Co-producers Michael Grade and Michael Linnit are adamant that this production should not be seen as a manifestation of the English National Opera’s current difficulties, but it is hard not to view it in that light. It may have been scheduled long before the current brouhaha blew up, but the central fact is that the ENO is trying to put more bums on seats and more pounds in the till by presenting a semi-staged revival of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, featuring a major film star.

A major film star who, on this showing, doesn’t sing very well. Glenn Close first played the role of faded silent movie idol Norma Desmond over 20 years ago in Los Angeles and on Broadway, but age and/or nerves seem to have taken their toll. She goes flat on ascending phrases, sharp on descending, and shows moreover an insecure tendency to rush a little ahead of the orchestra. She knows how to dominate London’s largest theatre space as seemingly effortlessly as Desmond herself would, but this is a musical, and in that respect she comes up noticeably short. Michael Xavier is much more on tune as Joe Gillis, the impecunious screenwriter who gets drawn into Desmond’s web of delusions around New Year 1950; however, he tends to deliver his numbers straight out, and his coiffure stubbornly refuses to acknowledge any era earlier than the Eighties.

What, actually, is the point of a semi-staged production? The signal from the stage seemed to be “We could absolutely nail this if we wanted, but we can’t be bothered.” Designer James Noone cleverly fills the stage with a network of bare steel steps and walkways (beneath which, onstage, the orchestra sit) as if mimicking the bare skeleton of a Hollywood sound stage, with props and furniture moved on and off by actors as required. It feels, though, driven less by thematic sensitivity than a desire to keep things simple and economical. Having said all that, director Lonny Price elicits more vitality and drama from his company than does the supposedly complete staging of The War Of The Worlds half a mile away at the Dominion. But that still isn’t enough.

Written for the Financial Times.