Latest news with #SunsetBlvd.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Afternoon Briefing: State lawmakers move to delay ban on certain credit card fees
Good afternoon, Chicago. Illinois legislators voted to delay for one year a ban on certain credit card fees that was set to take effect July 1 amid a legal challenge by banks. A measure passed by legislators and signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker last year would prevent banks and credit card companies from charging retailers a small fee on sales taxes and tips. Pritzker still has to sign off on the legislature's move to extend the deadline to July 1, 2026. Here's what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices. Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History The mayor in his weekly City Hall news conference today reacted to the local alarm over the Illinois General Assembly adjourning this weekend without a solution to the estimated $771 million budget gap for Chicago-area transit agencies with a measured, though at times defensive, tone. Read more here. More top news stories: Mayor Brandon Johnson's photographer fired after allegedly bringing gun on city property Man in critical condition after stabbing in Streeterville A nine-bedroom vintage Renaissance Revival-style mansion in the South Side Kenwood neighborhood was sold in late March for $1.15 million by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago to a University of Chicago surgeon. Read more here. More top business stories: Meta becomes the latest big tech company turning to nuclear power for AI needs Wall Street futures edge lower in light trading Outmuscled and outhustled, the Sox looked like they didn't belong on the same field as the first-place Tigers, the best team in the majors at 40-21. With an 18-42 record, the new Sox slogan for 2025 might as well be 'At Least We're Not the Rockies.' Read more here. More top sports stories: At age 36, Kaneland alum Casey Crosby makes pitching comeback for Kane County Cougars Wake Forest baseball coach apologizes for apparent homophobic slur during NCAA regional Will Nicole Scherzinger, sizzling in 'Sunset Blvd.,' beat out Audra McDonald, who made Rose a metaphor for the tragic human condition? Could Jonathan Groff, a knockout Bobby Darin, win back-to-back kudos? Read more here. More top Eat. Watch. Do. stories: Review: 'Diana' at Theo Theatre was no ordinary opening night Caamp frontman Taylor Meier says he's 'C-list folk singer famous,' but he sold out the Salt Shed President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have made it a priority this year to require people to prove citizenship before they can register to vote. Turning that aspiration into reality has proved difficult. Read more here. More top stories from around the world: President Donald Trump pushes a July Fourth deadline for big tax bill as senators dig in Boulder suspect backed off his initial plan to kill all in a group he called 'Zionist,' police say
New York Post
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
'Sunset Blvd.' on Broadway Mandy Gonzales Norma Desmond interview
Vivid Seats is the New York Post's official ticketing partner. We may receive revenue from this partnership for sharing this content and/or when you make a purchase. Featured pricing is subject to change. 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 Wright'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 Gonzales 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 Gonzales 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,' Gonzales teased while describing her character. Before unpacking 'Sunset Blvd.' with Gonzales, 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. What we thought of 'Sunset Blvd.' on Broadway A slow burn has its place, but not here. Wright's 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 Gonzales 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. Huge Broadway musicals Already seen 'Sunset Blvd?' Here are five more hit shows on the Great White Way you won't want to miss live these next few months. • 'Death Becomes Her' • 'Just In Time' • 'Maybe Happy Ending' • 'Buena Vista Social Club' • 'Dead Outlaw' What else is running in Midtown? Take a look at our list of all the biggest Tony-nominated shows going down on Broadway to find the one for you.
