Nicole Scherzinger Makes Stellar Broadway Debut

When Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage adaptation of the 1950 Billy Wilder movie Sundown Boulevard premiered in London in 1993 and on Broadway the next 12 months, it was arguably the final gasp of the ‘80s megamusical aesthetic — no less than till reveals like The Lion King and Depraved got here alongside to tweak the system. The success of blockbusters like Cats, Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon was pushed as a lot by their large-scale spectacle as their musical craftsmanship. In all probability extra.

Audiences flocked to Cats for its then-revolutionary immersive junkyard staging and the climactic ascent to the heavens of light feline Grizabella on an outsized tire. In Les Mis, it was the large turntable and the large reveal of the Paris Rebellion barricade. Phantom introduced an enormous chandelier crashing down on the stage and Miss Saigon flew in a helicopter to evacuate the final Individuals on the finish of the Vietnam Conflict.

With Sundown, it was the gasp-inducing staircase. Dominating the decaying splendor of Norma Desmond’s mansion, the ornate construction was designed for the grand entrance of that erstwhile star of the silent display screen, in addition to her final descent into insanity. Stars together with Patti LuPone, Glenn Shut and Betty Buckley have wound their method down these stairs, wearing bejeweled finery that evoked Salome, the doomed princess Norma dreamed of enjoying in a delusional comeback car.

That opulent historical past made the musical an out-of-left-field selection for British director Jamie Lloyd, recognized for bare-bones minimalist, bracingly trendy productions that strip away units and props to excavate the dramatic core of the textual content with piercing readability. Probably the most celebrated of them — on either side of the Atlantic — embody Betrayal with Tom Hiddleston, A Doll’s Home with Jessica Chastain and Cyrano de Bergerac with James McAvoy.

So how does Sundown Blvd., because the present is titled right here, maintain up with out all of the gilded grandeur that allowed Norma to stay locked inside her fantasy of everlasting stardom? Magnificently, it seems. Regardless of a number of full-ensemble numbers of various effectiveness, Lloyd has chiseled what was as soon as a behemoth right into a chamber musical for 4 characters, ingeniously designed in atmospheric black and white, just like the Wilder movie, till homicide bathes the stage in blood pink.

I’ll confess I’ve at all times considered Sundown Boulevard as a second-rate musical elevated by a few nice songs and by the wonderful scenery-chomping alternatives it affords its main girls. That is the primary time I’ve actually thought of it as a searing tragedy with one thing to say to up to date audiences. Its reflections on the cruelty of growing old and obsolescence, the addictive attract of fame, the foreign money of youth and wonder and the unhappy refuge of insanity have by no means carried such sting.

Lloyd Webber’s lush rating is well-served by a forged of uniformly sturdy singers, and the e-book by Don Black and Christopher Hampton captures the ghoulish darkness of the film. However this manufacturing belongs to the director and his star.

The headline information of Lloyd’s revival, which involves Broadway after sweeping the Olivier Awards in its London run, is Nicole Scherzinger’s sensational flip as Norma. Many puzzled if the performer, made well-known by early 2000s woman group the Pussycat Dolls, was too younger, or if she had the stage presence and appearing chops for the position. However these issues vanish nearly from the second she’s hoisted by the refrain into the highlight throughout Lloyd’s amusing live-capture opening credit, simply because the title seems within the boldest of pink fonts.

Gloria Swanson was 50 when the movie was made and Scherzinger is 46, which tracks precisely for a present set in 1949 a few lady who received her begin in silent motion pictures at 16. Simply as Swanson’s personal historical past as a younger star in pre-talkies Hollywood performed into her characterization, there’s poignant subtext within the casting of Scherzinger, who has aged out of mainstream pop — although in her case, musical theater is likely to be her true calling.

Scherzinger’s roof-raising vocal energy, particularly on the musical’s signature songs, “With One Look” and “As If We By no means Stated Goodbye,” is astonishing, actually stopping the present along with her hovering cash notes and dramatic key modifications. She’s the uncommon Norma who has the supple dance strikes, too. Her command isn’t doubtful, and Lloyd supplies unimpeded entry to her each emotion by steadily giving Norma what she craves most — a digicam and a closeup.

Rigged on a body that does occasional double obligation as a steering wheel, these cameras are operated by refrain members and principals alike. Whereas Scherzinger is mesmerizing when she’s prowling like a panther, barefoot and carrying a easy black satin slip all through, the moments by which we watch her efficiency in duplicate — reside onstage, trying straight into the digicam, and splashed in black and white on the large, tilted rear display screen — have a scorching intimacy.

Her Norma has the melodramatic largeness of the silent period — eyes blazing, fingers splayed and arms held so tautly we see each sinew. However there’s additionally a wealthy vein of sardonic humor and camp. That facet recedes because the pathos creeps in, progressively constructing to an unhinged crescendo. As she’s pushed to homicide, the star’s lengthy sheath of black hair makes her appear as if a possessed lady proper out of J-horror.

The sufferer of that murder, for the TCM-averse who’ve by no means seen the good Wilder movie, is unemployed screenwriter Joe Gillis. That’s no spoiler, on condition that the film opened with William Holden floating face-down, lifeless in Norma’s swimming pool, whereas Lloyd begins the present with Tom Francis’ Joe unzipping himself from a physique bag. He guarantees to inform us “the true story,” not the model splashed over the tabloids.

The superb Francis — who like all 4 principals is reprising his position from London — finds a really perfect stability between Joe’s cynical opportunism and his appeal. In a method, he’s hardly worse than emotionally manipulative Norma, who’s at all times prepared with a suicide try to make sure that she retains her stored man.

