Sunset Boulevard Star Tom Francis Is Manifesting A Rent Revival

Tom Francis’ Broadway debut as Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard has netted him a Tony nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, but he’s already manifesting his next role.

“I’m trying to put into the ether a Rent revival,” the 25-year-old Brit tells me over Zoom. The 1996 musical, which ran for 12 years on Broadway and tells the story of a group of struggling artists and friends navigating life in New York City under the shadow of HIV/AIDS, “just feels like perfect timing considering everything that’s going on in the world,” he says. “So hopefully somebody who reads this will help me make that happen.”

Francis, who won an Olivier Award for his role in the West End run of Sunset, has made a genuine New York City tourist attraction out of the show’s titular number, which he sings while snaking through the theater’s backstage and outside into the streets — all while his performance is projected onto a huge screen for the audience inside. Yet he initially planned to take a break from the stage after playing Romeo in the West End production of & Juliet from 2022 to 2023 — until he had a bucket-list opportunity to audition for director Jamie Lloyd, whose noirish production takes the classic Andrew Lloyd Webber musical to avant-garde new heights.

“I told my agent, ‘I want to have a break from musical theater for a bit. Eight shows a week are killing me a little. I want to relax from that for a second and just take a beat and figure out what my next thing’s going to be,” he says. “And then about five days later, she called me and was like, ‘So, Jamie Lloyd’s auditioning for Sunset Boulevard — would you like to go in for it?’ And I was like, ‘Well, yes, 100%.’ So I did that — and we never looked back.”

On celebrating his Tony nomination:

I was on the phone to my girlfriend for a while. I spoke to every member of my team, and there’s quite a few of them. I spoke to my family, and then I decided that I wanted to take myself out. I went to one of my favorite restaurants, Hudson Clearwater, for lunch, and I had some time to myself to just decompress and feel how I felt. It was a really sweet day. And then we went and did the show, which was the perfect way to end the day.

On sweet stage-door experiences:

There were these two children who I think have seen the show a couple of times, because I remember their parents. And they made me these bracelets, which I’ve started wearing. One of them is the color of Sunset Boulevard, so it’s black and red. And the other one is for my favorite football team, Ipswich Town — a blue and white wristband. I just thought it was really sweet that these two kids — they can’t be more than 10 years old, maybe 12 — had gone through the effort and made those bracelets.

On his after-theater hangouts:

A shower’s important for me — it feels really nice to wash the blood off. It kind of feels like you’re washing the show off a little bit as well. On a later show day when we go up at 8 o’clock, I normally come straight home and try to go to bed and watch a little bit of TV.

But on an earlier show night, I do like having a social life. I like seeing people for some food or going out for some drinks. And when you have a 7 o’clock show, it’s perfect. You can be home by 11 o’clock and in bed, but you still get to say hi to people.

I love Hold Fast. I love Sardi’s, Joe Allen — it’s a great little bar. And Beer Culture. I normally drink a whiskey ginger — it feels like it’s my New York drink. It’s just really refreshing after a show and it doesn’t bloat me too much for the next day. I also love a glass of red wine.

On his day-off routine:

I’ve kind of forgotten what I do on days off. The last two months have been so intense with Tony campaigning. I love going out to restaurants that I can’t go to during the week. If my girlfriend’s in town, we’ll try and go for dinner or something.

I just try and rest, to be honest. It’s such an important day to set up the week. It’s so easy with eight shows a week to come back the next week minus 3% from what you were the week before. And if you do that consistently over a long run, then very quickly you end up in a deficit of energy and a deficit of how you’re feeling. That’s when you get run down and you get ill and you have to take time off the show. I try and keep it as chill as possible — ironing clothes and tidying up the apartment.

On his pre-show ritual:

I have a physical good luck thing that I do, which is three hand signals with both hands. I started doing it at the beginning of & Juliet. And then I tap my head 10 times. And I do that on each part of my head. It used to just be one, two, three; one, two, three on the front of the head. I hope it doesn’t get any longer because it’s gotten quite long now. [If it gets any longer] the orchestra is just going to have to hold on a chord for a really long time.