The currently running West End revival of “Sunset Boulevard” will transfer to Broadway in 2024. Nicole Scherzinger will make her Main Stem debut with the musical, reprising her performance as Norma Desmond in the production directed by Tony Award nominee Jamie Lloyd. Additional information, including production dates and theater, will be announced at a later date.
Also transferring with the mounting are cast members Tom Francis as Joe Gillis, Grace Hodgett-Young as Betty Schaefer and Olivier Award winner David Thaxton as Max Von Mayerling. Like Scherzinger, this will mark their Broadway debuts.
Scherzinger is an Olivier nominee for her performance as Grizabella in the 2014 West End revival of “Cats.” She is also a Grammy Award nominee as the lead singer of pop group the Pussycat Dolls. She appeared as Grace Farrell in television’s “Annie Live!” and has been a judge for talent competition series such as “X Factor,” “Australia’s Got Talent” and “The Masked Singer.”
Francis played Romeo in the West End production of “& Juliet.” Hodgett-Young played Ariel in “The Little Mermaid” at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London, as well as Deloris Van Cartier in “Sister Act” at Nottingham Playhouse. Thaxton won the 2011 Olivier for Best Actor in a Musical for his turn as Giorgio in “Passion” at the Donmar Playhouse.
“Sunset Boulevard” originally opened on Broadway in 1994, having premiered at London’s Adelphi Theatre in 1993. The Main Stem production was nominated for 11 Tony Awards; it won seven, including one for the score by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black and Christopher Hampton, one for Black and Hampton’s book and one for actor Glenn Close, who starred as Norma. “Sunset Boulevard” received a revival in 2017, also starring Close.
Based on the 1950 Paramount film by Billy Wilder, “Sunset Boulevard” follows former silent film star Norma Desmond as she grapples with the reality that she may be past her professional prime.
Fabian Aloise will serve as the choreographer for the 2024 staging. The production’s creative team will also include Tony-nominated scenic and costume designer Soutra Gilmour, lighting designer Jack Knowles, sound designer Adam Fisher and co-video designers and cinematographers Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom. Alan Williams will serve as music supervisor and music director, while 101 Productions will serve as general manager.
Additional casting, by Jim Carnahan and Jason Thinger, will be announced at a later date.
The West End production is slated to close on Jan. 6 at the Savoy Theatre.
“Sunset Boulevard” is being produced on Broadway by the Jamie Lloyd Company, Ambassador Theatre Group Productions, Michael Harrison for Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals and Gavin Kalin Productions by arrangement with the Really Useful Group Ltd.
