EGN NEWS DESK
Jamie Lloyd’s radically reimagined revival of “Sunset Boulevard,” during which Nicole Scherzinger performs the light movie star Norma Desmond, will come to Broadway this fall after a rapturously acquired run in London.
Earlier this month, the revival was nominated for 11 Olivier Awards, together with finest musical revival, finest actress in a musical for Scherzinger and finest director for Lloyd. The Broadway manufacturing is scheduled to start previews Sept. 28 after which open on Oct. 20 on the St. James Theater.
The musical, a darkish thriller based mostly on a 1950 movie by Billy Wilder, options music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and e-book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton; Glenn Close starred in each earlier Broadway productions, in 1994 and 2017. (The stage position was originated by Patti LuPone in London; the movie starred Gloria Swanson.)
Lloyd, a British theatermaker, has carved out a particular area of interest by staging starkly spare productions of classics with a concentrate on psychological drama. The new manufacturing, which ended its London run in January, is stripped down in some ways — two songs have been reduce, there isn’t a grand staircase or turban and Scherzinger doesn’t even put on footwear.
“It’s rather more in regards to the psychological and emotional journey versus large, elaborate units,” Lloyd mentioned in an interview. “It’s very a lot a sort of psychological chamber piece.”
The present, set in midcentury Los Angeles, is a few forgotten star of the silent movie period who latches onto an aspiring younger screenwriter within the hopes of rebooting her profession.
Scherzinger, 45, has had a diverse leisure path — as a musician, an actress and a tv expertise present judge. The critic Matt Wolf, reviewing the London manufacturing for The New York Times, referred to as this “a career-defining efficiency” for Scherzinger; the New York manufacturing might be her Broadway debut.
“I suppose I’ve been ready for this my complete life,” Scherzinger, who studied theater in highschool and faculty, mentioned in an interview. “I can’t consider that it’s lastly about to occur.”
Scherzinger, who was born in Hawaii and raised in Kentucky, mentioned she was wanting to have one other go on the position within the United States. She mentioned she’s going to put aside the script for a number of months — she simply spent three weeks visiting along with her grandparents in Hawaii — earlier than reimmersing herself within the character.
“I’ll be again in America, my residence, and I’m going to need to attempt to up my sport much more,” she mentioned. “There’s sure locations I could make stronger selections, and I’m excited to mess around with that to see the place it will possibly go — it’s nice to have the ability to discover much more and go deeper.”
Scherzinger, who mentioned she has dedicated to 9 months within the position, might be joined on Broadway by her three Olivier-nominated co-stars, Tom Francis, Grace Hodgett-Young and David Thaxton.
