It’s an old gay adage that only a true diva can play a true diva, and Sunset Boulevard’s Norma Desmond may be the truest diva of them all. She’s the liar, the bitch, and the slutty wardrobe (meaning a wardrobe filled with turbans, of course). She has been played by icons like Gloria Swanson, Patti LuPone, and Glenn Close and inspired shady-diva moments like LuPone trashing her dressing room after finding out that Close was replacing her. And now, a new diva has entered the ring! Following a London run that earned widespread acclaim, Pussycat Dolls alum and professional reality-competition judge Nicole Scherzinger is playing Norma in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway. Directed by Jamie Lloyd (of 2023’s A Doll’s House) at the St. James Theatre, previews begin September 28, with opening night set for October 20. Sunset Boulevard received 11 Olivier nominations, including Best Musical Revival and Best Actress in a Musical for Scherzinger. Multiple principal actors from the West End join Scherzinger, including Tom Francis as Joe Gillis, Grace Hodgett-Young as Betty Schaefer, and David Thaxton as Max Von Mayerling.
Sharp, gay eyes may recall that Sunset Boulevard is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and that Scherzinger and Lloyd Webber have some drama. In 2016, she pulled out of the Broadway revival of Cats and Lloyd Webber, being a petty queen, was, to paraphrase Nicki Minaj, that bitch who had a lot to say about her in the press. “I’m furious, because I really believe she’s the most fantastically talented girl and I went out on a limb to get her for the London Palladium here, and it makes me look like an absolute twot with them all,†Lloyd Webber told The Economist Radio, according to The Guardian. “But never mind, there’ll be another girl on Broadway and Nicole will not get her Tony Award.†However, in a press release about the upcoming Broadway production, it sounds like the two are all dandy. “I am very excited that Jamie Lloyd’s wonderful production of Sunset Boulevard is coming to New York with the incomparable Nicole Scherzinger,†Lloyd Webber said. Scherzinger, for her part, chose to only mention Lloyd. “To be bringing this iconic production to NYC with my London co-stars and our cutting-edge director Jamie Lloyd is a pinnacle moment for me in my career,†she wrote. We just hope Scherzinger takes a page from LuPone and remembers that drama with Andrew Lloyd Webber is always good fodder for a memoir.
This post has been updated.