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Mandy Gonzalez to Perform as Norma Desmond Once a Week in Broadway’s Sunset Boulevard
Mandy Gonzalez will star as Norma Desmond at select performances of Sunset Boulevard, the Olivier Award-winning revival directed by Jamie Lloyd, opening at Broadway’s St. James Theatre this fall. Previews begin September 28 ahead of an October 20 opening. Gonzalez will play her first performance on October 22 and is scheduled to perform one show per week while Nicole Scherzinger will lead all other performances.
Gonzalez is known for originating the role of Nina in Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s In the Heights, earning, along with the rest of the company, a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. She has also starred on Broadway in Wicked, Hamilton and Aida.
“In my 25 years playing leading ladies on Broadway, I’ve never been more excited for a show,” said Gonzalez in a statement. “The role of Norma Desmond is iconic, Jamie Lloyd’s direction is masterful and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s score is sumptuous. To reinterpret a timeless story with such raw sophistication, especially as the first Latina to take this role on, is a dream come true.”
“It is such an honor to be working with the truly wonderful Mandy Gonzalez,” Lloyd commented. “Nicole Scherzinger and I are so thrilled that Mandy will be joining the Sunset Boulevard company. I can’t wait to collaborate with her.”
Based on the Paramount Pictures film directed by Billy Wilder, Sunset Boulevard features book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. Scherzinger reprises her Olivier Award-winning performance on Broadway, and will be joined by her London co-stars: Tom Francis as Joe Gillis (Olivier Award), Grace Hodgett-Young as Betty Schaefer and David Thaxton as Max Von Mayerling.
In Sunset Boulevard, Norma Desmond, haunted by her memories and dreams, yearns to return to the big screen. A struggling screenwriter, Joe Gillis, who can’t sell his scripts to the Hollywood studios may be her only hope—until their dangerous and compelling relationship leads to disastrous circumstances.