Patti LuPone Still Has ‘Quibbles’ With Sunset Blvd.

For someone who once destroyed a dressing room over being fired from the show, Patti LuPone has been shockingly positive about the new production of Sunset Blvd. She wrote about Nicole Scherzinger, who plays LuPone’s former role of Norma Desmond in the revival, for “Time 100,” for example. But it’s still Patti LuPone, slayer of Madonna, and now she is ready to unveil her critiques. “I had quibbles,” she told George Clooney during their “Actors on Actors” interview for Variety. And look: That’s a step up. LuPone, who originated the role of Norma in London in 1993, has famously held a grudge against Sunset since she learned she was being replaced by Glenn Close through gossip columnist Liz Smith. “It doesn’t go away,” she told People of the hurt in 2022. “It finds a place in your heart, and it’s just there.”

Her notes, with that context, are pretty light. First off, she “would love to have seen costumes.” In the new production of Sunset, everyone is dressed in black and white, including Scherzinger, who wears a black slip dress instead of Norma’s trademark turban. “I don’t know why they went outside on the street to sing ‘Sunset Boulevard,’” LuPone added, referring to the act-two opener that sees star Tom Francis filmed live as he leaves the theater and walks around Times Square. “But I thought the whole cast was spectacular, especially Nicole.” She once told Andy Cohen that Madonna “couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag,” so Sunset got off easy.

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