Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Wright State University alumna Nicole Scherzinger won the Olivier Award, the highest honor in British theater, for her magnificent portrayal of silent film star Norma Desmond in the superbly reinventive West End revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Sunset Boulevard.”
At the 2024 Oliver Awards presented April 14 hosted by Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham (”Ted Lasso”) at London’s Royal Albert Hall, the Broadway-bound “Sunset Boulevard” was the biggest winner of the night, receiving seven honors including Best Musical Revival, Best Actor and Actress in a Musical, and Best Director.
In her acceptance speech, Scherzinger praised her collaborators and mentioned her humble roots.
“I’d like to thank Andrew Lloyd Webber, my dear friend and mentor, for writing this masterpiece alongside Don Black and Christopher Hampton. Thank you so much for writing music and lyrics that I can sink my teeth and my soul into,” Scherzinger said. “As a little girl in Hawaii and then growing up in Kentucky, coming from really humble beginnings, I always wanted to be a singer and do musicals. And I dreamed of so many roles that I wanted to do and, honestly, this role, Norma Desmond, was not one of those roles. But God works in mysterious ways because honestly it’s one of the ballsiest and bravest things I’ve ever done. And I have the incomparable director Jamie Lloyd to thank for that.”
While studying musical theatre at Wright State from 1996 to 1999, Scherzinger’s credits included Velma Kelly in “Chicago” and Julie LaVerne in “Show Boat.” Although she left Wright State to pursue opportunities in Hollywood, the Wright State Alumni Association honored her with the Alumna of the Year Award in 2017.