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
2025 Tony Awards: Who will win, who should win in a year with few sure things
Will Nicole Scherzinger, sizzling in 'Sunset Blvd.,' beat out Audra McDonald, who made Rose a metaphor for the tragic human condition? Could Jonathan Groff, a knockout Bobby Darin, win back-to-back kudos? Might Sadie Sink of 'John Proctor Is the Villain' be sunk by the wild-eyed Laura Donnelly of 'The Hills of California' or the ever-savvy Mia Farrow of 'The Roommate,' even though all three women played equally terrifying characters? These and many other questions will be answered on Sunday at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, where host Cynthia Erivo will present the 78th annual Tony Awards (beginning at 7 p.m. June 8 and broadcast on CBS and streamed on Paramount+). The ceremony will be the climax of the 2024-25 Broadway season and the reason that several struggling musicals ('Real Women Have Curves,' 'Boop! The Musical') are hanging in there, hoping for a life-saving boost. Tony Award voters are casting their ballots. Let's look at who should be ascending to the dais in the traditional ebullient panic, holding back tears and staring into the camera to tell all the envious theater kids at home how you, too, can have all this if you only fight off the naysayers and follow your dreams! Right. Down to it. This one will be, and rightly should be, a runaway victory for 'Maybe Happy Ending,' a delightfully unnerving musical that most everyone on Broadway underestimated because it was an original love story between two retired South Korean 'helperbots.' To my mind, Will Aronson and Hue Park's quirky, charming little tuner succeeds mostly because of one small but pivotal idea: the notion that a robot's battery life can be a proxy for human mortality. Oliver and Claire fall in love as their percentages drop. Thus, the show manages to simultaneously tap into the fear we all have of an imminent robotic takeover (oh, it's coming) while avoiding the problem of making a dystopian musical. By making the robots as vulnerable as us, they forged a charming romantic comedy performed by Helen J. Shen (robbed of an acting nomination) and Darren Criss (who dove deep into robotland). The competition? Nothing credible. 'Buena Vista Social Club' is a very good time, musically speaking, but has a predictably formulaic book. The inventive 'Death Becomes Her' works just fine as a campy frolic but it relies much on its source movie. And 'Operation Mincemeat' is the most jolly of pastiches, rib-tickling fun all the way. Only 'Dead Outlaw' represents truly credible competition and deserves to siphon off some votes. But at the end of the day, it's a musical about a corpse. There were two excellent, Tony-worthy new plays in this Broadway season: Jez Butterworth's 'The Hills of California,' set in the British working-class resort of Blackpool, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' 'Purpose,' both a high-style dissection of the dysfunctional family of the civil rights icon Jesse Jackson and a moving exploration of what it's like to be an introverted kid in a high-pressure family. 'Purpose,' which is still running and more relevant to most Tony voters, is likely to win. But Butterworth's play forged a complex dramaturgical structure and explored deeply empathetic characters. Its central point? To explore how and why childhood trauma impacts our adulthoods. Butterworth has been writing plays a lot longer than Jacobs-Jenkins and his experience shows; I wanted the perfectly crafted 'Hills' to never end. Writer Kimberly Belflower's very lively 'John Proctor Is the Villain' might sneak in there, but I think that audiences at this drama about high schoolers studying 'The Crucible' are responding more to a brilliant production than to the play itself, which is at the end of the day a melodrama that relies on someone else's intellectual property. No shame there, but not the equal of the competition and, with much respect, nor is the very smart and potent 'English,' a show about ESL students that also leads to an inexorable conclusion matching the playwright's point of view. This category will hinge on how many voters embrace Jamie Lloyd's cleverly branded deconstruction of 'Sunset Blvd.' over George C. Wolfe's more nuanced approach to 'Gypsy.' In many ways, the two leading candidates represent a kind of yin and yang of musical revival. 