Patti LuPone gives extended verdict on Jamie Lloyd’s Sunset Boulevard

Patti LuPone has given an extended verdict on Jamie Lloyd’s award-winning production of Sunset Boulevard. 

First seen in the West End and picking up seven WhatsOnStage and Olivier Awards, Lloyd’s take on the show stars Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond with rising star Tom Francis as Joe Gillis.

LuPone, who has had a well-documented experience originating the role of Desmond in the West End (but not repeating the process on Broadway), sat down with George Clooney as part of Variety’s Broadway Actors on Actors series to reflect on their experiences in New York in the last year.

Chatting to Clooney, she reflected on what it was like returning to watch the show, which currently plays at the St James Theatre in New York: “I was actually very interested to see Sunset Boulevard because I had heard really terrific things about it. And I’m very left of centre and I like to see those directors that have concepts that are very strong, very unusual. I didn’t know anything about Jamie Lloyd at all, and I know who Nicole Scherzinger is, but I had never seen her before.”

The results, she states, were rather special: “I was thrilled to death to see this production, which was a complete departure from the original production, which I was in… I liked it so much better. I wished I had been in that kind of production.”

She explained why it worked so well: “It wasn’t beholden to the movie. It’s the story, clearly, but it is not a Spanish villa on Sunset Boulevard. We’re not looking at a 1920s film. So we’re not seeing any of the Gloria Swanson, Norma Desmond or William Holden. We’re not seeing any of that. It’s brand new.”

It wouldn’t be a LuPone response without a few “quibbles”, of course, and the Tony winner certainly had thoughts: “I would love to have seen costumes. I don’t know why they went outside on the street to sing “Sunset Boulevard.” That’s just me. I thought the whole cast was spectacular, especially with Nicole and Tom Francis… she commands the whole stage.”

Did the cast twig that the original Norma Desmond was in watching the latest performer to take on the role? Apparently not, though some audiences apparently realised: “What was interesting was coming in. I took my son and Josh, who turned to me and said: ‘Mom, people think they’ve seen a ghost’ because they saw me. And then some woman filmed me watching it, which was so crazy.”

You can watch LuPone heap effusive praise on the cast in the full clip below:

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Patti LuPone praises “Sunset Boulevard” on Broadway: “I was thrilled to death.” #ActorsOnActors

♬ original sound – Variety – Variety