The former Pussycat Doll stages a comeback.
Sunset Blvd.is playing at the St. James Theatre.
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This article was originally published on August 28, 2024.
We are republishing followingSunset Blvd.s opening night at the St. James Theatre.
A few days earlier, she was performing at a festival outside London.
Even in a very short time talking to Scherzinger, you get the impression she is never at rest.
Her mind is always on to the next thing, the next comeback.
She checks in with the sound engineers, requesting alterations to the mix and reworking the song order.
She corrects her dancers choreography.
It catches the attention of some of the events employees.
TheEvening Standardsaid she absolutely bloody smashes it, while the New YorkTimescalled her performance career-defining.
The production requires from Scherzinger an extreme level of exposure.
She is onstage for almost the entire show, seven times a week.
(On Broadway, the actress Mandy Gonzalez will perform on Scherzingers day off.)
ButSunsetis an acting and musical challenge that has transformed her, she says.
She wouldnt dare think of singing anything from the production in a setting like this.
Director Jamie Lloyd admits casting Scherzinger was an unusual proposition.
Scherzingers only major theatrical credit at that point was a revival ofCats.Among those initially confused was Scherzinger herself.
In need of financial support, Joe leads Norma on both professionally and sexually.
Did Lloyd really want Scherzinger to play a washed-up crone?
She was won over, tentatively, by his promise of empathy for the character.
Norma still longs to create art, even as her audiences have forgotten her.
I was like,This isnt far off from my life, she says.
I know what its like to be abandoned.
I know what its like to feel deep loneliness.
Shes wary of being misunderstood and prefers not to read her press coverage.
People pass judgment on me, she says, because they may know her only from the girl groups.
Ive lived a life.
Ive lived many lives.
Its prepared me for this role.
Scherzinger was born in 1978 in Honolulu.
Ive taken that with me in my relationships, not setting boundaries because Im afraid of people abandoning me.
The Scherzingers were lower-middle class.
Gary worked as a welder, while Rosemary held various secretarial positions.
Surrounded by other theater kids, she found her people.
Traveling with a band brought its own culture shock.
I was like,Excuse me, why are we not sitting down quietly taking in this art?
It wasnt too bad.
That game attitude helped when Scherzingers life turned toward pop stardom.
Scherzinger was 22 when she auditioned forPopstars.The group burned fast over a two-year run: a No.
I really empathized with Normathose were her impressionable years, and shell never get those back.
When youre in it, the grind of fame puts you on an endless hunt for the next thing.
The year after Edens Crush disbanded, Scherzinger auditioned for the Pussycat Dolls.
The groups first album, 2005sPCD,went multiplatinum.
They headlined world tours, sold tons of merchandise, and spawned their own reality-competition show.
They worked us to the bone, she remembers.
I just wanted it for myself too.
But it wasnt Nicoles fault.)
The group broke up in 2010 as various members, including Scherzinger, left to pursue solo careers.
When youre young, youre like,Just give me a stage and let me perform, Scherzinger says.
You dont know how exactly to express yourself as an artist.
An album, tentatively titledHer Name Is Nicole,was shelved after its introductory singles failed to perform.
She started to feel the music industry losing interest.
Theres a degree of safety and continuity in the sanded-off edges of a televised talent show.
Scherzinger, her career born of reality television, remade herself on it.
But those roles were not, as Scherzinger puts it, a showcase for my God-given talents.
In 2020, she and members from the original iteration, minus Thornton, released a single, React.
I ask if she pivoted to theater because the Dolls reunion had fallen apart.
Scherzinger bristles at the suggestion: I didnt see it as competing.
I was doing it all.
She says she prefers to have many irons in the fire.
I was going to go, and I just got this other offer and I took it.
A career spent constantly trying to find a lifeline had perhaps made Scherzinger liable to second-guess herself.
What would provide her with the best chance at artistic fulfillment, future opportunities,anda paycheck?
Could you make yourself happy by only selling the car?
Its a question thats gotten more complicated for artists as fame itself has become more diffuse.
Would Norma Desmond still dream of Salome if she were hosting a game show?
He insists the two have since made up.
When you believe in somebody as much as I believe in her, you want the best for them.
This time around, shes leaving a gig onThe Masked Singerfor Broadway.
It was a sumptuous affair, high on production valuesa giant staircase and vintage car both appeared onstage.
In a way, the show is an unlikely fit for Lloyds more minimal approach.
He didA Dolls Housewith Jessica Chastain and aRomeo and Julietwith Tom Holland.
Jamie took me out of my comfort zone in every way, she tells me.
She wanted to wear a wig; theres no wig.
She wanted a turban; this Norma doesnt wear one.
She wanted shoes; this Norma is barefoot.
But he quickly realized she was ready to be pushed.
He describes Scherzinger possessing a dedicated work ethic in rehearsals, honed from years of touring.
American and British tastes do differ.
She is anxious to be well received.
All I asked was that I could sing the line The future is here with me.
Her voice, through all the ups and downs, has not failed her.
She treats the act of singing with almost a religious devotion.
For the first time in my life, she tells me, Im not moving much onstage.
Im trying to have it shoot out of my chest and hands when I sing, she says.
The expression becomes so pressurized its uncontainable.
And then it just releases, she says.
Maybe the notes not perfect, or half the time Im fighting back tears.
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