Broadway had its best attended week of the 2024-25 season in the week ending November 10, with 37 productions registering 306,329 admissions and grossing $36.5 million. Sunset Boulevard, a musical revival based on Billy Wilder’s 1950 original film, was one of the most popular productions during the week, playing to nearly 97 percent capacity at the St. James Theatre.
The musical has been a critical and commercial success. Nicole Scherzinger, the former Pussycat Dolls singer, has drawn Tony consideration for her career-defining performance as fading silent movie star Norma Desmond. Sunset Boulevard brought in $1.86 million in ticket sales for the week ending November 10, third to only The Lion King ($1.96 million) and Wicked ($2.45 million).
Here’s a closer look at the musical and its background.
1. Based on the 1950 Film
In Sunset Boulevard, Desmond is a forgotten and perhaps delusional film star plotting a big screen comeback in her decaying mansion. She hires young screenwriter Joe Gillis to write the perfect project for her comeback, but spirals into madness after discovering his relationship with another writer, Betty Schaefer. Gloria Swanson and William Holden played the lead roles of Desmond and Gillis in Wilder’s 1950 film, which won three and was nominated for 11 Academy Awards.
The film, which also features cameos by real life silent film stars Buster Keaton and Anna Q. Nilsson, is considered one of the best ever made. The U.S. Library of Congress included it in its first group of films selected to the National Film Registry, while the American Film Institute ranked it No. 12 on its list of the top 100 American films in the 20th century.
2. Not Its First Time on Broadway
Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the music, and Don Black and Christopher Hampton wrote the lyrics for the original Sunset Boulevard musical, which premiered at the Adelphi Theatre in London in 1993 and opened on Broadway in November 1994. The musical ran for 977 performances at the Minskoff Theatre, closing in March 1997 after grossing $83.3 million with an average capacity of 87 percent.
Sunset Boulevard received 11 Tony nominations and won in seven categories, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Scenic Design, and Best Original Score. Glenn Close, who played Desmond, won Best Actress in a Musical and George Hearn, who played Desmond’s butler Max von Mayerling, won Best Featured Actor in a Musical.
In addition to its original runs on Broadway and in London, Sunset Boulevard has had multiple US and UK tours and had a limited run revival at the Palace Theatre in 2017. Lonny Price directed the revival and Close reprised her role as Desmond. There have also been productions in Canada, Germany, Australia, and Sweden, among other countries.
3. Rave Reviews for Nicole Scherzinger
Scherzinger is best known for her music career with The Pussycat Dolls and as a judge for the Masked Singer and X-Factor. Despite making her Broadway debut in Sunset Boulevard, she has earned plenty of praise from critics and audiences alike. Before the production moved to New York, she won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the show’s West End production. She received a six-minute standing ovation from the audience at the St. James Theatre in the middle of the musical’s premiere on October 20.
“Scherzinger’s Desmond is charismatic, funny, sensual, intelligent, dramatic, conniving and monstrous—all at the same time,” wrote Dave Quinn for People magazine. “She flirts her way into the hearts of everyone around her and will leave you rooting for her, even when her behavior grows ugly and outrageous.”
4. Guest Star Mandy Gonzalez
Sunset Boulevard is currently scheduled to run at St. James until July 6, 2025, but Scherzinger won’t appear at all shows. With a few other exceptions, Mandy Gonzalez is guest starring as Desmond on Tuesday shows until the end of its run. Gonzalez has a lengthy list of credentials and, like Scherzinger, has received positive reviews from audiences, including a standing ovation after singing “As if We Never Said Goodbye” in Act II. Gonzalez, who has also guest starred in Hamilton and Wicked, said she had never received such an ovation mid-show.
Gonzalez has appeared in nine Broadway shows, including starring as Nina in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights from 2008-2010. She has also appeared in several TV series, is a popular concert artist, and has written four novels for young readers.
5. Other Cast and Creatives
Tom Francis, who is also making his Broadway debut, plays Gills, while David Thaxton and Grace Hodgett-Young play von Mayerling and Schaefer, respectively. Francis won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical, while Thaxton and Hodgett-Young both received supporting role nominations. The cast also includes Hannah Yun Chamberlain as young Norma Desmond, Shavey Brown as Cecil B. DeMille, and Brandon Mel Borkowsky as John. Jamie Lloyd, recipient of the Olivier Award for Best Director, is directing Sunset Boulevard. Soutra Gilmour (set design and costume), Fabian Aloise (choreographer), and Jack Knowles (lighting design) are among the other members of the creative team.