Joe is at knowledgeable lifeless finish, unable to get a mission off the bottom and too disillusioned to take up the provide of good younger script editor Betty Schaefer (Grace Hodgett Younger, enchanting) to collaborate on an adaptation of one in every of his brief tales. He’s fleeing mortgage sharks when his automobile careens into the backyard of Norma’s mansion, the place she and her devoted butler Max (David Thaxton, what a voice!) are about to bury her pet chimp, and mistake him for an undertaker.

One point out of Joe’s occupation and Norma seizes on the concept of getting him assist hone her epic script of Salome. Regardless of realizing the mission won’t ever see the sunshine of day, Joe is persuaded by the scent of straightforward cash. Earlier than he is aware of what’s taking place, Max has moved his possessions right into a room above the storage. Norma’s curiosity in Joe shortly escalates to like; she has him moved into the principle home and outfitted in sharp new threads earlier than sweeping him throughout the ground in a tango at a New Yr’s Eve occasion throughout which he learns he’s the one visitor.

By slicing two disposable songs, “The Woman’s Paying” and “Everlasting Youth Is Price a Little Struggling,” Lloyd intensifies the give attention to the fraying strands of what’s left of Norma’s sanity. She makes what in her head is a regal return to the Paramount lot to fulfill Cecil B. DeMille (Shavey Brown, seen solely as a silhouetted closeup on the display screen) and, regardless of his evasive responses concerning the script Max delivered every week earlier, comes away satisfied she’ll quickly be again in entrance of the cameras.

Jack Knowles’ lighting — typically peering by clouds of smoke — is ravishingly moody all through, notably his arresting use of period-style pin spots that forged dramatic shadows. However essentially the most visually hanging sequence is when Norma steps onto the soundstage the place DeMille is taking pictures and is immediately transported. When an unseen crew member excessive up on a digicam crane acknowledges her from the outdated days, she’s bathed in a golden highlight made much more dazzling by the present’s predominantly monochromatic design.

Scherzinger’s rapturous efficiency of “As If We By no means Stated Goodbye” heightens that magical second, constructing to a shattering climax on the road “I’ve come residence ultimately.” You may roll your eyes on the vocal showboating of holding the notice for what appears an impossibly very long time on the phrase “residence,” but it surely’s undeniably efficient, producing enormous mid-song applause.

Norma’s imagined triumph places her on a better perch from which to fall, her unraveling hastened by the invention that Joe has begun sneaking out to see Betty and work on their script. Betty is romantically concerned with Joe’s greatest buddy Artie (Diego Andres Rodriguez), however when her affections shift to Joe, he has much more incentive to free himself from Norma’s possessive clutches.

Having Scherzinger stand stock-still middle stage by all this — together with Max’s clarification to Joe of his selfless loyalty and years of deception to make the mistress of the home consider her followers have by no means deserted her — makes Norma a witness to her personal humiliation.

Lloyd’s staging of the ensemble numbers is much less convincing than the extra intimate songs, and Fabian Aloise’s choreography can get a bit hyperactive, like a mashup of A Refrain Line and West Facet Story. Whereas the panic of the closing scenes suits with the swerve into fever-dream horror, it turns into distractingly frantic, with the principals doing diagonal dashes forwards and backwards throughout the stage like observe opponents.

The choreography works higher in haunting moments that includes the younger Norma (Hannah Yun Chamberlain), who — in an expressive machine borrowed from Follies — stalks the stage like a ghost, often breaking into Salome’s “Dance of the Seven Veils.”

A sequence already a lot talked about expands on an concept on the finish of Lloyd’s A Doll’s Home by taking the motion outdoors the theater, additionally recalling Ivo van Hove’s video-saturated Community. As intermission ends and the orchestra strikes up, Francis winds his method, on digicam, across the labyrinthine backstage corridors and stairs, peeking into his co-stars’ dressing rooms.

There are foolish however enjoyable sight gags — Thaxton spellbound by a Pussycat Dolls promotional shot tacked to his mirror; a life-size Andrew Lloyd Webber cutout; somebody in a chimp swimsuit; a pair of refrain boys making out; Scherzinger scrawling “Mad concerning the boy” on her mirror in lipstick. These winking meta touches echo different interval departures, like anachronistic dance strikes, the ensemble’s up to date streetwear or the laptop computer on which Joe and Betty’s script takes form, a Jamie Lloyd Firm espresso mug sitting alongside it.

Theater and movie converge to good impact firstly of Act II, when Joe throws open a door and steps out onto forty fourth Avenue. He launches into the title music, an embittered screed concerning the Hollywood dream manufacturing unit, as he strides previous Sardi’s and across the nook onto Shubert Alley earlier than doubling again and hitting the stage on the ultimate notice.

That virtuoso digicam choreography, taking in a primary stretch of Broadway actual property, appears to counsel that showbiz glory will be equally fickle in any medium. As Norma watches all this on the display screen, we will nearly see the cracks forming in her illusory world.

Venue: St. James Theatre, New York
Solid: Nicole Scherzinger, Tom Francis, Grace Hodgett Younger, David Thaxton, Diego Andres Rodriguez, Hannah Yun Chamberlain, Shavey Brown
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
E-book and lyrics: Don Black, Christopher Hampton
Director: Jamie Lloyd
Set and costume designer: Soutra Gilmour
Lighting designer: Jack Knowles
Sound designer: Adam Fisher
Video designer-cinematographers: Nathan Amzi, Joe Ransom
Orchestrations: David Cullen, Andrew Lloyd Webber
Music course: Alan Williams
Choreographer: Fabian Aloise
Introduced by The Jamie Lloyd Firm, ATG Productions, Michael Harrison for Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals, Gavin Kalin Productions