"It was concluded after several weeks of rehearsals and vocal preparation that the musical demands of the role were such that it was not possible for her (Dunaway) to perform as scheduled."
-- Peter Brown, spokesman for Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard" will close Sunday because Faye Dunaway is not able to sing the role of Norma Desmond that brought critical acclaim - and a job on Broadway - to Glenn Close, it was announced.
Dunaway, who was praised by composer Lloyd Webber at a rehearsal Monday, learned late Wednesday that she wouldn't take over the role July 5 at the Shubert Theatre in the Los Angeles area of Century City, said her manager Bob Palmer.
Dunaway, 53, auditioned twice before Lloyd Webber chose her last month over a number of other well-known actresses, including Cybill Shepherd, Diahann Carroll, Rita Moreno and Michele Lee.
"It was concluded after several weeks of rehearsals and vocal preparation that the musical demands of the role were such that it was not possible for her (Dunaway) to perform as scheduled," Peter Brown, a spokesman for Lloyd Webber, said in a statement released Thursday.
The show that has generated more than $25 million in tickets sales since its opening Dec. 9 will close after Close's final appearance Sunday. Close, 47, will then travel to Broadway to open the musical Nov. 17 at the Minskoff Theater. The rest of the cast, as a result of Thursday's announcement, has been invited to join her.
Tickets that have been purchased for performances after Sunday will be refunded.
Palmer said the decision came as a surprise. He said that remarks about the actress's voice were "arrogant."
"As recently as last Monday night, Faye met with Webber and the creative staff and she was given great encouragement and compliments," said Palmer. "She was ready to open July 5. She was totally shocked."
Palmer said Dunaway reacted professionally when he notified her Wednesday but she wanted to find out more for herself. He declined to comment about how the decision would affect her contract with the show.
"She's pretty forthright. She said, `Well, I'll have to call them up and talk,' like maybe she could salvage it," Palmer said. "She handled it very well. She didn't act crushed. She wasn't dismayed. She's pretty grown up."
Most of the tickets have been sold for the Close's final performances this weekend, show officials said.
Catherine Olin, Close's publicist, said the actress had no comment about the decision to drop Dunaway. Close won the part on Broadway over Tony winner Patti LuPone, who originated the role of Norma Desmond in London.
"She's strong, she sounds great," said Olin of Close. "I'm sure she's going to finish her week and go out with a bang."
Close's scheduled performance on Broadway has drawn more than $20 million in advance ticket sales.
Dunaway is best-known to movie audiences for her dramatic roles in "Bonnie and Clyde," "Chinatown," "Mommie Dearest" and "Network," for which she won a Best Actress Oscar. She also starred opposite Robert Urich in "It Had to Be You," a short-lived sitcom on CBS.
Some said that Dunaway - with a little more voice coaching - was ready to take over the lead role in the musical based on Billy Wilder's 1950 film starring Gloria Swanson as the faded silent screen star.
"Faye Dunaway is a superbly gifted actress with an excellent potential for doing Broadway kind of work, for a Broadway singing role," said Seth Riggs, the voice coach who worked with the actress before she auditioned for Lloyd Webber. Dunaway has since studied with two other voice coaches, he said.
"I am just appalled that they wasted so much of her valuable time," he said.
Riggs said the actress's pitch was right on, though some of the songs had to be adjusted for the actress, who is an alto. The role of Norma Desmond is written for a second soprano such as Close, Riggs said.
"If they say she was not strong enough to do it, it's their fault, not hers," said Riggs. "She was well on her way with me."
Anastasia Barzee, who replaced Judy Kuhn a month ago in the role of Betty Schaefer, said Dunaway's voice needed work but the problem wasn't "insurmountable."
As for Dunaway's acting skills, Barzee said the actress "was thoroughly amazing. Her acting was incredible, incredible. I thought if she could get that voice going, it's going to be a whole new experience here."
Amick Byram, who understudied the role of screenwriter Joe Gillis and performed with Close 26 times during the run, said he heard that Dunaway's opening date might have had to be postponed because of her film role. She just started work on the feature film "Don Juan de Marco and the Centerfold," co-starring Marlon Brando and Johnny Depp.
"She had a lot of scheduling problems she kept throwing at them," he said. "She thought she was going to be available to open the 5th, but she had to keep going back (to the movie). The earliest she would be available was July 21."
Byram, who only heard Dunaway sing once during a cast rehearsal last week, described her singing as a "work in progress," but he was nonetheless impressed.
"I felt she had very good pitch," he said. "It would take a while to take it to a performance level . . . She had no experience really to speak of as a singer . . . But she would be mesmerizing as an actress in the part."
Karen Mason, Close's standby, was ready to take over the part of Norma Desmond through July 3, the week before Dunaway was to have assumed the role. But she and Rex Smith, who was to take the part of Joe, were told during rehearsals Thursday that the show was closing after Sunday's performance.
"I feel like I've been hit by a truck," said Mason, who will now travel to New York as Close's standby for the November opening on Broadway. "I'm quite disappointed that I won't have a chance to show my wares. I was really looking forward to it."
Mason had heard no word that rehearsals with Dunaway were not going well. "I stayed away," she said. "She needed space to work. I thought it would all work out."
However, Mason seemed to think it was a financial decision on the part of the producers of "Sunset Boulevard."
"They're not going to tell me all the details, but I think certainly everyone has been coming to see Glenn," she said. "I'm not exactly sure of all of it, but what decision in show business isn't financial?"