Scherzinger in SUNSET BLVD. Previews — Page 18

O'Donnell could have asked someone like an Usher how to pronounce Nicole's name before turning on her camera.

This is just like that disgusting photoshop of Ms Erivo's face the other day.

White people claiming to be "fans" going out of their way to erase People of Colour and trample on their dignity.

inception said: "O'Donnell could haveasked someonelike an Usher how to pronounce Nicole's name before turning on her camera.

This is just like that disgusting photoshop of Ms Erivo's face the other day.

White people claiming to be "fans" going out of their way to erase People of Colour and trample on their dignity."



Are you intentionally TRYING to sound like a Faux News dullard? If so, congrats -- it's working!

inception said: "O'Donnell could haveasked someonelike an Usher how to pronounce Nicole's name before turning on her camera.

This is just like that disgusting photoshop of Ms Erivo's face the other day.

White people claiming to be "fans" going out of their way to erase People of Colour and trample on their dignity."

What even is this comment? Are you ok?

She literally praised Nicole to high heavens - she LITERALLY called out the industry for never giving Nicole a platform to showcase what she can do and how fantastically talented she is. In fact, she's actually HIGHLIGHTING the fact that she didn't really know who Nicole was. EXACTLY because Nicole was never given the platform, she has never been given the spotlight in the US. This is exactly what I was talking about in my previous comment.

Your comment is obviously rooted in bias. And the only thing racist about this whole ordeal is you claiming that this white woman is trying to erase Nicole and tamper with her integrity,

Updated On: 10/18/24 at 12:07 PM

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "I adored this production.

Does every second work perfectly? No. Is everything except Nicole a little self-serious at times? Yes. Did I love the choreo? No. Would I understand everything if I didn’t know the material so well? I don’t know, there were some confused people next to me.

But I doubt I’ll see a better production of Sunset Boulevard and I’m dying to go back to see Nicole’s brilliance again, to see Mandy, and just to soak it all in again.

A lot of actors would crash and burn with this style of production. There are no hidden bells and whistles supporting them on stage. There’s a nakedness that’s required of the cast and the ability to play to the balcony while also doing something that works up close on camera. Nicole fits this world so beautifully, and Tom Francis is a real star

It’s also so ignorant when people say “there’s no set and costumes.” Everything here is done with such a level of specificity and his minimalism has deliberate style. There’s an intimacy to the production, yet suddenly it’s able to FEEL enormous because of the performances, haze, lighting, and video. It’s pretty astounding to behold. Give me this design over the overdesigned chaos of OHIO or LEMPICKA or MEAN GIRLS any day.

The sound design and careful use of synths to augment the strings to make 19 sound like a much bigger orchestra is also exceptional. Kudos to Adam Fisher, who's making his Broadway debut after being an associate designer on several Webber or Mackintosh shows. We have so much bad sound design that it makes great sound design all the more impressive.

This style would not work for every show, but it fully worked for me here. I hope we get more Jamie Lloyd productions of musicals, and I hope Nicole returns to the theatre in whatever role she’d like to play. I’ll be there."

I concur with all of this, Ermengarde! While some things aren't perfect, the sum of this production's parts is truly magnificent. This is some truly thrilling and exhilarating theatre.

sinister teashop said: "Ensemble1728379893 said: ""- she LITERALLY called out the industry for never giving Nicole a platform to showcase what she can do and how fantastically talented she is."



I think this is a narrative that I have been hearing in the last couple of weeks that I believe is true but it may pay dividends in June.

And, like some of you, I was aware of who NS was, but never in a million years would have believed that a Pussycat Doll could give the galvanizing performance that she serves on a nightly basis at the St. James. "

The Pussycat Dolls stage shows in Vegas were fabulous and highly theatrical. As I remember from my one time seeing them, the venue was intimate and the audience surroundedan elevated stage that was dressed as a boxing ring. It was an unusual departure from the usual Vegas performance style. I don’t know if I saw Nicole S. performing when I saw it but the show was impressive."

Nicole was not performing in that - she was only involved in the musical group and made some appearances here and there in the other ventures to help push the brand.

Actually- you sound like a racist yourself.

I truly dislike this production, the lyrics don't make sense and they are taking the piss with the cardboard cut-out of Lloyd Webber and the jokes about the actor's personal lives and other so called "funny" pop culture references (Can't touch this) followed by a scene where they say that microphones do not exist, with a laptop with microphone behind them. ALL lyrics are about the silent film era "we didn't need words, we had faces, "before terrible sound came in", "words, words, only words", etc.

BUT I think the score is magnificent. And it is being sung reasonably well. I think that is the success of this show. A silly, non-sensical concert, with "funny" modern day jokes, taking the piss, fun gimmicks, and a beautiful score.

I think that's all people need nowadays. I also think that after years of musical poverty, the typical 4-chord broadway sound (evan hansen, mean girls, etc), people are floored by what they are hearing.

Seb28 said: "I truly dislike this production, the lyrics don't make sense and they are taking the piss with the cardboard cut-out of Lloyd Webber and the jokes about the actor's personal lives and other so called "funny" pop culture references (Can't touch this) followed by a scene where they say that microphones do not exist, with a laptop with microphone behind them. ALL lyrics are about the silent film era "we didn't need words, we had faces, "before terrible sound came in", "words, words, only words", etc.

BUT I think the score is magnificent. And it is being sung reasonably well. I think that is the success of this show. A silly, non-sensical concert, with "funny" modern day jokes, taking the piss, fun gimmicks, and a beautiful score.

Except hardly anyone is mentioning the jokes and a bunch of folks are describing being extremely moved by this production and finding much that resonates to modern life.

Again, this isn't a literal production like the original and others. The fact that some insist that theater make literal sense or else it can't resonate/move audiences shows a lack of media literacy in my opinion.

Updated On: 10/19/24 at 09:35 AM

spicemonkey said: "One question: are those lyrics written specifically for this production? ."

No, the lyrics have nothing to do with this production.

I've seen modern dress versions of Aeschylus, Shakespeare, and - man of the hour, Wilder - since I was a teenager, not a word changed to match anachronistic properties or costuming, to interfere with the non-era specific world building. The conceit creates immediacy, but it's constructed on a shared premise: text and physical manifestation of story elements are by design contradictory, technically at odds, yet together suggesting "timelessness" in theme and emotional truth. It's that sharing - audiences as invited participants in a theatrical idea - that makes the stylization exciting. (The Lloyd Dolls House was thrilling for just this point.) All of this parsing of midcentury texture in the libretto (and screenplay) as oppositional to the use of 2024 tech just seems willfully resistant to the concept. Anyone can feel thus. But this is a time-honored tradition, irony intended, and Lloyd is just the latest practitioner; he's not some text-disrespecting auteur diluting verisimilitude.

Updated On: 10/19/24 at 11:07 AM

Seb28 said: "The given that a show would need to have iphones, laptops, twerking and MC Hammer jokes (literal modern sense)in order for it to resonate shows a lack of media literacy in my opinion. Especially when the lyrics are so literalabout other things."

Except no one is making the argument that a production NEEDS TO feature contemporary trappings to resonate with contemporary audiences. It just so happens that this production utilizes those elements; obviously traditional productions can resonate as well. Have you seen this production?

Yes, Seb endlessly wrote about their dislike of the London production.