A desperate young screenwriter stumbles into the mansion of a nearly forgotten actress.
Fate unfolds, and the two rustle up a plan to rewrite her script — his chance at catching a break, and hers at reclaiming the spotlight (though, we’re not sure if she noticed it was gone).
You might think you know how that story ends, but Jamie Lloyd’s electric, theatrical revival of “Sunset Blvd.” at the St. James Theatre stretches the imagination in ways we’d never expect. And, yes, there’s still a love triangle — that ends in a pool of blood.
If you haven’t been yet, “Sunset Blvd.,” which netted seven Tony nominations, runs Tuesday through Sundays at Broadway’s St. James Theatre until July 13. As of now, tickets are available for all remaining performances.
At the show we attended, Mandy Gonzalez guest starred in Nicole Scherzinger’s role as silent-film star Norma Desmond. She led the ensemble alongside Tom Francis who plays down-on-his-luck writer, Joe Gillis. Their performances are a blur between Broadway and film noir; thrilling, dark, foggy, sparingly staged, yet so fleet of foot you’ll barely have time to blink.
We spoke with Gonzalez on manifesting her role in “Sunset Blvd.,” how she resonated with Norma’s fight to endure in a demanding industry, and the art of balancing acting and motherhood.
“As a woman in this industry, once we hit a certain age, (we’re told) it’s done. I think as women…we just get more and more interesting. I think that’s the truth,” Gonzalez teased while describing her character.
Before unpacking “Sunset Blvd.” with Gonzalez, we had to find out exactly what the Tony-nominated show that’s stopping traffic on 47th Street was all about, so we grabbed some seats at her May 20 performance.
A slow burn has its place, but not here. The characters leap into their roles sooner than the lights drop. Hannah Yun Chamberlain (young Norma) opens the show with an ethereal ballet — graceful, haunting, and a bit beguiling — her scenes float like memories in motion. Joe rises from a body bag in a flash of foreshadowing, and Norma sweeps in with her first musical number, “With One Look.”
It’s 1950s Hollywood. Joe’s chasing a break, Norma’s in need of a comeback, and the price is yet to be determined. An 18-piece orchestra hums under all of this, but for almost two hours and 35 minutes, it’s mostly Gonzalez and the rest of the cast who grip the audience, sprawling the stage with spinning, psychological choreography and spoken-sung-style vibrato that divulge Norma’s delusions.
There are no bad seats in the St. James. Line cameras track the actors for cinematic close-ups, mere inches from their faces, plastered across a slanted, larger-than-life screen behind. These intimate, raw projections magnify them under a lens, granting watchers access to every twitch of emotion — grief and desire, fear and isolation, Norma’s spiraling obsession with Joe, and her fading career. It’s a glimpse into her split reality.
In Act II, the story doesn’t pick up, but spills over and outside. Cameras chase Joe as he weaves down from the top of the dressing rooms, catching flickers of backstage banter, through chaotic corridors and dimly lit dressing rooms. By the time he reaches the ground, it’s like you’ve brushed shoulders with the entire company. You begin to wonder, are you watching the play, or are you in it?
The live sequence follows Joe and the cast as they transcend the theatre and take the streets of Times Square, where they belt “Sunset Blvd.” to a crowd of unsuspecting tourists who just found free, front-row seats. It’s loud, grand, and more than a bit voyeuristic. This is envelope-pushing art that can only be expected by an accomplished contemporary visionary, such as Jamie Lloyd.
Without spoiling the story, we’ll say that Norma and Joe do find a final moment under the lights, though the nature of this departing act wasn’t what either had in mind when the curtains first drew back.
And, with that, we couldn’t wait to chat with the magnetic Gonzales about her work in the show, career and love of all things Broadway.
What attracted you to the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd.?
I grew up in California, and, for some reason, my public middle school was really awesome. For a field trip, they took us to see ‘Sunset Blvd.’ with Glenn Close… I think the following year we saw ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and I absolutely fell in love with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music.
I loved Sunset Blvd. so much. We bought the cast album and I listened to it all the time. When you’re a kid, and then your twenties and thirties — you’re like ‘oh, well, that kind of part seems too far away.’
[So] when this came up, it was like ‘yes, absolutely, I want to sing that!’ and then when I met with Jamie Lloyd and saw how he was challenging me as an actress and a person, I just thought this is going to stretch me in my artistry… I would say I manifested it. I don’t know, but maybe I did.
Does Norma’s story resonate with you on a personal level?
Norma is definitely a fighter and a survivor. In my own life, I went through breast cancer in 2019 while acting in “Hamilton” and wanted to show people I could still do it — like this was just a part of me, and wanting to fight and still be a part of things. Even though inside, it was a very dark place. I think that really helped me understand Norma.
If you’re in this business long enough, you go through so many ups and downs and so many people. I’ve been lucky that I’ve been in shows that have been hits, and shows that have been the biggest misses. One of those shows was my first original Broadway show, ‘Dance of the Vampires,’ which I starred in opposite Michael Crawford.
