'Sunset Boulevard' review: Nicole Scherzinger is transcendent in bold new revival

NEW YORK – Nicole Scherzinger is ready for her close-up.

In the early aughts, the pop chanteuse scored global fame (and seven Top 20 hits) as the de facto leader of the Pussycat Dolls, which she then tried to springboard into a solo career. But after a string of failed singles and short-lived TV gigs, the musical theater veteran wowed London audiences in last year’s “Sunset Boulevard,” a provocative rework of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1994 Broadway musical.

The revival, which opened Sunday at New York’s St. James Theatre, is already shaping up to be a word-of-mouth hit stateside. And for good reason: Scherzinger is every bit as stunning and volcanic as you’ve heard, even if Jamie Lloyd’s hollow production doesn’t always match her earthshaking talent.

Like the 1950 movie classic with Gloria Swanson and William Holden, “Sunset Boulevard” follows a forgotten silent-film star named Norma Desmond (Scherzinger), who defiantly clings to her fading glamour and glory days. So when a down-on-his-luck screenwriter named Joe Gillis (Tom Francis) shows up at her mansion door, she convinces him to salvage a lousy script for her big-screen return.

Like the film, the show doesn’t try to hide that things end badly. (Joe literally climbs out of a body bag in the gloomy opening moments.) But Norma’s descent into harrowing, blood-soaked mania is a wonder to behold in Scherzinger’s more-than-capable hands. Taking the reins from Glenn Close, who originated the role on Broadway, Scherzinger brings an almost alien quality to Norma, whose strange poise and aloofness masks much deeper, repressed trauma. She can be vampy and volatile, but also quietly devastating.

The singer earned midshow standing ovations for both of Norma’s signature ballads: “With One Look” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” both of which Scherzinger delivered with breathtaking power and bravura. But perhaps her finest moment was the more subdued “New Ways to Dream,” as Norma is tearfully confronted by her younger self (Hannah Yun Chamberlain) in a tight close-up, which is filmed live and projected onto a giant backdrop. It’s a striking juxtaposition, and Scherzinger hauntingly conveys Norma’s fear, fragility and longing as she stares down the barrel of her life.

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That Scherzinger’s performance is so affecting is a credit to her formidable stage presence, given that Lloyd’s muddled concept for the revival is occasionally at odds with the source material. The modern production often seems to take a condescending stance toward Norma, imagining her as a sort of washed-up reality star: Pouting her lips for the cameras, busting out viral dance moves, and slathering on a Valley Girl vocal fry as she yammers about zodiac signs. (With her neutral palette and wet-hair look, she could easily be a sixth Kardashian sister.)

As a result, there’s a certain disconnect when she sings about setting “the screen aflame” or making “the whole world cry” with a single tear. Does Lloyd actually believe Norma was once a legitimately great actress, or has she always been wildly delusional about her abilities and adulation?

Making Norma a desperate casualty of the TikTok age is an intriguing take, to be fair. But it also robs the character of some of her emotional tragedy: For much of Act 1, Norma’s incessant mugging and diva demands are played for laughs. So by the time she saunters onto a film set and triumphantly belts she’s “home at last,” you’ve got to wonder if she has the wrong address. In some ways, this Norma would seem much more at home on “Selling Sunset” than on Sunset Boulevard.

Stripping back the show also lays bare its inherent, widely acknowledged flaws. Apart from a few phenomenal songs, “Sunset Boulevard” has always been one of Webber’s least memorable scores. The musical grinds to a halt whenever Norma is off stage and a chorus of showbiz wannabes, clad in cargo pants and hoodies, scavenge for their next meal ticket. The chemistry between Joe and doe-eyed script editor Betty Schaefer (Grace Hodgett Young) is severely lacking, although David Thaxton is a chilling standout as Max von Mayerling, Norma’s loyal but predacious butler.

Despite its shortcomings, the production itself is a technical marvel. Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom brilliantly incorporate video into the staging, as hand-held cameras capture the actors in crucial moments on- and off stage, projecting their faces in black and white onto a massive screen. Jack Knowles’s stark lighting and Adam Fisher’s atmospheric sound immerse theatergoers in a richly cinematic experience, with opening and end credits that cleverly evoke an old film noir.

In the show’s most staggering sequence, the captivating Francis snakes through the backstage dressing rooms, before spilling out onto the street to sing the title number. Cameras follow the actor in real time as he strides past cars and onlookers in Times Square, glancing at a nearby poster of Scherzinger before tramping back to the St. James. It’s a dizzying feat of choreography and showmanship, and a bracing reminder of everything that theater can be.

In fits and starts, "Sunset Boulevard" shows us there are new ways to dream. But more often than not, it just feels like sleepwalking.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nicole Scherzinger is extraordinary in 'Sunset Boulevard': Review