'Sunset Blvd.' is showy and radical and replaced the gilded excess of the original production with an excess of concept, deceptively minimalist but only on the surface. Wolfe's 'Gypsy' aimed to excise the show of Patti LuPone-like drama. McDonald, who brought her classically trained voice to Rose, saw her antiheroine more as an everywoman and the production responded accordingly, as if Wolfe were trying to say that 'Gypsy' was the American tragic musical that few previously understood. I see the arguments against 'Sunset Blvd.' but in the end, Lloyd's staging was just so audaciously thrilling that it overcame them for me. As a director, he's obsessed with film, but then this is a musical about a movie star, so if ever there was a show that could stand such a metaphoric obsession, then here it was. And although this may seem counterintuitive, I thought 'Gypsy' missed the chance to stage this title with far more Black actors, allowing it to serve as a metaphor for the condition of Black entertainers in early 20th century America. It almost went there, but not quite. 2025 Tony Award nominations: Steppenwolf's 'Purpose' and 'Death Becomes Her' both score bigThis was not a stellar season for play revivals. 'Romeo + Juliet,' a pretentious and wildly uneven misfire, did not even remotely deserve its Tony nomination and, bracing moments notwithstanding, 'Our Town' was uneven and derivative of David Cromer's prior revival. 'Eureka Day,' a piece about pretentious pre-school parents and teachers, was an effective satire but hardly surprising. That leaves David Henry Hwang's 'Yellow Face,' an autobiographical piece about Hwang himself and a 'Miss Saigon' casting scandal. 'Yellow Face' has knocked around the American regions for years. But this was a truly excellent piece of new direction from Leigh Silverman and for the first time, the play transcended its inside-baseball orientation and had much to say about America and race. Team Nicole Scherzinger or Team Audra McDonald? Both deconstructed iconic characters (Norma Desmond and Madam Rose) using every ounce of their mutually formidable craft. With all due respect to McDonald, I'm Team Nicole because her work was the more radical of the two performances in rescuing Norma from bathetic senility and giving her back her sexuality, and because McDonald's tragic approach to Rose inevitably de-emphasized her chutzpah and self-aware vivacity which is much of why 'Gypsy' is 'Gypsy.' Still, no shame in being on the other team. It would feel strange for either Megan Hilty or Jennifer Simard to win for 'Death Becomes Her' at the expense of the other and I suspect Tony voters will feel the same way. But let's add some props for Jasmine Amy Rogers, truly a perfect Betty Boop who managed to turn a vampish cartoon figure into a complex and vulnerable heroine. If you judge a performance by pizzazz, charm and growing star power, Jonathan Groff is your winner for his dazzling take on Bobby Darin in 'Just in Time.' If immersion inside a character is your choice, you are choosing between Darren Criss for 'Maybe Happy Ending' and Andrew Durand in 'Dead Outlaw.' I thought Durand was just astonishing as the titular outlaw, whose corpse takes on an all-American trajectory of its own. Aside from the technical demands of playing a dead dude, Durand also nailed a guy with zero access to his own feelings. In other words, what he didn't do was probably as important as what he did. I preferred that to Jeremy Jordan in 'Floyd Collins', but I may be in a minority. And Tom Francis, who sings his way through Midtown eight times a week in 'Sunset Blvd.,' will have deserved support. Mia Farrow has acted only rarely in the past decade but her empathetic performance as a vegan, pot-growing Iowan in 'The Roommate' was a reminder of her astonishing ability to fuse what actors think of as externals and internals — her work felt deeply authentic but savvy observers also noted the sophistication of her comic technique and dramatic timing. Alas for Farrow, this is an extraordinary category and by far the most competitive at this year's Tony Awards. Take Sarah Snook, whose work in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' had not a single syllable out of place on the night I saw the show, notwithstanding the huge technical demands of a video-filled production that co-starred numerous versions of her recorded self. She's one of the world's great performers. Then there was the less-famous Laura Donnelly, who played a mother and (later) her adult daughter in 'The Hills of California,' all in service of the writer's point that we all eventually have to live the way we were raised. So distinct were these two characters that some punters in my row clearly did not know they were watching the same actress they'd seen in a different role just a few minutes before. Donnelly was at once empathetic and Medea-like in her intensity. We were supposed to be scared of both of Donnelly's characters and I swear I could not tell you which terrified me the most. Sadie Sink also has a lot of fans and that was indeed a savvy turn in 'John Proctor.' But this competition is between Snook and