is thus well-equipped to concoct her own fantasy life, helped along by her mysterious butler, Max. In her mind, she is forever young, forever beautiful, forever adored and worshipped by millions of fans worldwide. She remains, as she and Max have it, “the greatest star of all”. When down-and-out screenwriter Joe Gillis inadvertently stumbles across her eerie mansion and realises who she is, he recalls that she “used to be big” back in her day. True to form, Norma imperiously retorts, “I am big! It’s the pictures that got small.”

As such, any actor playing Norma must be skilled enough to pick apart and understand her many layers: on some level, Norma knows the truth, and on top of that is conscious self-deception. Then there’s also genuine delusion as she increasingly imposes her make-believe on those around her and turns her mania into a reality of sorts. Plus, there’s an inevitable tension between the visually expressive, larger-than-life acting style of the silent era, and the more subtle, naturalistic mode preferred today, and required to demonstrate the depth of Norma’s psychological suffering. Happily, Jones rises to the challenge admirably.

“I think we all have a kind of balance in our lives between our outward, performing side and our side that likes to take a step back from that and be more free – especially actors,” she says. “When Norma is on show, she is completely on show and playing her part – she has to be the Norma Desmond that people expect her to be. But underneath that, like all of us I suppose, she’s very insecure and lonely, living off past fame and memories and can’t quite comprehend why she’s been left behind.”

In addition to her long history with Sunset Boulevard, Jones also has a good working knowledge of silent movie stars to build on, thanks in part to the influence of her film-loving family.

“My mum and my grandfather were both big film buffs, so growing up I watched all sorts of things with them, including lots of silent movies. I watched a lot of Clara Bow, who is an amazing performer. Just the energy of her expressions and her acting is fascinating. I also love Charlie Chaplin, and of course I’ve seen things like Sunset Boulevard itself, which is a beautiful film, and The Artist which is a new take on silent film. What’s really interesting is that the speed of the film is so different. Even if you’ve got a very slow piece to camera, it’s much faster in the old style – everything is sort of speeded up.”

But despite the extensive knowledge and experience she brings to bear on the part, it’s still important to her to keep things fresh and be responsive to new ideas.

“Danny [Mac] is an absolute joy to work with as Joe Gillis. He’s not just good-looking – he can sing and dance and act beautifully, and we’ve had great fun off-stage as well. I think that relationship is really important. We have found, and are still finding, and probably will still find right up to the last show, new moments to hone in on and different ways of playing a scene. What’s great about working with Danny is that one of us can do something a different way and the other will just go with it. We’ve always said to each other, just do what you feel on the night and I’ll be there.”

Sunset Boulevard is at Birmingham Hippodrome Monday 13 until Saturday 18 November.