As if We Never Said Goodbye: A Broadway Revival for the Ages (Sunset Boulevard REVIEW)
A semi-spontaneous choice led to me witnessing theatre magic.
A weekend in NYC with very few set plans and a bunch of theater nerds led to the inevitable question of, “Should we go see a show tonight?” The answer was an obvious yes, and so a few of us split off from the group to go see something. We wandered the streets of the theater district and went to three different box offices to search for tickets: Death Becomes Her, Moulin Rouge!, and Sunset Boulevard. Based on prices and what none of us had seen before, we ended up settling on Sunset Boulevard. It was already a set up for a great night, as I knew the movie well but had never seen the musical, and my friends had never seen the movie at all. Most of what we knew going in was reviews we had read when the show opened. That’s it. For all three of us, that was a rare occurrence. Whether we liked the show or not, it was bound to be entertaining.
History
Before I get into my review of the show, I want to give you a bit of history about the show, for those of you who aren’t familiar with it. The musical, which premiered in London in 1993, closely follows the plot of the original film. Sunset Boulevard (dir. Billy Wilder, 1950) tells the story of Joe Gillis, a failing screenwriter who accidentally meets Norma Desmond. Norma is an aging former silent film star, whose career failed after the invention of “talkies”. Norma, however, seems unaware of her completely faded stardom and recruits Joe to help with her script for a film she wants to star in as her return to the screen.
The musical — which was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber — has a complicated history, but the most important thing to remember here is that both Patti LuPone and Glenn Close have played Norma. Given that information and the knowledge that this is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, you can see how big of a role this is.
In 2024, the show was revived on Broadway and currently stars Nicole Scherzinger as Norma and Tom Francis as Joe. This revival is drastically different from previous iterations for this musical, featuring no set and only one or two props. It is extremely minimalistic, stripping down a musical with plenty of opportunity for opulence.
This amount of information was all I had going into the show, and I’m actually glad I didn’t know more. Unfortunately, I’m not going to give you that same opportunity in my review, so if you are thinking of seeing it and you don’t want to know more, click away now.
For those who stayed: Ready? Here we go.
Review
I’m going to start with what I think you’re probably wondering about the most: Nicole Scherzinger. It was the thing I was most interested in, as well. My thoughts can be boiled down to be this: the Best Actress category at the Tony Awards this year is going to be a bloodbath. I have no doubt that Scherzinger will be nominated and frankly I will be upset if she somehow isn’t. I’m saying this as someone who was watching the show from the middle of the balcony. If I could see how incredible she was from all the way up there, then I would say it was indeed a great performance.
Prior to seeing this show, I didn’t know much about Scherzinger’s background, but I knew of her music career vaguely (I’m only 24, I’m still making my way through all the music I need to catch up on). That said, I had not heard about her working in theater prior to this, so I was a little surprised. The thing is… I’m not surprised anymore. That performance was jaw-dropping. When intermission came around, my friends and I all looked at each other with our mouths open, each struggling to articulate what we wanted to say. And yet, we all understood. Scherzinger’s voice, acting, and physicality all combined to play a different kind of Norma than had ever been seen before. And as different as it was, it was a role she was born to play.
The most fascinating part of this production for me was the cinematography. Having live cinematography in a theater production was such a surprise, but it worked extremely well for this. It was something that I had never seen before, and the use of it onstage fascinated me. During the show, there were many moments where a crew member with a camera (which was recording live) would come onstage and record certain actors in the scene during specific moments. This live feed was simultaneously projected onto a screen onstage so that the audience could see it. It is a difficult effect to explain, so I’ve included a couple of videos here that show snippets from both backstage and onstage, so you can get an idea of the whole feel of this production.
What really got my attention, though, was exactly when they chose to use the live video feed. It wasn’t every single moment of the show, but there was an interesting theme that it highlighted. From what I noticed, the cinematography was used specifically when the characters were talking about Hollywood and film in general, but also during particularly emotional moments. Even when it was used to highlight the love triangle between Norma, Joe, and Betty, there was still something behind it that had to do with Joe choosing his career. Even when he “chose” Norma, he did it because he was getting something out of it that could boost his career (and it gave him money he needed). With all of this cinematography, I feel like I have to give a huge shoutout to those working the cameras and the tech crew that that controls that live feed night after night. Especially since it is all live, I cannot imagine the amount of work and skill that goes into something like that.
Most audience members were skeptical, if not confused by, the lack of set or props. I was also skeptical. Something being so stripped back on Broadway was surprising to me, especially with a show like Sunset Boulevard. But what it ended up doing was highlighting just how sad and haunting the story truly is. When you’re forced to pay more direct attention to the words and the actions of the characters, the story hits even harder. What also struck me is how human all of these characters are. With her money and her giant mansion, Norma can easily be a laughingstock, someone we can make fun of because she’s so deranged. But when Norma is just a woman in a minimal black dress standing in front of a bare backdrop, you can see that she really is just a person. Behind the big movie star with the delusional ambitions, is a woman who is deeply sad and who was cast out by the same people who gave her stardom the second she couldn’t serve them anymore.
The last thing I want to talk about here is the cast. Every single person on that stage deserved to be there. Tom Francis was an incredible Joe Gillis, narrating our story and participating in it at the same time. Grace Hodgett Young made for a feisty and daring Betty Schaefer that made you truly root for her. I would, of course, be remiss if I didn’t mention David Thaxton, who played Max in a way that was in turn hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. The ensemble, as well, was extremely talented. They brought a level of stage presence and clear passion for their work that was a huge highlight of the show for me.
I really loved this show, and I hope that it runs for a long time so that I can see it again someday and really take it in. If you’re looking for something to see next time you’re in NYC, this is my recommendation.