NEW YORK • From rock to opera, Andrew Lloyd Webber has Broadway covered with School Of Rock - The Musical, Cats and The Phantom Of The Opera.

Now his Tony Award-winning Sunset Boulevard is on its way back and, with its return, the British composer will tie the record, set in 1953 by Rodgers and Hammerstein, for having four musicals running simultaneously on Broadway.

Glenn Close is returning to the show that won her a Tony Award in 1995. For her, revisiting the role of the washed-up silent-screen star Norma Desmond, who hopes to revive her career with a new film, was not an easy decision. "It's a daunting role, it takes a lot of technical singing and knowledge and takes a lot of just muscle to get through it," she said on Wednesday.

She added her life experiences have caused her to approach the role differently this time.

"You get tempered by life and we get tempered by our craft - that all goes into whatever you're creating at the moment.

"I know that my Norma today is very different from the Norma I did all those years ago," she said.

The musical features the popular songs With One Look, As If We Never Said Goodbye and Perfect Year. The production is a scaled-down version of the original, without huge scenery but with a larger orchestra which Lloyd Webber hopes will give audiences a better appreciation for his score.

The orchestra will "really try and convey, hopefully, some of the spirit of what Hollywood was in those great, great film scores of the time", he said.

Sunset Boulevard will run for 16 weeks, officially opening on Feb 9.

REUTERS