Nearly a decade ago, Nicole Scherzinger—the former lead singer of The Pussycat Dolls—made her West End debut, perhaps fittingly, as Grizabella the Glamour Cat in the London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s international hit Cats

The Hawaii native, acclaimed for her roof-raising rendition of “Memory,” also earned her first Olivier nomination for her performance, a part that arrived at a particularly fortuitous moment.

“I was going through a lot personally at the time when Cats came along,” Scherzinger says. “I was going through a breakup [after seven years] and was silently suffering…My life was parallel to Grizabella’s life, wanting to have a chance at a new [one].” Although she ultimately found the London run a healing experience, the singer decided not to reprise the role when the revival made its way to Broadway in 2016.

“It was honestly a really difficult decision for me to make, to have to decline,” Scherzinger admits. “I didn't want to let Andrew down because I know that he put so much into it, and he believed in me so much. But it really just wasn't the right time for me—it didn't align with my life at that time.”

The notion of Broadway, however, lingered in the mind of The X Factor judge, who grew up in Kentucky, getting her start at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Later this month, that long-gestating dream will become a reality when Scherzinger opens the much-buzzed-about Broadway revival of Sunset Blvd., another Lloyd Webber property that she performed to award-winning effect last season at London’s Savoy Theatre. Sunset Blvd. will begin performances at the St. James Theatre September 28, with an October 20 opening.

In the West End, Scherzinger drew raves from critics, played to sold-out crowds, and won the coveted Olivier for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as faded silent-screen star Norma Desmond in Jamie Lloyd’s minimalist production—which eschews elaborate scenery and costumes in favor of a giant movie screen, tight close-ups, and plenty of stage blood.

Yet, the role of the delusional film star, who is unaware her fans have vanished, was not one that Scherzinger had ever contemplated playing. In fact, when director Lloyd first approached her with the project, she was “gobsmacked” by the idea. “I was like, ‘Listen, Jamie, I really want to work with you, but I don't know, this does not feel sexy to me at all right now,’” Scherzinger remembers with a laugh. “And he said, 'Can I just send you the script?’…I read the script. And it's not at all like what I remembered her to be, this kind of like deranged villainess [from the Billy Wilder film]…And I really related to her in a lot of ways. And then, when I listened to the music, my heart exploded.”

The lyric that resonated most powerfully with Scherzinger was, “We'll give the world new ways to dream.” “When I first heard that line,” she says, “it just really made me fall in love with her."

Interestingly, Scherzinger had never seen the stage version of the classic film; she was only a teenager when the musical made its world premiere. But in the early 1990s, there was probably no role more coveted by the leading musical theatre actresses of the day than Norma Desmond—and no show more written about than Sunset Boulevard. For those unfamiliar with the tumultuous history, here is a brief recap from this writer, who was lucky enough to catch performances of most of the major Normas on both sides of the Atlantic. 

After wowing audiences in Lloyd Webber’s invitation-only Sydmonton Festival production of Sunset, Patti LuPone landed the role of Norma in the musical’s world-premiere London production in 1993 at the Adelphi. The three-time Tony winner scored mostly raves from the West End critics (and later garnered an Olivier nomination). But a negative notice in the New York Times may have cost her the Broadway premiere, especially after Glenn Close opened to positive reviews in a concurrent Los Angeles production (which was also somewhat-rewritten and redesigned).

LuPone, who had been contracted to open both London and Broadway, was ultimately denied the chance to open the New York bow, with Close premiering the musical at the Minskoff in 1994 to Tony-winning effect. After LuPone left the London staging, the musical temporarily shuttered to implement the changes that had been made for the Los Angeles production and reopened with Tony winner Betty Buckley in the leading role. An unexpected appendectomy forced Buckley to miss several weeks of performances, and during her absence, Elaine Paige, the Queen of the British Musical Theatre, filled in for Buckley, who subsequently returned and later succeeded Close on Broadway. When Buckley ended her acclaimed London run, Paige returned, also subsequently playing Norma on Broadway in her much-awaited Main Stem debut. Sixties pop icon Petula Clark was the final Norma of the London production, although Oscar winner Rita Moreno did play a brief vacation stint (Buckley and Paige both received Olivier nominations for their Normas). 

Oh yes, Faye Dunaway also made headlines when she was unceremoniously dismissed during her rehearsal period to succeed Close in the L.A. production, which ended up closing rather than recasting (LuPone and Dunaway both sued Lloyd Webber/Really Useful and eventually reached monetary settlements without any court battle). 

Other Normas of that time period included Helen Schneider in Germany, Debra Byrne in Australia, and late Tony winner and Oscar nominee Diahann Carroll in Canada. A national tour starring the late, great Linda Balgord failed to ignite the box office, although a later scaled-down tour with Clark fared better. The role remains a favorite among experienced musical theatre actresses—other notable Normas include Florence Lacey at the Signature in Washington, D.C., Stephanie J. Block at the Kennedy Center, and Sarah Brightman currently in Australia.

