‘Sunset Blvd’ revival could surpass Tony nominations of original 1994 Broadway production
30 years ago Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Sunset Boulevard” opened on Broadway, capping off a tumultuous journey from the West End which included the unceremonious replacement of its lead Patti LuPone with Glenn Close. The bumps along the way paid off, if not financially, then certainly in terms of awards, as it received an impressive 11 Tony Award nominations at the 1995 ceremony, winning seven. It didn’t hurt that there was only one other original musical, “Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” and two musical revivals in contention that year.
Now three decades later a radically new version of “Sunset Boulevard,” abbreviated to “Sunset Blvd,” has opened on Broadway starring Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond, the silent film star yearning to make a comeback in the age of talkies. Gone is the impressive, massive set of Norma’s mansion at 10086 Sunset Boulevard, as well as her iconic turban and shimmering kaftan. Director Jamie Lloyd has replaced them in his stripped down but über-high-tech staging with a 20+ foot video screen and onstage camera operators who capture real-time close-ups of the performers, a fitting approach for a musical about Hollywood and the bygone era of silent film acting.
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Will this staggeringly different and imaginative remounting of the famous musical tie or even surpass those 11 Tony nominations that the 1994 production received?
SEE Tony Talk: Our extremely early 2025 Tony Awards predictions for ‘Gypsy,’ ‘Sunset Boulevard’ and more
The original earned its noms in the categories of Best Musical, Best Book, Best Score, Best Actor (Alan Campbell), Best Actress (Close), Best Featured Actor (George Hearn), Best Choreography, Best Direction, Best Scenic Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Lighting Design. Its seven wins were for Best Musical as well as for book, score, Close, Hearn, scenic design, and lighting design.
While that seems like a high number to replicate — especially considering revivals are not eligible for book or score awards — the West End production of Lloyd’s “Sunset Blvd” that began last year nabbed exactly 11 Olivier Award nominations. They were for Best Musical Revival, Best Actor (Tom Francis), Best Actress (Scherzinger), Best Supporting Actor (David Thaxton), Best Supporting Actress (Grace Hodgett-Young), Best Director, Best Choreographer, Best Musical Contribution (for music director and supervisor Alan Williams), Best Set Design, Best Lighting Design, and Best Sound Design. Incredibly, just like the original Broadway production, it won seven of those 11, for Best Musical Revival along with Francis and Scherzinger, plus director, musical contribution, lighting design, and sound design awards.
This Oliviers track record bodes well for the Broadway production at the upcoming 2025 Tonys. As a revival, it will not be eligible to compete in three of the categories where the original Broadway mounting scored bids, namely, Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score. But it could easily pick up three or more nominations in categories where the original was ineligible or overlooked. For example, in lieu of Best Musical, “Sunset Blvd” will obviously compete in Best Revival. It could also nab recognition in Best Sound Design, a category that didn’t exist back in 1995, and for featured actress Hodgett-Young. It may also be eligible for Best Orchestrations for David Cullen, who did the original’s, assuming he has written new charts for this re-imagined staging. Those bids could be added to potential noms for actor, actress, featured actor, director, choreography (Fabian Aloise), scenic design, lighting design, and costume design.
SEE ‘Sunset Boulevard’ star Nicole Scherzinger is coming for that Tony Award
To score those bids, “Sunset Blvd” will have to overcome a lot more competition than the original Broadway production faced, including revivals “Once Upon a Mattress,” “Elf,” “Gypsy,” “The Last Five Years,” “Floyd Collins,” and “The Pirates of Penzance,” plus other rumored productions. It will also face off in a lot of categories against at least nine original musicals that are already slated to bow this year.
The very small pool of Tony nominators may also feel as conflicted about Lloyd’s take on the show as theater critics were. Journalists were evenly split between raves and middling reviews. For every review as positive as Adam Feldman‘s (Time Out New York), which calls it “often thrilling” and “absorbing” and “a new way to see an old dream,” there’s one like Sara Holdren’s (Vulture), which says that after seeing the production, one will be left “remembering the thrill but no longer able to feel it, somehow both stirred and empty.”
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