Sunset Boulevard: Nicole Scherzinger 'dazzles' in West End, critics say

The Guardian said Scherzinger was "dazzling" but added the show itself was "emotionally empty"

Critics have praised Nicole Scherzinger's "dazzling" performance in a new production of Sunset Boulevard.

The West End show received five-star reviews from the Evening Standard, the Stage and the Daily Mail, which said the singer "nails it from the off".

Scherzinger told BBC News she had tried to "train myself like a weapon" for the show, which runs until January.

But some of the production's notices were less positive, with the Guardian calling the show "emotionally empty".

Scherzinger plays Norma Desmond, a washed-up film star dreaming of a comeback, in the musical written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and directed by Jamie Lloyd.

Speaking to press backstage after Thursday's opening night, Scherzinger said the role had "changed my life because I feel like people, for the first time, truly get to see my potential, all the facets of me".

Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical is based on the 1950 film directed and co-written by Billy Wilder

Asked why it had taken so long for her to return to the London stage following her 2014, Olivier-nominated performance in Cats, she replied: "Timing is a funny thing isn't it?

"But it's divine timing, and there's been other roles that have been offered to me, but I guess it was the right time and the right role.

"We get busy with our lives and we get distracted, and you're doing this show here and that show there, and then someone like Jamie Lloyd comes along and says 'I have this vision for you, this role is going to change your life'. And it truly has."

In a five-star review, the Evening Standard's Nick Curtis said Scherzinger "absolutely smashes it".

"She brings not only an operatically powerful voice but shrewd comedy, harrowing pathos and a dancer's physical precision to the washed-up silent star, besotted with young screenwriter Joe (newcomer Tom Francis, who is excellent)."

He added: "In one number, Max describes Norma as The Greatest Star of All. But right now, in London theatre, I reckon it's Scherzinger."

The show uses minimal staging and props, and is bathed in a monochromatic colour scheme

The Daily Mail's Luke Jones also awarded five stars, writing: "For my money, this is the show of the year... a thrillingly fresh and surprisingly dark revival."

He continued: "Nicole Scherzinger nails it from the off. Any doubts I had about a Pussycat Doll playing Hollywood's answer to Miss Havisham were banished pronto.

"The room leaped to its feet. Fading pop star becomes fading film icon, to dramatic perfection! I gasped - losing a full mouthful of gin and tonic to my shirt."

Some critics were less enthusiastic, however, with Clive Davis of the Times suggesting the show "exposes her [Scherzinger's] limitations" as an actress and singer.

"Scherzinger, who studied musical theatre in her youth, possesses the lung power, but too often you can hear her grinding through the gears," he wrote in his three-star review.

"The anthemic As If We Never Said Goodbye starts promisingly, but soon lapses into overkill."

Despite some dissenting voices, Scherzinger broadly convinced critics that she had the vocal prowess to pull of the musical's big numbers.

Backstage, she said: "It's been very difficult, but I've really tried to train myself like a weapon. To train my body and my temple so that I'm super sharp and fit on that stage, not just physically but in my mind."

Scherzinger shot to fame as a member of the Pussycat Dolls and has also been a judge on the X Factor

Asked if she would consider appearing in the show again if it transferred to Broadway, she said: "You know, I've never been to Broadway. If the stars align, I think that would be really special.

"I'm from America, so it's always been my dream to go to Broadway. But I don't ever let hype get in the way of anything, I try to just let my work speak for itself, and take it one step at a time."

'Stroke of genius'

Not all critics were won over by the London production. The Guardian's Arifa Akbar said: "The characters are inscrutable and we cannot access their emotions.

"It is sure to incite strong reactions," she continued in her three-star review. "For some, it may be the show of the year. For me, it was emotionally empty. Either way, few people will walk out indifferent."

The Telegraph Dominic Cavendish was more upbeat, noting that when Scherzinger "lets loose with her lungs... she attains the shattering force of a sonic boom".

"Have the lonely diva's big numbers - With One Look and As If We Never Said Goodbye - ever been rendered with such heart-stopping immensity?" he asked.

Elsewhere, Sam Marlow of the Stage picked up on Lloyd's monochromatic colour scheme in her five-star review of the show.

"With its stark, prop-free design, its noirish black-and-white palette, its jagged, sinewy choreography and its inspired use of live video, it's as dark and glittering as a black diamond, and as lean and lethal as a stiletto blade," she said.

The production uses as its backdrop a cinema-like screen which displays a live stream of some of the performers, who film each other both on and off-stage throughout the evening.

Marlowe described Scherzinger's casting as "a stroke of genius", adding that she is "unafraid of looking unlovely, she is often funny or ridiculous, and sometimes terrifying".

The show uses a cinema-like screen as its backdrop which displays a live stream of some of the performers

In a four star review, Sarah Crampton of WhatsOnStage said: "Its masterstroke is to place Scherzinger front and centre and leave her there as Norma descends into almost gothic madness, her eyes wide, her gestures increasingly frantic.

"Her voice is a wonder, both seductive and subtle, but big enough to raise the roof. It's an extraordinary performance in a beautiful rethinking of one of Lloyd Webber's greatest shows."

Director Jamie Llolyd, who previously directed productions of Cyrano de Bergerac and Richard III, told the BBC he felt no need to use scenery or props, instead relying on the performers to tell the story.

"You start out with the very minimum that you need to chart the emotional and psychological journey, and it turns out you don't really need a lot," he said.

"When you've got this exceptional score and incredible actors who happen to be world class vocalists, really you just need to give them space and the orchestration space to be able to live and shine.

"So you don't need big sets, you don't need lots of props and costume changes, you just need people who are incredibly talented."