Sunset Boulevard – Broadway St James

How can something be so known - -to the point that I know every lyric, key change, and nuance to the score after listening to all these recordings for close to 30 years now along with having seen the original Broadway production, the US tour and 2017 revival at least 12 times... and now for well over a year, I have read every review breaking apart this new revival (and yes seen a share of clips online)

Yet I found myself completely unprepared for what I had just experienced today.

Nicole Scherzinger owning that score, singing it like I've never heard it sung before, the minimalism, the dislodging the story from being narrowly told from the 1949/50 movie perspective - All of that has been covered and discussed and beyond met my already heightened expectations for this. What I didn't expect was the emotional juggernaut this cast took us on. I don't ever remember being moved to tears the way I was at both Acts finales. The fragility, vulnerability of Norma - beneath the facade she's been holding together even while being forgotten is a revelation. At the end of Act I this brokenness is met with pity from Joe which she manipulates to give her (another) new lease at life. Yet at the end of Act II she is shattered having to compete with Betty and then see she's not even losing Joe to her - he just doesn't want Norma. As she screams "I. AM. THE. GREATEST. STAR. OF. THEM. ALL." from the depths of her soul only to have the first genuine emotion from Joe where he laughs in her face - it was watching a train crash that you could not look away. The tragedy of it all only being highlighted as Max walks off in tears.

I went in worried that it couldn't live up to the hype. I came out of that theatre thinking there's no hype that can adequately capture what Jamie Lloyd has done to this classic.

There's much more to say, but I definitely need to sleep on it a bit. I cannot wait for the recording to be released and no doubt will be back for multiple viewings.

Well done chernjam - we all knew you'd love it! So glad you've finally got to share the joy!

the casting alerts on seatgeek for July suggests Nicole will still be performing at least

And can chernjam also tell us what funny references they made while Tom is walking through the theatre to get outside? NS in the turban? DT with the Pussycat dolls pic? The chimp? The ALW cut out? 
Anything different for Broadway? 

I think there were two ensemble members kissing in a doorway too.

Thanks everyone for your kind feedback... Honestly the morning after, I'm still kind of in disbelief about what this experience was. I mean I have vivid memories of excitement from the first time seeing this in November of 1994 about a week after it officially opened. And that was amazing just because - apart from a few video clips here and there that the show released and seeing pictures and knowing the score, to finally get the full experience (along with crowds looking desperately for cancellations and all) it was just exciting and great on so many levels.

I didn't know how I'd react to all the familiar things being stripped away would work, but it really is an entirely new thing. Basically using the story of Sunset Blvd to get to the heart of a poor woman who's entire identity has been on being looked at, being in the people's eye, not accepting that has ended... and the tragedy of it all. It's the first time I genuinely felt she was a tragic character rather than thinking she's some loon in a mansion with her turbans and dead chimps and all. I'm still trying to figure out if the original in paying too much homage to the original wasn't able to get to the heart of this like this has or what.

My Mom who has only seen Sunset three times ( "only" ) but was with me for the first time in 1994, the first time we saw the revival in 2017 and now yesterday, it was very very interesting to hear her take on it. She's obviously a huge fan and loves the music as much as I do, and knew Nicole Scherzinger far less than I do. She also gets to more theatre than I do. She was a bit anxious since she absolutely hated the recent Camelot that was also "deconstructed." At the intermission she was completely blown away by Nicole - I mean, we were sitting 3 rows, center orchestra, so we could make eye contact with her, and as she blew the roof off in "With One Look" you couldn't but be amazed by her. But she wasn't sure if this approach worked for her, and voiced what some have said that "if I didn't know the story, I think I'd be lost" - but by the end of the Second Act she was won over by it... saying that once she was able to settle into it, it all clicked for her. Interestingly she said it moved much faster than she ever remembered and that she felt like she was missing some of the score she loved so much. Which the more we talked, I pointed out that by eliminating the Ladys Paying, Eternal Youth and some of the underscoring and some trimming here and there - it tonally worked at making it a much, much "darker" tone and at the same time obliterates the criticism people lob at ALW that he repeats the melodies too much in his scores. In effect, it's great leaving saying "I wanted to hear that more" rather than feeling it was overkilled.

To answer some of your questions
(Just a heads up There might be spoilers below )

1 - The show started about 10 minutes late, which was odd since they made a big deal about starting on time and no one being admitted late or re-entered if hey left. Also, young Norma was not on stage until the overture began and she started to dance. Not sure if this is a new change, or if it was because this was the first matinee and they were trying to work the timing out. It hit me that perhaps they wanted to start late so that the Act 2 start would be a bit later from the neighboring theatres and make the walk around still possible.

2 - The Act II Entr'acte with them backstage was very clever. They have indeed added Nicole wearing a turban and "Mad about the boy" on her mirror, with the gun on a script which got a good laugh. The ALW cut out was first revealed as they got to "With One Look" which got a nice ovation. Max staring at the Pussy cat dolls. Joe bumps into random cast members including Artie and Betty. The one actor looking for blow is seen sniffing and rubbing his nose. The finance guys walk by with a toy car - and there's another cast member who does this balancing act from a massive pipe over Joe as he finally makes it to the doors to begin "sunset boulevard." Definitely some similar things you all saw in London with some new touches for the NY audience. The Ape is there in full costume during the walkthrough.