As for the performances of the original Normas, I’ll never understand the Times’ criticism of LuPone. I caught her performance later in the run and found that her Norma was as exciting as she was utterly heartbreaking. In fact, her performance was so powerful that I told my older brother, who was traveling with me, “Do what you want tomorrow night. I’m going back to see Patti’s performance again.” Close brought the aura of a film star and a riveting, almost Kabuki-like appearance. Buckley was the most vulnerable Norma, a commanding presence offering a richly layered and achingly seductive take on the fading screen star that masterfully built to a wildly climactic mad scene. Paige was the most Gloria Swanson-like in the part and combined a tempestuous demeanor with hitherto unseen comedic moments that made each and every scene fully come to life. All four, it should be noted, were extremely moving. 

As for the vocals, it was really an embarrassment of riches with three of the greatest voices ever to come out of the musical theatre—LuPone, Buckley, and Paige—all getting the chance to wrap their rich instruments around Lloyd Webber’s haunting score. It was a true gift for musical theatre fans to be able to hear those three women's strikingly different but equally stellar renditions of “With One Look,” “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” “New Ways to Dream,” and more. Close also managed to score in the musical moments with her somewhat-jarring transition from chest to head voice adding to the lunacy of the character.

When she was initially cast, musical theatre fans wondered whether Scherzinger, now 46, was too young for the part—in actuality, LuPone, Close, Buckley, and Paige were all in their mid-to-late 40s when they first tackled the role. And Scherzinger brings her own brand of magic to Norma, explaining that her approach is from a place of strength, rather than possibly playing Norma as a victim. “She's fighting every chance that she gets. Fighting for everything. Fighting to stay sane, fighting to stay alive, fighting to be loved, fighting to be heard. Fighting for another chance,” says the Grammy-nominated performer, adding, “I feel like my Norma is a prowling warrior that just is lonely, scared, and vulnerable enough to open herself up completely and show all the parts, the darkest parts.”

When asked whether she has a favorite moment for her Norma, Scherzinger names the character's arias, “With One Look” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye”—both of which she sends soaring to the heavens, with powerful sustained notes that regularly had the audience applauding mid-song. She says the former song “sets the tone,” while the latter “is always a special moment because it’s so still. It’s such a rare moment, a moment of surrender and release for Norma because she feels like she has come home and that she’s seen the light and that she is being seen.” Scherzinger, however, believes her favorite moment may be the musical’s finale, where she is “covered in blood and snot and tears. It’s kind of the most cathartic thing ever to be like, ‘This is me and all my ugliest parts,’ revealing every part of me in ways that you never even knew or probably would ever see coming.”

She also believes that director Lloyd’s stripped-down production, which removes most references to time and allows the actors to speak in their natural voices, makes the musical accessible to audiences of all ages.

“You get to really focus on the most important thing, which is the human story, the human experience, which is what draws people in—which is why we don't have a set, which is why we don't have props. These characters are so rich—their stories and their layers and their own struggles and their own needs and wants,” Scherzinger says. “When you strip away [the visuals], you can really get to the meat and the bones and the heart and the soul and the beauty and the ugliness of the script and the story. And that's, you know, very Jamie. And I think that's what we've hopefully been able to accomplish with this production."

Even though she enjoyed tremendous success in London, the glamorous star is taking no chances when it comes to her Broadway debut, realizing that audience and critical reaction can be different on both sides of the Atlantic (especially among Sunset Boulevard devotees).

“I'm really excited,” Scherzinger says, also confessing, “I'm definitely scared. I know that when we start to embark on rehearsals again soon in September, I'm literally just gonna keep my head down and let my work speak for itself. Though we've had the success and the reception that we've had on the West End, you know, we're going to Broadway, and this is a whole new territory. So, I don't want to get ahead of myself. I just want, like I said, the work to speak for itself and to see if I can make new discoveries and make stronger choices and just to be the best that I can. I want to be exceptional in every way that I can when I come there, and to give my absolute best because I've waited so long to come.”

As she prepares to bring her warrior Norma to Broadway, Scherzinger reflects on her two West End triumphs: “Everything has come full circle. And now, I’m making my actual Broadway debut with an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, but just a completely different role in this new Jamie Lloyd production of Sunset Blvd. Looking back, I could have been like, ‘Oh, gosh, I don’t want to let anyone down [and debut on Broadway in Cats].’ But, like I said, intuitively, it just didn't align with my life at the time. It wasn't the right time. And now, after 46 years that I've been waiting to hit that Broadway stage, now the timing is everything, and it's divine.

“This is the production, this is the timing, this is the role, this is the musical that I'm supposed to be making my debut on Broadway.”

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Photos: Sunset Boulevard in London

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