Nicole Scherzinger won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in the revival of Sunset Boulevard. The production, directed by Jamie Lloyd, features a high-tech, minimal-scenery design. It tells the story of Norma Desmond, a faded silent film star who haunts a grand, ghostly mansion in Los Angeles. This is Scherzinger’s first Tony nomination and win.
This version of Sunset Boulevard is based on the 1950 Billy Wilder film but takes a dramatically scaled-back approach compared to earlier revivals of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical. The show uses modern technology to update the story for today’s audience. It also demands strong vocal and dance skills, which Scherzinger, former lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, delivers with confidence.
The revival premiered in London in 2023, where Scherzinger earned praise and won an Olivier Award. It then moved to Broadway last fall. Jesse Green, chief theater critic for The New York Times, called Scherzinger’s performance “exciting yet exceptionally weird and counterintuitive.”
In a 2023 interview with The Times, Scherzinger described playing Norma as “grueling.” She added, “For many years I felt I was using only a fraction of my potential, and now I feel I have really tapped into that.”
Before joining Sunset Boulevard and after the Pussycat Dolls disbanded in 2010, Scherzinger pursued a solo career with modest success. She released two solo albums and worked as a judge on television shows like The X Factor and The Masked Singer.
She also performed “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” from Lloyd Webber’s Evita during a TV special celebrating the composer. Following this, Lloyd Webber and director Trevor Nunn invited her to join the 2014 West End revival of Cats.
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