Donnelly and it was a hard choice for me. Donnelly haunts me the most. George Clooney is on the list of nominees and I hardly need to recount his formidable talents, but he was fundamentally filmic in 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' rather than truly translating his subtle version of Edward R. Murrow to a stage the size of the Winter Garden Theatre. So, with an additional nod of admiration to the delightfully quirky Louis McCartney, who managed to survive all of the crashes and bangs of 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow,' I preferred Jon Michael Hill, playing a young man born into a famous and famously dysfunctional Black political family even though he just wanted to take photographs and stay as far away as possible from his father and his actions. Hill was the most rooted actor in a stellar Steppenwolf Theatre production of 'Purpose.' But I suspect Cole Escola, the star of 'Oh, Mary!,' a silly but strikingly effective satire of Mary Todd Lincoln and her bearded spouse, who will take the prize. No complaints here. Escola hardly was subtle with a guileless, all-in performance that has been packing the house. It's a one of a kind show and that's its greatest selling point. But Escola also offers a clever commentary on present-day America, fueled by fun, freedom and frustration. What the Tony nominations got right — and wrongDavid Cromer's work on 'Dead Outlaw' was typically detailed and worthy and Christopher Gattelli wrangled 'Death Becomes Her' with witty aplomb, but 'Maybe Happy Ending' was an eye popping career-high for Michael Arden, who created the most romantic of dreamscapes and yet also insisted that the audience look precisely and only where the director wanted its eyes to be. Speaking of career highs, Danya Taymor convinced her youthful cast in 'John Proctor Is the Villain' that the stakes in this high school English class were a matter of life and death. Taymor has to compete with Kip Williams, who employed multiple screens and videographers in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' for what was more conceptual authorship than direction, and with Sam Mendes, whose mastery of the exquisite ensemble cast of 'The Hills of California' was formidable. Mendes has won many kudos; most Tony voters will want to reward Taymor, a rising talent. Fair enough. Last, here are my picks for the remaining acting categories.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tom Francis Is Ready to Flex His Muscles for Hollywood
Tom Francis first discovered his talents while listening to Oasis. The British-born actor, who is currently starring (alongside Nicole Scherzinger) in the Broadway run of Sunset Blvd., was seven years old. The album was Don't Believe the Truth. 'I became absolutely obsessed with the band, and there's a song that closes the album called 'Let There Be Love,' and I remember sitting down with my guitar and figuring out how to play and sing it,' he explains to The Hollywood Reporter. Francis' parents happened to be eavesdropping. 'I got so embarrassed, and shouted at them like, 'Don't ever do that to me again,'' he laughs. 'I didn't want any to watch me sing, ever. But then that night at dinner, my dad told me, 'I think you're really very good.' And I took that on.' Eighteen years later, Francis, 25, is nominated for a Tony Award for his work in the Jamie Lloyd-directed adaptation; last year, he won an Olivier Award for the West End production. He spoke with THR about his career and his time onstage two weeks before the nominations were announced, as he tried not to let the looming milestone get the better of his nerves. (When reached for comment about the nod, he told THR, 'This is absolutely wild. I am stunned and a bit lost for words. To be recognized among this incredible group of artists is an unbelievable honor and beyond my wildest dreams. Massive congratulations to my fellow nominees and all the nominated shows this season.') More from The Hollywood Reporter Daisy-May Hudson Debut 'Lollipop' Follows a Young Mother's Journey Post-Prison (Exclusive Trailer) How London Became the New Hollywood Jirí Bartoska, Czech Actor and Longtime Karlovy Vary Film Festival President, Dies at 78 But Sunset Boulevard is delivering more than just trophies for Francis. He appears in the final season of You as Clayton, an egotistical aspiring author (with a wolf cut, no less) who serves as one of Joe Goldberg's many antagonists; co-creator Greg Berlanti came to see the actor in Sunset and invited him to send in a tape. 