Salomé with new music from Charlie Barber

"Salomé, what a woman, what a part, innocent body and a sinful heart!" 

- Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard is one of my favourite musicals, so I have been aware of the story of Salomé for a very long time, but until today I had never seen the 1923 film. It turns out that's because few people have. The lovechild of Alla Nazimova, a Russian emigré who found fame on the American stage and screen, and designer Natacha Rambova, who wrote the script under the pseudonym Peter M Winters, the film never really found an audience. Nazimova, known for her flamboyant bisexual lifestyle, reportedly only hired gay or bisexual actors, creating such a scandal that it resulted in the film being shelved. Nazimova was bankrupted and her film production career ended. Now 90 years later, Salomé finally gets its audience, thanks to Charlie Barber, who has composed new music to accompany the film.

Charlie Barber explained at the pre-show talk that he was looking for a film which he could bring to an audience as a fresh experience, rather than something well-known like a Fritz Lang film. His choice of the film was also inspired by the vivid memory of a Lindsay Kemp production of the original Oscar Wilde play which opened with heavy percussion. The new score is based heavily on Arabic rhythms, which Barber says attracted him because of their mathematical quality, and performed with unpitched percussion instruments and voices (a choir singing extracts from the Psalms in Latin, Hebrew and Greek, in keeping with the period, and impressive vocal improvisation from Sianed Jones). Barber didn't want the music to just underscore what we see on screen, but to be a unique experience in itself. Nonetheless, whether as fortuitous as Barber would have us believe or not, the score certainly seems tailored to the action in the film, highlighting the melodrama.

Before the film, Barber warned us that it was going to be extremely camp and he wasn't exaggerating! The men were caked in make-up, jewellery, wigs and nipple-tassels.

Herod especially was shown as a complete buffoon, more of a clown (complete with bright red lips) than the Tetrarch of Judea.  

The point of the music then, was to counteract this campfest, with 'serious' rhythms, which keep the audience hooked. I have to say it did a very good job, adding a new layer of depth to the viewing experience, although we still couldn't help laughing at some of the more ridiculous aspects of the film!

It wasn't all camp though; there were some really beautiful art nouveau pieces, designed by Rambova following illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley. I was particularly struck by Salomé, shot in sepia as she fantasises about being queen among Herod's peacocks.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the night for me, though, was finding out just how true to life Sunset Boulevard is. Nazimova - who incidentally lived on Sunset Boulevard - cast herself as the 16 year old Salomé when she was 44 years old, much like Norma Desmond in the film/musical. This was quite off-putting in the film, because even though her body remained remarkably youthful, this is by no means a 16 year old face:

In short, Salomé is definitely worth watching, both for the beautiful art nouveau costumes and to have a good giggle at the camper side of the film. Charlie Barber's music perfectly compliments the on-screen action, and also provides a good focus for attention if you ever drift off of the film. Full details of the tour can be found at www.soundaffairs.co.uk, where you can also buy the soundtrack.

PS: If you have no idea what I'm talking about when I link Sunset Boulevard and Salomé, watch this: