'I Know That I Have Something That No One Else Has in This World': Nicole Scherzinger on Taking on the West End in SUNSET BOULEVARD

Actor and singer Nicole Scherzinger has said that "I know that I have something that no one else has in this world" and that she believes she has a gift from God.

Speaking to the The Times about her return to the stage as Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, she says: “Musical theatre was always my first love. And deep down inside I know that I am chosen. I know that I have something that no one else has in this world. You give me a song, and you put me on that stage, and it’s just a gift that I have, the gift to make people feel something. It’s my innate gift from God.”

Scherzinger gave up her high profile Hollywood job on The Masked Singer to be in Sunset Boulevard:

“But I had to follow my heart. I chose this because this is where I belong. You don’t do this for money or cameras. You do this for love, the love of art — literally for art’s sake. And how are people going to know the artist side of me if I don’t put it out there? So it’s up to me to start making those choices in my life, to put myself where I can really share my true talents.”

When the director Jamie Lloyd offered her the part she recalls being perplexed: “I was like, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ First of all, I still look great under bright lights. And isn’t that an older woman who is, like, an old relic? How does that even remotely have anything to do with me?”

At first she believed that Norma Desmond was "crazy", but her performance Desmond “is not crazy. She’s madly passionate about what she feels like she was put on this earth to do. She’s in love with her art. And there’s nothing tragic or pitiful about that....She’s wanting to be seen for who she really is.” 

She was persuaded to take on the role by the music. She says: “When I listened to the music I felt those were songs I could have written, like they were my songs. This is a completely different show than the musical people know. I feel like we might as well change the name of the show because it’s a completely different story we’re telling.”

“People are going to see a very different side to me, aren’t they? Like they’ve never seen before in 45 years. I would like people to know me for the artist side of me.”

She spoke of being empathetic to her character’s experience of ageism in Hollywood. “It’s just as relevant today. And it’s still very brutal...Even if I look like I’m 37 or something, the moment somebody knows your age they will just —” and she draws a hand across her throat. “So it’s relevant to parallels in my life.”

Sunset Boulevard is at the Savoy Theatre until 6 January