Tom Francis may have been too young to blast The Pussycat Dolls’ ‘Don’t Cha’ when it came out, but he knew full well who his Sunset Blvd. costar Nicole Scherzinger was.
‘I knew them. I wasn’t the biggest fan. I wouldn’t say I was a fan,” Francis, 25, said exclusively We weekly after finishing his performance on Broadway’s opening night Sunset Blvd. earlier this month.
“[Scherzinger, 46,] always irritates me because I haven’t seen one of her videos that got a Grammy nomination. And she said, ‘How did you not see that?’ And I thought, ‘Sorry. I grew up!’ Do you know what I mean?” Francis joked.
In 2005, when The Pussycat Dolls were at their peak after releasing their debut studio album PCD, Francis would have been 6 years old.
But as he got older, Francis relented Us that “Buttons” is now his favorite song from the former girl group.
Both Scherzinger and Francis won Olivier Awards in April for their performances at The West End Theatre. Francis flocked there Us about what it was like to work with the triple threat.
“She is so generous with her time for me. And yeah, she just holds me when I need to be held on stage, and in life too,” he said. “She’s just the most beautiful woman.”
Director Jamie Lloyd‘s revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s stage adaptation of the 1950 film Sunset Boulevard, follows the story of actress Norma Desmond (Scherzinger) who is unwilling to accept that her career is no longer as vibrant as it once was, and in an attempt to get back into the spotlight, she hires screenwriter Joe Gillis (Francis) to write a film that can revive her status.
In the show’s second act, when Francis begins singing “Sunset Boulevard” before taking to the streets of New York for a live performance of the song, there is a photo of The Pussycat Dolls in his dressing room. Lloyd, 43, made the decision to reference The Pussycat Dolls, saying Scherzinger loved the idea because she is “one of the funniest people [he’s] ever met.”
“She likes anything where we think outside the box and surprise the audience,” Lloyd said.
“The production plays a lot with the idea of, ‘Where does Nicole Scherzinger end and Norma Desmond begin?’ Because there are so many similarities. And of course Nicole is connected to this role in a very special way and in a very deep way,” Lloyd continued. ‘This is the kind of fun you can have when you blur those lines… So you kind of play with the idea. In a way that it’s quite fun, but maybe that’s because we enjoy it a lot as a company. So everyone brings that sense of humor to the project, apart from everything else.
Lloyd also acknowledged the similarities between Scherzinger and her character Desmond – this is the singer’s Broadway debut and as a result, she is now getting all the attention her talent deserves.
“I didn’t know Nicole would be the perfect Norma, but I knew she would connect with the material. So she’s like Norma Desmond – someone who’s been incredibly famous, achieved great fame, but then was rejected and thrown away by the industry and never really got the chance to show the world what she could really do,” Lloyd shared to Us. . “She’s a great, great artist. A phenomenal actor. An incredible world class singer. And finally, she has a platform. I hope to show the world what she is capable of.”
Olivier nominated, David Thaxton – who plays Max Von Mayerling in the show – also flocked Us about working with the Moana actress.
“I have so much time for Nicole. She is the hardest working actor I have ever worked with, says Thaxton, 42. “Her work ethic is staggering… she just puts herself on stage.”
But when it comes to being a fan of Scherzinger’s work in The Pussycat Dolls, Thaxton jokingly replied, “God no.” No, not at all.”
Since working with her, Thaxton admits he “won’t” be going back to listen to his girl group colleague’s previous work.
“Not my cup of tea at all. But she’s my thing,” Thaxton said. ‘I think she’s epic. I have so much time for her. She is a very inspiring person.”
Sunset Blvd. is now playing at the St. James Theater and the show’s cast album is out now.