Sunset Boulevard with Nicole Scherzinger announces live cast recording and sets Broadway dates

Complete Broadway plans have been announced for Sunset Boulevard, starring Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond. Jamie Lloyd’s revival will play the St. James Theatre beginning 28 September, with opening night is set for 20 October.

To coincide with the Broadway run, a cast album recorded live at the Savoy Theatre during the recent West End engagement will be released globally in October via The Other Songs, a label founded by Alastair and Billy Webber, the sons of Sunset Boulevard composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.

As previously announced, Scherzinger will be joined by London costars Tom Francis (Joe Gillis), Grace Hodgett-Young (Betty Schaefer), and Olivier winner David Thaxton (Max Von Mayerling). All four actors make their Broadway debuts. Scherzinger and Hodgett-Young received WhatsOnStage Awards for their performances.

Directed by Jamie Lloyd and choreographed by Fabian Aloise, this new production of the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber (score), Don Black (book and lyrics), and Christopher Hampton (book and lyrics) is designed by Soutra Gilmour (sets and costumes), Jack Knowles (lighting design), Adam Fisher (sound design), and Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom (video design and cinematography). Alan Williams is the music supervisor and musical director. Sunset Boulevard is based on the film by Billy Wilder.

Lloyd’s West End reimagining of Sunset Boulevard has scooped seven trophies at the 24th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards. Triumphing in the categories of Best Direction (for Lloyd), Best Performer in a Musical (for Nicole Scherzinger), Best Professional Debut Performance (for Grace Hodgett Young), Best Musical Direction/Supervision (for Alan Williams), Best Lighting Design (for Jack Knowles), Best Sound Design (for Adam Fisher), and Best Video Design (for Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom), Sunset Boulevard was the most-awarded production of the night.

WhatsOnStage’s lead critic, Sarah Crompton, previously praised Lloyd’s “perfectly controlled” staging for its technical elements, describing Knowles’ lighting design as “sultry” and “shadowy”, while Fisher’s sound design and Amzi and Ransom’s live cinematography combined to create a “dazzling tapestry of action”. Thanks to Williams, the music also “re-emerges as if freshly written”.