Completion Of The Script Lyrics - Sunset Boulevard

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

I like this number because it sneaks up on you. It’s mostly dialogue underscored by a tight, noir-tinted orchestra, then pivots into Joe’s brief sung tag. In story terms, this is the hinge: the rain ruins Joe’s room, Norma moves him into the mansion proper, and suddenly the working arrangement hardens into a gilded cage. The title promises an ending; the scene delivers a beginning of dependence.

Highlights

1. Character engineering - The scene is built as a pressure switch: Norma declares “today’s the day,” the astrologer blesses the plan, and Joe’s leverage evaporates.
2. Sound world - Low strings, brushed percussion, and those tidy Lloyd Webber harmonic sidesteps keep the pace brisk while letting the talk sing.
3. Lyric needle - Joe’s last line, “Locked up like John the Baptist,” sharpens the Salome mirror that runs through the entire musical.
4. Visual cueing - Leopardskin upholstery, the “foreign bus,” DeMille’s name on everyone’s lips - the world feels expensive and shrinking at once.

Creation History

This track arrives in the American Premiere/L.A. staging and carries into Broadway, part of the re-tooled structure that tightened the book after London. On album it lands between “New Ways to Dream” and “The Lady’s Paying,” a quick montage scene that moves the chess pieces toward the Paramount chapters.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

December downpours force Joe out of his garage room and into Norma’s “room of the husbands.” The script is finally finished, and Max is dispatched to deliver it to Paramount - specifically to DeMille. Joe tests the boundaries: maybe he leaves now, maybe he goes back to his old apartment. Norma won’t have it. She buys time with flattery and a promise of salary, wraps it in fate by way of her astrologer, and Joe yields. The scene ends with Max rolling Norma’s grand car out for the studio run while Joe clocks his own captivity.

Song Meaning

The cue is about consent that isn’t really consent. Joe’s agency narrows in real time - money gone, car repossessed, roof leaking, career stalled - while Norma inserts cosmic justification. The mood starts conversational and turns decisive. It’s not melodrama yet; it’s the calm before the bargains harden.

Annotations

“Locked up like John the Baptist.”

That line isn’t random snark; it’s the Salome thread surfacing. Joe becomes the artist imprisoned by a patron’s desire. The bars are velvet - guilt, comfort, a steady paycheck - but bars all the same. My read: Joe’s gallows humor is a flare. He knows exactly what kind of story he’s stepped into.

Style and instrumentation

Think chamber-noir: strings set the weather; winds shade the dialogue; rhythm section nudges tempo without stealing focus. The recitative pacing lets character beats land without a big chorus release. When Joe finally sings, it’s brief, almost tossed off - exactly right for a man pretending he isn’t already entangled.

Cultural touchpoints

References to DeMille and studio horoscopes place us squarely in late-’40s Hollywood, where image and fate pass for business plans. The “foreign bus” with leopard upholstery is a wink at Norma’s Isotta-scale opulence - power that’s more museum piece than modern muscle.

Key Facts

• Artist: Andrew Lloyd Webber, George Hearn, Glenn Close
• Featured voices: Joe Gillis, Norma Desmond, Max von Mayerling
• Composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Lyricists/Book: Don Black, Christopher Hampton
• Release Date: September 13, 1994
• Album: Sunset Boulevard - 1994 Los Angeles Cast (American Premiere Recording)
• Label: Really Useful Records - Polydor
• Track #: 14 on the 2-CD set
• Length: ~3:23
• Language: English
• Genre: Stage musical, orchestral underscore with talk-sing
• Instruments: Orchestra led by strings, woodwinds, brass, light percussion
• Mood: wry, coaxing, tightening
• Music style: recitative-driven scene with motivic callbacks
• Poetic meter: flexible speech rhythms over steady bar grid

Questions and Answers

Why place this cue right after “New Ways to Dream”?

Because the dream has to calcify into a plan. This is where fantasy becomes schedule.

What does the astrologer beat accomplish?

It hands Norma a cosmic alibi. If the stars bless it, dissent feels small.

Why does Joe stay when he knows better?

Money, momentum, and the quiet flattery of being needed. That trifecta glues people to bad rooms.

Is Joe’s “John the Baptist” line just a joke?

Funny, yes, but it’s foreshadowing. He names his prison - and the story he’s in.

How does the music help the trap close?

By not blowing up. The restraint sells inevitability; the pulse keeps walking forward.

Awards and Chart Positions

Stage honors connected to this material - The original Broadway production won seven Tony Awards in 1995, including Best Musical, Score, and Book. The 2023 West End revival dominated the 2024 Olivier Awards, and the 2024-25 Broadway revival won Best Revival of a Musical and Best Actress at the 2025 Tony Awards.

Recent recordings - Sunset Blvd: The Album from the Jamie Lloyd staging hit No. 1 on the UK Official Compilations Chart on November 1, 2024 and opened at No. 1 on Billboard’s Cast Albums chart that same week.

How to Sing Completion of the Script

Voices involved - Primarily Joe and Norma, with Max interjecting. Most of the scene is spoken on pitch with underscoring; Joe’s closing phrase is the only real sung bit.

• Range & placement - Joe sits in a conversational baritone; keep chest relaxed, speech-level phonation, easy legato when the melody finally appears.
• Breath - Short, frequent sips. Don’t chase long lines that aren’t written; clarity beats sustain in recitative.
• Tempo feel - Trust the conductor’s click under the dialogue. It’s a walk, not a sprint; line endings should land on bars cleanly.
• Acting notes - Play the negotiation: Joe tries to leave, Norma closes the door with charm, astrology, and money. Smile while saying no - that’s the energy.

Additional Info

Notable adaptations include the Brazilian production in 2019, which created localized lyrics for the surrounding scenes and issued Portuguese track titles across the album releases, including a direct equivalent for this cue in cast listings.