Nicole Scherzinger may have the night off from playing Norma Desmond, but that doesn’t mean she’s taking it uncomplicated. “If you must know, tonight
Nicole Scherzinger may have the night off from playing Norma Desmond, but that doesn’t mean she’s taking it uncomplicated. “If you must know, tonight I have all my scripts out and my notes out,” she tells me over Zoom. “I’m actually going to go deeper.” This commitment to further immerse herself in the pitiful pathos of Norma in Jamie Lloyd’s striking Broadway revival of Sunset Boulevard is what has made Scherzinger the talk of the town. After a year stacked with major musical performances from Broadway divas like Audra McDonald, Megan Hilty, and Idina Menzel, Scherzinger’s gonzo yet nuanced take on the tragic film star is a tour de force, winning her an Olivier Award for best actress in London’s West End, and sparking Tony buzz here in New York.
“I’m constantly wanting to be better,” she says. “I’ve done, like, 300 shows of this. Tonight’s my night off and I’m thinking, How can I look at the text again? Where can I make new, more honest discoveries for Norma? How can I connect the dots even more?”
Although it’s her Broadway debut, Scherzinger is used to being center stage, having fronted the mega-successful girl group the Pussycat Dolls, which tore up the charts in the mid-aughts and early teens with hip-bumping hits like “Buttons,” “Don’t Cha,” and “When I Grow Up.” But before she was a pop star, Scherzinger was always a girl from Louisville, Kentucky, with dreams of Broadway who commuted 45 minutes to a magnet art school because her parents couldn’t afford singing and dancing lessons. “That’s where I found my kind,” she says. “I really mean it when I sing, ‘I’ll be back, where I was born to be,’ and ‘I’ve come home at last.’”
Now that she’s finally made it to Broadway, she feels the theater community has welcomed her “with open arms.” As proof, Scherzinger is performing in the glitzy MCC Theater gala, Miscast, where she’ll sing a musical theater song not quite right for her alongside Broadway vets like Emmy nominee Tituss Burgess, Oscar nominee Danielle Brooks, and Tony winner Aaron Tveit. She hasn’t landed on a number just yet, but shared potential options from shows ranging from Jesus Christ Superstar to Rock of Ages to The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. “I made a Spotify playlist called ‘Miscast,’” she says, excitedly. “This is all new to me.” Although she’s lived many lives, she says her time as a Broadway diva might be her favorite one yet: “I probably am in the best place I’ve ever been in my life.” VF is delighted to include her in our Power & Glamour portfolio.
Vanity Fair: Between the Broadway and West End runs of Sunset Boulevard, you’ve been living as Norma for quite some time. What’s it been like spending all of this time in her headspace?
Nicole Scherzinger: It’s been very transformational. For so long, I’ve wanted to share with the world all of my passions and my gifts and my talents and my love for singing, acting, and dancing, the arts. It’s such a gift that I have this show now. It’s been so therapeutic for me because I’ve gotten to go head-to-head, toe-to-toe with some of my own fears and insecurities and issues that I’ve had. It’s really just given me a lot more self-confidence because it’s been a practice of learning to be brave and then to be braver, as my director would say.
There’s nowhere to hide in this production of Sunset Boulevard. How does it feel to have all that responsibility come down to just your physical body and talent?
At first, I was like, “I only want the camera to be on this side of my face. I can’t show my feet. They’re horrible.” I had to throw all of that away. There’s just no vanity involved. It really just comes down to being able to show all of yourself: the good, bad, and the ugly. The really ugly sometimes.
Is there a moment in the show where you feel most powerful?
At the end of [my first song] “With One Look.” I sing, “They’ll say, ‘Norma’s back at last.’ This time I’m staying. I’m staying for good. I’ll be back where I was born to be, with one look I’ll be me.” And I hold out this note and I go, “Meeeee!” and all of my energy and all of my delicate just shoots out like lightning bulbs in my hand.
I think about little Nicole who felt so awkward and lanky and felt like she didn’t fit into this world. Little six-year-old Nicole who was so shy. And here I am ending like a warrior. It’s just a reminder of where I’ve come. I thank my family for that, my faith for that. I thank my ancestors for that. I come from a sturdy line of warrior women in my family.
You fronted the super successful girl group The Pussycat Dolls. Did it ever bother you that you were a member of an ensemble, not a solo music artist?
It could be looked at two ways. You could say, “Oh yes, my own name, like Katy, Rihanna, Britney, right?” But then you could also look at it as I’m a part of something bigger. What I loved about The Dolls is that it was inclusive and that everyone could be a doll. The dolls are diverse. I feel like today current Pussycat Dolls are Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan and Lizzo. It’s just carrying the flag of just strength and courage and empowerment and loving and accepting yourself, which isn’t always uncomplicated to do.
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