Honestly, if you walked into the St. James Theatre expecting the old-school, sweeping velvet staircases of 1990s Broadway, you were in for a massive shock. Jamie Lloyd’s recent revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Sunset Boulevard didn’t just tweak the original. It basically took a sledgehammer to it. Gone was the opulent mansion. Gone were the period-accurate 1940s gowns. In their place? A stark, black-and-white fever dream that felt more like a psychological horror film than a traditional musical.
It was bold. It was loud. For a lot of purists, it was probably a bit much.
But here is the thing: the show, which just wrapped its massive Tony-winning run in July 2025, proved that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music can actually handle a lot of grit. People usually associate Webber with the "megamusical" era—huge spectacles, crashing chandeliers, and falling barricades. This production stripped all that away. It left the actors standing on a bare stage, often barefoot, drenched in fog and harsh white light. And somehow, it made the story of Norma Desmond feel more relevant to our Instagram-obsessed culture than it ever has before.
The Nicole Scherzinger Factor
You can’t talk about this specific version of Andrew Lloyd Webber Sunset Boulevard without talking about Nicole Scherzinger. Going into this, there was plenty of skepticism. Sure, she’s a pop star. We knew she could sing. But could she play a decaying silent film icon?
Turns out, she absolutely could.
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Scherzinger didn't play Norma as a frail, elderly woman. Instead, she was a "horror film succubus," according to some critics—a woman driven literally insane by her own image. She won the 2025 Tony for Best Actress for a reason. Her performance was athletic. It was grotesque at times. When she sang "With One Look," she wasn't just singing to the back of the house; she was staring down a giant camera lens that projected her face, thirty feet high, onto a screen above the stage.
The "close-up" wasn't just a line at the end of the show anymore. It was the entire concept.
Why the Cinematography Mattered
Director Jamie Lloyd used handheld cameras to follow the actors everywhere. We’re talking backstage, into the wings, and even out onto the actual streets of New York. During the title song "Sunset Boulevard," Tom Francis (who played Joe Gillis) would literally walk out the stage door. He’d sing while dodging tourists on 44th Street, all while a camera crew trailed him.
The audience inside the theater watched it all live on the big screen.
- It blurred the line between theater and film.
- It highlighted the "meta" nature of fame.
- It made the show feel dangerously alive.
The "Other" Lloyd and the Music
There’s a funny bit of trivia here: this production was a collaboration between the two Lloyds. You have Andrew Lloyd Webber, the legendary composer, and Jamie Lloyd, the "enfant terrible" of West End directing. They’re not related, but they definitely found a weird, dark synergy.
Webber actually admitted that some of the original songs felt a little "old-fashioned" for this new vision. They cut a few things. They sharpened the orchestrations. What remained was a score that felt lean and mean.
When "As If We Never Said Goodbye" hit, it didn't feel like a nostalgic trip down memory lane. It felt like a woman having a total psychotic break in real-time. The 27-piece orchestra (one of the largest on Broadway in years) provided a wall of sound that made the empty stage feel massive. It’s a weird contradiction—a minimalist set with a maximalist sound.
What Most People Get Wrong About Sunset
A lot of folks think Sunset Boulevard is just a sad story about an old lady who can't let go of the past. That's a bit of a surface-level take.
If you look at the 2024-2025 revival, the show is actually a scathing critique of how we consume celebrities. By having the ensemble act like a pack of vultures—dancing in workout gear and filming everything on their phones—the production turned the mirror on the audience. We are the ones demanding the close-up. We are the ones who toss stars aside the moment they show a wrinkle.
The Ending That Shocked People
In the original 1950 Billy Wilder film and the 1994 musical, the ending is tragic but somewhat "grand." Norma descends the stairs, lost in her delusion.
In this version? It was a bloodbath.
I won't spoil the exact visual for those who might see a future tour, but let’s just say Jamie Lloyd leaned heavily into the "noir" part of film noir. It was visceral. It left the audience sitting in stunned silence before the standing ovation started.
Actionable Insights for Theater Fans
If you missed the Broadway run with Nicole Scherzinger, don't worry. The "Jamie Lloyd style" of musical theater is clearly the new blueprint for reviving older shows. Here is how you can stay ahead of the curve:
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- Watch the 1950 Film First: To truly appreciate how radical the Andrew Lloyd Webber Sunset Boulevard revival was, you need to see the source material. Billy Wilder’s movie is a masterpiece of cynicism.
- Follow the Jamie Lloyd Company: He is currently working on a similar "cinematic" version of Evita starring Rachel Zegler. If you liked the "camera-on-stage" gimmick, that's where he’s heading next.
- Listen to the 2024 Cast Recording: It captures the raw, less-polished vocal style of this production. It’s a very different vibe from the original Patti LuPone or Glenn Close recordings.
This production proved that these "classic" musicals don't have to be museum pieces. They can be messy, modern, and genuinely terrifying. Whether you loved the bare stage or hated the lack of costumes, you can’t deny that everyone was talking about it. That is exactly what Andrew Lloyd Webber—and Norma Desmond—would have wanted.
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