Outside the St. James Theater on Sunday night, curious onlookers joined a throng of photographers as, amid a sea of flash bulbs, stars descended on a black carpet for the opening night of a buzzy new revival of the classic musical “Sunset Boulevard.”
“I’m thrilled to see this,” said Betty Buckley, 77, who played the role of the faded silent-film star Norma Desmond in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in London and on Broadway in the 1990s.
The show, which tells the story of Ms. Desmond’s descent into madness as she is forced to come to grips with an industry that discards its female stars at an ever-earlier age, stars the 46-year-old Nicole Scherzinger, a former Pussycat Doll, in the role.
The new production, helmed by the minimalist director Jamie Lloyd, who also directed a London run last year, is in many ways a daring update of the original musical, which opened in the West End in 1993.
For one, Ms. Desmond’s age: The role has come to be seen as a part for older actresses, yet Ms. Scherzinger, as the New York Times chief theater critic Jesse Green put it in his review, is “stunningly youthful.”
“I was a bit taken back when Jamie approached me about playing this faded film star — you know, I’m a Pussycat Doll!” she said.
Ms. Scherzinger’s Broadway debut also seemed to prove exciting to the dozens of celebrities who turned out for the premiere on a balmy Sunday night, including Mr. Lloyd Webber; the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez; the fashion editor Anna Wintour; and the “Live With Kelly and Mark” hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos.
“I love Nicole Scherzinger,” said the actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who walked the carpet in a gray suit.
When the show was initially announced, Mr. Ferguson said, his immediate thought was that “someone had lost their mind.”
“And then I saw production photos and I was like, ‘Oh no, this looks absolutely bonkers crazy,’” he said. “I’m so excited to see it!”
The show started half an hour late as a phalanx of guests that included the actresses Jessica Chastain and Laverne Cox, Brooke Shields — who is now the president of Actors’ Equity Association — navigated the theater’s crowded aisles and staircases in leopard-print coats and slinky gowns to find their seats.
Not that they stayed in them for long: Ms. Scherzinger’s performance received two mid-show standing ovations. (A six-minute sequence at the top of Act 2, in which Tom Francis, who plays the hapless young screenwriter Joe Gillis, sings the show’s title number as he is followed backstage and onto the street outside the theater by a live feed, also received a standing ovation.)
Around 9:45 p.m., Ms. Scherzinger, now covered in fake blood — a garish sight that has sparked curiosity online since she emerged from the theater in that state to sign autographs after one of the show’s first performances last month — exited the stage for the final time to another standing ovation. Then, the cast and audience members headed to an after-party held nearby at the Ziegfeld Ballroom.
Some attendees swayed on a dance floor in front of a D.J. booth beneath a black “Sunset Blvd.” screen, while others munched on short rib, fried snapper and chicken tinga tacos and cheese empanadas from buffet tables on both sides of the room.
Upstairs in the balcony — a relatively quieter setting — cast members like Mr. Francis accepted hearty congratulations, while a crowd that included the actors Wendell Pierce and Jeremy O. Harris discussed the performance they had just seen.
“Nicole is a superstar — her voice was otherworldly,” said Mr. Harris, the Tony-nominated playwright of “Slave Play.”
“I think Jamie has staged one of the most exciting new things of the year.”
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