Tony preview: Nicole Scherzinger wows in 'Sunset Blvd.' revival

This week we look at shows nominated for 2025 Tony Awards.

NEW YORK — “Sunset Blvd.” isn’t just a revival. It’s a reimagining, a reawakening, a reworking.

Nicole Scherzinger is to make her Broadway debut later this year
Bang Showbiz

Thanks to director Jamie Lloyd’s cinematic eye, this is like the 1950s film that inspired Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical. Scenes are projected on a huge screen that dips, tilts and slides while actors stare into cameras and create the stage equivalent of editing. When Tom Francis, as the unsuspecting writer Joe Gillis, escapes the theater and walks outside, “Sunset Blvd.” becomes its own IMAX experience — a marvel that even Tom Cruise couldn’t duplicate.

Surprisingly, Nicole Scherzinger may be too young to play aging silent screen actress Norma Desmond, but she plots the women’s mental decline quite nicely. When she gets those big theater-filling numbers (“With One Look” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye”), she takes full advantage and proves it was wise to cast her. She handles flirty moments well, too. And just as Francis makes his descent to the streets, we see her poking fun of Norma in her dressing room. Hers is a smart display of awareness that never lets the audience forget this is a musical meant to surprise.

Repeatedly, those surprises come until you get to that shocking end that lets David Thaxton (as Norma’s faithful servant Max) reveal what has driven the madness. When Lloyd moves in for the close-up, “Sunset Blvd.” is more than even Billy Wilder could have imagined.

Featuring black and white costumes — a neat touch — and those handheld cameras, the show works well no matter where you’re sitting in the St. James Theatre. Even the cheap seats get the jolt of those oh-so-close facial shots.

Scherzinger has calculated this down to every move, making sure what resonates is what she wants to resonate. It’s a remarkable feat that takes advantage of her time on television. Even though she glides across the stage in little more than a slip and bare feet, she conveys the various stages of Norma’s life. She doesn’t camp it up, but she does maximize the possibilities.

More than anything, Lloyd proves there’s strength in the material. “Sunset Blvd.” doesn’t need gaudy sets or ornate costumes. It can be stripped back and be equally as touching. Look for others to follow the path John Doyle blazed with several Sondheim musicals.

“Sunset Blvd.” is an eye-opener, but Nicole Scherzinger is its reason to focus.

The Tony Awards air Sunday on CBS.