'I auditioned, and then the visa came through, and then I flew out the next day,' Francis says of his whirlwind first onscreen role, which he filmed in between the musical's London and New York runs. Next, he'll be (briefly, he admits) in Noah Baumbach's George Clooney starrer Jay Kelly, and then he'll be joining Bill Skarsgård and Nicholas Galitzine in Peter Berg's Netflix film The Mosquito Bowl. Below, Francis reflects back on his most memorable moments onstage and looks forward to his dream career. Tell us about how you got started as an actor — after you discovered yourself, as it were, while playing Oasis, did you ever make a conscious decision to pursue it professionally? I started first doing all sorts of choirs through childhood. I really didn't like school. I'm severely dyslexic, and my attention span in terms of academia is pretty terrible. I was having piano lessons and school and my teacher was like, why don't you go to the college next door, they've got a theater program. I'm not even joking, the college was literally next door. And then I finished up my formal drama school program during the pandemic — like, doing tap classes on Zoom. (Laughs) So it feels like I'm only just now figuring out what's really going on with my career. You guys have had all sorts of legendary actors come to see , from Samuel L. Jackson to Jonathan Groff — do you get nervous about that? In London we called the nights when someone really important was in the crowd 'come for blood' shows, which mean just really go for it. That was always fun. Now I get most nervous when my girlfriend [Hadestown actress Maia Reficco] comes, to be honest. She's come probably seven times now, and it's never less nerve-wracking. I don't even know why. I used to get a lot of stage fright and it would manifest physically, my ears go red and my body shakes. I've gotten better at controlling it, and the start of Sunset is great for the nerves because my character has the mental breakdown and you can just let it all out. The show gets really enthusiastic and vocal reactions from the crowds — mid-act standing ovations and cheers. Are you able to describe what that feels like, and what your relationship is to the audience and that sort of feedback? The hardest thing about being a stage performer is that when you're not working, nobody applauds you. The fact that you get those reactions becomes most noticeable when you're not getting them. You mind of miss that dopamine hit. But it is also an unnatural feeling to have 1,700 people scream and shout and clap at you every night. But I try to think of it as celebrating the fact that we pulled off the show. It takes so many people to make everything happen every single night, so when there's a round of applause, it's a great camaraderie moment. Your look in this season of is very different than what's now become, by default, your signature look… They shaved part of my head, and I was wearing a toupée type thing. It started up high and then there were clips that went all the way down around the back of my head. I can't describe how good it felt to take that all off at the end of the day. But it was cool to play somebody like that, it was like flexing a different muscle. Was that your first time on a set? I'd already done a day or two on the new Noah Baumbach film, Jay Kelly. That was incredible to watch being made. But I loved the hustle and bustle of being on the You set, it really feels like an ant farm. Acting opposite Penn [Badgley] was just a joy, too. He's an unbelievable number one. He found out it was one of my first times on set and gave me pointers. And after my last day of shooting, which was a lot of me and him together, he came up to me afterwards and said so many lovely things. If I can ever be number one on a TV series, I want to do it just how Penn Badgley does. Have you watched your death scene yet? I've not really seen it. I've not watched the show properly yet, because you get a bit like, do I want to watch myself? It's a good death scene. If you're happy, then I'm happy. Maybe I'll start watching it tonight. Have you ever watched yourself perform ? Jamie put a ban on us seeing ourselves perform. I've never even listened to the album. He believes that if you watch yourself in this show, you ruin the innocence. I genuinely have no idea what happens in the show outside of my own perspective while performing. I spend most of the time at the front of the stage looking out at and talking to the audience and there's all sorts of stuff that goes on behind me. The other day, during the part where I'm holding Nicole's hand and say a line about two finance men, I noticed that the two finance men walk behind me during that scene. I had no idea until that day, and that's been happening for months and months. I really hope that after we finish, there's a good video of it somewhere. Your dressing room is part of the show's set, but have you done any personalizing or decorating? I'm using Jake Gyllenhaal's dressing room as the bar to measure against. The