3- Sunset Blvd walk around is even more effective - as he gets to "sure I came out here to make my name" he stops in front of a full poster of himself outside the theatre which got a good laugh. I'm amazed that they're able to cross the street twice in this, especially in Manhattan. And it was amazingly cool (not to mention awesome marketing) to see people kind of stopped behind barricades watching the whole thing unfold, kind of cheering and being excited even if they didn't quite know what was going on - which only intensified as the rest of the cast joined him across the street and walked with him back to the theatre (with Ape guy joining again). The fact that the door he enters in is right on the Left side of the orchestra section, so all the outside light, noise and helps "break the wall" with the cast all watching Joe take the stage with Norma and Max was so over the top and effective. I overheard someone saying "there was not one moment I was bored" and I thought - this was a perfect moment that captured that. In every previous production, what more has Joe done in that song but basically give his own "statement" about what he's done, chosen to do. This just once again disoriented so much between those who have seen the show before and those new to it - and propelled everyone to go into Act II re-focused.

- Apart from a little cut out because of the wind, the sound and video was perfect. Almost too perfect since some didn't even realize that the whole sequence was live.

4 - Too Much in Love To Care has been the one song that I never really cared for, but honestly it most certainly works between the cuts and the way ALW re-wrote the orchestral interlude. Having Artie's presence more seen a few times with the cameras - and a few subtle things earlier (like during Girl meets boy when he looks at Joe with far more suspicion when Betty wants to "work" with him - like he's already insecure and jealous really helped pay off during this scene. It helped establish the betrayal of Artie which I never really considered in previous productions since he had mostly disappeared by the end of Act I)

5- The ending... okay first off the Red Screen - WOW. Seriously wow. The first blatant use of color to emphasize things are going down in flames, wow...
Then - and I think this might be a change from the few clips I remember.
First Nicole is so slow, and unhinged as she articulates every single word " I AM THE GREATEST STAR OF THEM ALL" (she's not dealing with reality very well ) and honestly, I don't know if this happened before in London, but Joe genuinely for the first time displays genuine emotion as he laughs at her. It is done so brilliantly and convincingly that for the first time, I wanted to kill Joe myself. Never felt that before.

and then again, I'm not sure if this is new - but there are very very clear gun shots. The stage went completely dark and you hear a shot with a major lighting of the stage (like a flash photo being taken) where you see blood exploding from Joe's chest and hearing him cry - this happens three times... And then Nicole has blood on her in the end, but she starts her descent into madness mash up of songs with her hands in front of her like she's holding something and when she sings "SHE KISSES HIS HEAD ON A SILVER TRAY" she brings her bloody hands to her face and it covers her face and the rest of her...

again - I don't ever remember a production of Sunset Blvd that has ever been able to connect "Salome"/ "Surrender" so effectively as this has.


I'm curious if I got all those things correct (that these are changes or additions since London) and wonder if they're still playing around with them since this was still a preview performance. All of them seemed perfect choices to me. Can't believe Opening Night is in a week.

The audience went absolutely wild. Had some people from out of state next to me, who the one person never heard of the show or story who by intermission overhearing her, she wasn't quite sure what she felt about it that by the end was out of her seat saying "it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen." It was exciting just to hear and see people get won over like that.

It also makes me think how perfectly things are set for this. As I've mentioned before Nicole isn't as well known in the US as she is in the UK. The Pussycat dolls kind of got eclipsed by countless similar groups, and whichever show she was a judge on (masked singer was it?) well there's so many of those now that it's not like "American Idol" was in its hey day. So she's got some name recognition - but I suspect this is going to be the launch of something incredibly huge. If it weren't for the fears people have about travelling into NYC post-Covid and the rise of crime and such, I could imagine the show selling out for her entire run (which makes the open-end engagement through July make sense) In more sane, peaceful times that would be the case for sure. Here's hoping that does happen - for more reasons than just the success of this show.

OK I'm rambling now Any other questions be happy to try to answer.

You nailed it all chernjam. Sounds like they've retained everything from London - I can confirm that the ending you describe mirrors London. So glad you enjoyed it!

Grace really added much more to a role that traditionally felt more of an after thought 

David Thaxton definitely deserves a Tony for supporting actor.  What a voice and presence.  Watching him especially in the finale - in tears walking off stage recognizing his role in the tragedy was a devastating impactful addition 

"Sunset Boulevard, starring Nicole Scherzinger, brought $1.08 million across its first week of six previews, in the St. James Theater, and playing to a capacity of 93 percent."

Seems to be doing very well.

www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/broadway-box-office-sunset-boulevard-1236027451/

We should be getting the report from the second week of previews in a few hours

So there’s around 100 unsold seats per performance? I’m quite surprised given the hype, but know it took a couple of months before they were consistently selling out at the Savoy.

No, she begins after opening night.