Savoy Theatre

It is a truth generally acknowledged that 1993's ‘Sunset Boulevard’ is on the relatively select list that comprises Andrew Lloyd Webber Musicals That Are Actually Quite Good. There is, however, some debate over whether Webber, Don Black and Christopher Hampton’s claustrophobic adaptation of Billy Wilder’s 1950 film noir has ever really had the production it deserves, with the original Trevor Nunn-directed version largely agreed to have been propped up by its stellar leading ladies, notably Patti Lupone and Glenn Close. But maybe this will be the one! Perennially hip director Jamie Lloyd rarely misses, and did a bang-up job with ‘Evita’ at the Open Air Theatre a few years back. That his star for this West End revival will be erstwhile Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger is… intriguing, however. While she certainly has the lungpower and the fame to carry off the role of Norma Desmond, a former silent screen star losing her mind as she rots away in her Hollywood mansion, we’ve yet to see any obvious indication that she can act, something LuPone and Close did very well indeed. Interestingly, Scherzinger’s only other stage role to date is another faded Webber starlet: Grizabella the Glamour Cat in the 2014 West End return of ‘Cats’ – she was solid, but it wasn’t exactly a demanding part. The bottom line is that Lloyd isn’t an idiot, and if he thinks Scherzinger is up to the job, she probably is. Also of interest is how he tackles the show more generally: once a byword for flamboyant

And just like that, Sarah Jessica Parker will make her West End debut next year opposite husband Matthew Broderick in a revival of Neil Simon’s 1968 comedy ‘Plaza Suite’. Having played a hit season on Broadway last year, John Benjamin Hickey’s production will be headed to the Savoy Theatre early in 2024, for a limited season. The comedy is set in the titular hotel suite, and sees Parker and Broderick playing a series of occupying couples, each with very distinct problems of their own.  While Broderick is best known these days as a heavyweight Broadway star - he made his West End debut in 2019 in ‘The Starry Messenger’ - Parker is, of course, best known for a certain TV show and a certain reboot of a certain TV show. But she’s actually got some serious Broadway chops, having made her debut there in 1976 in William Archibald’s ‘The Innocents’, directed by one Harold Pinter. Clearly it’s a fairly light evening of entertainment that demonstrates the couple’s range without doing anything that flies drastically in the face of SJP’s fanbase. But enthusiastic Broadway reviews suggest it should be a properly entertaining night at the theatre regardless of your feelings on its stars. Tickets will go on sale in September.