For Nicole Scherzinger, The Whole World’s A Stage

Back in December, Nicole Scherzinger posted a throwback video on her TikTok account. It was a behind-the-scenes clip from the set of the Pussycat Dolls’ “When I Grow Up” video, and Scherzinger — dressed in that iconic hot pink midriff-baring top — points across the street to a Wicked marquee at Los Angeles’ Pantages Theater. “It’s so crazy, because, like, growing up, I thought I’d be doing that,” she says in the footage. “But one day I’ll make it back home to the stage again.”

Scherzinger did more than come home. In director Jamie Lloyd’s hauntingly stripped-back production of Sunset Blvd. on Broadway, she pushed her showstopping voice and charismatic stage presence to new extremes as the volatile Old Hollywood star Norma Desmond. “One of my favorite things about Jamie Lloyd is that he didn’t put any limitations on me or the cast, and that’s where I work my best,” says Scherzinger, who transferred to Broadway with the core cast following a 2023 West End run. “I went places I didn’t even know I’d ever go. Norma Desmond was alive in me every night. It wasn’t just a live show, and you never knew what would happen. It was just dangerous.”

The role earned her a Tony Award in June for Best Actress in a Musical — she’s the first native Hawaiian to win a Tony — and helped introduce the classic Andrew Lloyd Webber musical to a new cohort of Broadway superfans, some of whom went back to see Scherzinger and co-stars Tom Francis and Grace Hodgett Young dozens of times.

For some theater observers, however, Scherzinger’s other lives as a Pussycat Doll and talent-competition host were initially hard to square with the casting. “I mean, Jamie Lloyd says it, when people found out I was going to play Norma Desmond, everybody immediately had doubts. Most people were like, ‘What? You’re crazy,’” she says. But Scherzinger has no problem holding space for each unique chapter of her career: She busted out PCD’s “Buttons” for the annual fundraiser Broadway Bares in June and again for the Sunset Blvd. wrap celebration in July; this fall, she’ll mix the worlds of musical theater and pop in a series of solo shows that will make stops at venues like New York City’s Carnegie Hall and London’s Royal Albert Hall.

“I’m not good at many things,” says Scherzinger, 47. “But on that stage is where I’m thriving at my highest and just giving.”

On the evolution of Sunset Blvd.:

It was so important for me, after doing over 400 shows, to keep unlocking parts of the story and unlocking parts of Norma. Up until the very last performance, I was saying lines in ways I’d never had before. And that changes everything, because the show is so specific and so intentional. Tom always jokes that he likes to say his lines pretty much the same. But I like to play around with it and sometimes mess with him as well and make these discoveries. It makes it more exhilarating, more fun, more daring — and scary.

On life after Norma Desmond:

It’s definitely a change of pace in life. I get weekends now. Weekends! I didn’t have weekends for a few years there. But I’ve not left Norma — Norma is now a huge part of me. I learned so much from her and grew so much from her. I had so many more fears and insecurities when I started in this show. The more I looked at that fear every night head-on, face-to-face, with this character, it was like therapy. I didn’t even have to pay! I shed so many old skins. And I’m a better, stronger, more courageous woman for it.

On performing “Buttons” at Broadway Bares:

I actually fought to be on Broadway Bares. When I found out what it was, I was like, “Are you kidding me? You have a Pussycat Doll on Broadway!” And they were like, “OK, we’ll give you a little skit, that’s usually what our celebrity guests do.” And I’m like, “No, no, no, no — I’m performing, and I’m performing ‘Buttons.’” I wanted to give back to the community and show up and show out, and I wanted to be like, “Don’t forget, you got the queen Pussycat Doll here, OK? Don’t forget! This is what I do in my sleep, and I love it.”

On performing at the Tony Awards:

I’m tearing up as I think about it. Radio City was so big. Walking out onto that huge stage and seeing that huge audience and all those balconies — and being able to sing “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” one of the greatest songs ever written, my love letter to the theater — I said to myself, “It’s OK, Nicole. It doesn’t matter what happens now. You’ve won. You made it.”

And then when Oprah announced my name, it was like an out-of-body experience. It was a culmination of so much that I had to fight for and fight myself for — my own demons — to step into that place. That night, and my last night of Sunset Blvd., my final performance, were the greatest nights of my life.

On feeling the love from her fellow pop divas:

The KATSEYE girls came to see us, and I met them after the show. I’m so thrilled for them. They’re so beautiful and talented. They’re hard little workers. I am so stoked about my other girlies that came to visit me and the show: Meghan Trainor, Katy Perry, Christina Aguilera, Tate McRae, Olivia Rodrigo. That really meant the world to me. Women supporting women, that’s true female empowerment. We get strength and inspiration from each other, so all my love goes out to them as well.

On her upcoming solo shows:

It’ll be a lot of the songs that I never got to sing that I love. When I did Miscast, I sang a song that I’ve always wanted to sing called “I Am What I Am” [from La Cage aux Folles], so I definitely know that’s going to be a part of it. I’m going to be focusing more on my standards and my classics, my songbird side of me, but I’ll sprinkle in some other things and just hopefully [deliver] E for Entertainer — a show that people will remember.

Check out the rest of Bustle’s Entertainers Issue here, featuring interviews with Brittany Broski, Janelle James, Domhnall Gleeson, Kesha — and more to come!

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.