only thing I've done is put a 70-inch TV in there with a PlayStation. I play a lot of FIFA with other people in the cast. And I've got a little bar. It can be hard doing the show every night, when everyone else is socializing, so things like that help. Do you ever struggle with performing that often? No, the hardest thing about it is literally eating. I've ended up hyper-fixating and now I have just three meals that I eat, and I eat them at the same time every single day. On two-show days, I have to wake up early just so I can fit it all in. Once this run of is done, have you decided whether you'll go back to the UK? I need to go back to say hi to my family and friends, but I love New York and really I never want to leave. I'd love to book a job and start working in film and TV. I feel very new to that even being a possibility. Whose career would you most like to emulate? I love Matt Damon. To have a career like him in film would be the absolute dream. But it's really hard to emulate that, a Good Will Hunting only comes around once in a generation, you know? But I feel excited about figuring out what's next, and I have a fantastic team [at CAA and Linden Entertainment] who are helping me do that. We talk about everything, they give me so much advice and are wonderful human beings. As the Tony's approach, what's your approach to awards? It's like the biggest elephant in any room that you walk into. But I think if I think about it too much, I'll freak out and not be very good at my job. I'm trying to be like a police horse, with the blinders on. The Olivier Awards just happened and videos from last year's show were resurfacing, and I've been thinking about the moment when I realized I'd won and no one could ever take it away from me. I watched the video back, and all of those wild emotions resurfaced. It's still absolutely crazy. Best of The Hollywood Reporter From 'Lady in the Lake' to 'It Ends With Us': 29 New and Upcoming Book Adaptations in 2024 Meet the Superstars Who Glam Up Hollywood's A-List Rosie O'Donnell on Ellen, Madonna, Trump and 40 Years in the Queer Spotlight
Perth Now
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Nicole Scherzinger honoured to be among 'true masters' in Tony Award nominations
Nicole Scherzinger's "heart was full" when she received her first Tony Award nomination. The former Pussycat Dolls singer's Broadway debut as Norma Desmond in 'Sunset Blvd.' has earned her a nod among "true masters" Audra McDonald ('Gypsy'), Megan Hilty ('Death Becomes Her'), Jasmine Amy Rogers ('Boop! The Musical'), and Jennifer Simard ('Death Becomes Her') for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical accolade and she couldn't be more thankful to be recognised with the "greats" of the theatre world. Asked her reaction to her Tony nomination, she told the Hollywood Reporter: "I was overjoyed. My heart was full. I was just grateful to be recognised in this way; in this particular season, I feel like I am with the greats. "I know that I'm in a category with true masters. There's many performances that are well deserving of Tony nominations or even Tonys. "It's just such a difficult season because there are so many brilliantly talented people this season. So, to be alongside these names and be in this season, I'm very grateful." And Nicole is "proud" to represent women of her heritage on the shortlist. She said: "I also wanted to share that being a woman of Hawaiian, Ukrainian and Filipino descent, I'm very proud, because I can represent my family, my people and my heritage. I'm so proud to be a representation of that for people of brown skin." The 46-year-old beauty feels emotional just thinking about the possibility of winning the award but believes victory would show she is living her "highest calling". She said: "Oh my gosh, what would this Tony mean to me? Just the thought of it brings tears to my eyes. It would just mean, I guess, like in some ways, for Norma Desmond and for a lot of us in this industry and in life, we really seek that validation from others. "We struggle with our own issues and self worth, and you would really want that praise and that validation to be seen by others. So, it can relate to Norma in those ways. "But I think in the other way, it would just note on the bigger scale, just that I am finally living in my highest purpose, and I'm living in my highest calling of what I'm supposed to do. "That is the most fulfilling dream, I think, for anybody — that is to be successful, to be able to do something that is your purpose and your gift and to be able to share it with the world. "And that it makes a difference or makes an impact, to be able to do art and to make an impact in this way, it is the greatest dream, better than any recognition. It's the ultimate award."