I was about 23 years old, and the show was panned all around. At 23, I had somebody come up to me and say, ‘well, you’re probably going to leave the business now because this is it,’ and it was just like, ‘why would I do that— I’ve only just begun.’ René Auberjonois, who was also in that show, said, ‘the only place to go is up.’
What did you learn from being told your career would be over at 23 years old?
Back at that time, I was like ‘why me,’ but I look back and think that really taught me a sense of how strong I was. To read things about yourself, or about people you care about in a show, that are really horrible — it allows you to go, ‘oh, I can either believe that or I can just keep going and keep fighting.’ I think Norma is exactly like that. I think she is the ultimate warrior.
Norma’s a complicated character. How did you capture her emotions?
She’s not just a caricature. As I’ve gotten older, I see that more. Her vulnerability is real. She’s always being watched by somebody in her mind. Whether the show is in her imagination or whether the show is really happening, I think that’s a really beautiful thing, and nobody really knows.
As women in this industry, once we hit a certain age (we’re told), it’s done. I think as women… we just get more and more interesting. I think that’s the truth. When you’re so isolated, and that’s all Norma has — her career and her past — that can be a very dangerous thing. Norma never learned the balance of things, or how we try to balance different parts of our lives. She always put her career first.
How did you practice for the close-ups on the screen?
I come from a theatre background and worked in television and film. But theatre is what I love. During the rehearsal process, they had a small screen and they were rehearsing with the cameras, and there was one moment when I turned and was like, “Oh, that’s really close. That’s very triggering.’
As women, we look at ourselves and say, “oh, there’s that wrinkle, and there’s that,’ and Jamie just said, ‘We never look into the screen. We never look at it,’ and I have not looked at it.
It’s all coming from my heart. It’s not coming from how I think I should pose, so I’ll look better in front of the camera this way or that way. It’s very freeing as a woman not to think about the screen. It’s like not thinking about the mirror, and being like ‘I am the most beautiful woman in the world.‘
Was there anyone in the cast you grew close to over the course of the production?
Tom Francis. I was able to rehearse with the company for the first few weeks of rehearsal here in the States, so I was able to be Norma for everybody. Tom came in early, so we could work together and develop our show together, which I really loved and appreciated. He’s so fantastic.
It’s really the entire company. That’s what I love. I love community, I love putting it together. Eating lunch together. Hearing what everyone’s talking about. I feel like it’s a family and nothing happens on that stage without the other person.
What about that pivotal scene where Joe leaves the theatre — how do they do that? Is it recorded?
That’s all live! I’m lucky. I just get to sit there on stage and watch it all happen, and I’ve watched through all of it. Through winter in New York, through snow, sleet, and rain… But, Tom… it amazes me every night that I get to see it. He’s seamless.
He makes it, he tells the story, and he gets those lyrics out. That’s all live, the orchestra is playing live, and all the camera operators are out there. They have a great security team and he has people around him, so people won’t come up to him and interfere with filming.
It’s just this thing that has never been done before, and it’s thrilling. The way that Jamie Lloyd has used space, he’s expanded beyond the theatre to create this story. That’s what I love, pushing beyond the bounds of what we think is possible.
I’m so impressed by actors who can flip between roles. How do you do that?
We’re women, and we multi-task very well, and I think it’s just that. It’s about survival, and when you’re an actor, it’s like, ‘Oh, okay, like this is where the job is, and you’ve got to do it.’
You’ve got to figure out a way to do it, to make it happen… You don’t get home from the show until 11, and then you stay up until 2 in the morning, and then you’ve got to get up for your kid at 6. That’s just part of it.
When did you first get the Broadway itch?
It started early for me because I had a grandmother who lived in the Valley, who loved musical theatre.
She especially loved big Torch Singers, so I grew up listening to Judy Garland, Eydie Gorme, and Liza Minelli. I fell in love with any musical they were in because my grandma would play them for us, and I was really the only grandchild who sang back.
My grandma was the one who said, ‘Mandy has talent. She’s really loud, and she’s going to hurt herself, so we have to get her into lessons,’ and little did she know that that loud voice would someday help me.
What’s next for you?
I am going to be making my Carnegie Hall solo debut in the Fall. As well as with the Boston Pops, I will be with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall. I am going to be doing a show that I created and have been working on with my dear friend Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s music catalog.
Any other Broadway shows you’ve enjoyed recently? Any Tony’s predictions?
I just saw ‘Buena Vista Social Club,’ which I absolutely loved, and I think so many things about that show are just so incredible — from Saheem Ali’s direction to Justin Peck and Patty Delgado’s choreography.
I also just saw ‘Stranger Things,’ which I thought was fantastic. The entire ensemble completely blew me away, as did the show’s set design.
Last question. Give us one word to describe Norma and one for Mandy.
For Norma, I would say, limitless. For me, I would say fearless.
This interview was lightly edited for length and clarity.
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