Meet The Sunset Blvd. Superfans Trying To See The Show 40 Times

A few days before the Tony Awards, the scene outside Sunset Blvd. at Broadway’s St. James Theater was a touch of chaos. Streams of people were waiting for the house to open, only to find out that Tony-nominated leading man Tom Francis would be replaced by understudy Pierre Marais. (Francis had cut his hand earlier that day trying to slice an avocado.) But no matter: the late start and last-minute casting change did nothing to dampen the mood among the musical’s rabid fans, a vibe more akin to the one you’d find at a pop concert — which is fitting, considering the show’s star diva is a former Pussycat Doll.

When Scherzinger appeared onstage as the seductively scary Norma Desmond, the role that would later earn her her first Tony, the audience erupted into thunderous applause; by the end of her first song, they were already on their feet cheering. Claire Di Maio, a New York-based freelance writer who has seen the show six times, told me she and her mom were shocked by the rapturous response when they saw Sunset together last fall. “There was a standing ovation after ‘With One Look’ and then another one after ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye,’” she says, referring to Scherzinger’s big numbers. “And we both looked at each other — we've never seen a midshow standing ovation before.”

The fans who love Sunset Blvd., well — they really love it. Director Jamie Lloyd’s revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical opened on Broadway in October following an Olivier Award-winning run on the West End, and while the storyline is familiar — forgotten silent film star Norma Desmond crosses paths with down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis and sees a path back to fame — the interpretation is anything but. Lloyd, in his signature minimalist style, strips the show down to its noirish core while using cameras and video projections to make Scherzinger’s revelatory, larger-than-life take on Norma even larger. All together, the production has not only unlocked a storied musical for a new audience, it’s also unlocked Broadway for them, period.

“I get so many DMs from people that aren’t even ‘theater people.’ They’ve said that Sunset is their first introduction to Broadway shows,” says Sunset’s Grace Hodgett Young, who plays bright-eyed studio assistant Betty Schaefer. “They heard about it through a friend that it’s something they can’t miss, and they loved it and have listened to the album so many times.”

“The material is consistent, but no two shows are alike.”

And the superfans cannot stay away. Liz Davenport, who goes by ThatBroadwayBaker on TikTok, has seen Sunset a whopping 37 times and is hoping to reach the 40-time club before the show closes July 20. (Her previous Broadway record was seeing David Byrne’s American Utopia seven times.) “I bought a ticket to the first preview in the balcony. I left the theater and I was like, ‘I have to go back right now.’ That was Saturday. I was back on Wednesday,” she recalls. “For me, it’s the meeting of stage and screen and just the fact that you have to focus on the words and the people. And you can see it from pretty much any angle in the house.”

“It feels so different from any other musical I’ve ever seen,” says Emma Kate Loerick, who goes by MatineeGirl on TikTok and had seen the show just shy of 40 times as of early June. She’s not always a fan of Lloyd’s striking palette — “I saw Jamie Lloyd’s A Doll’s House and it didn’t really work for me” — but this time found it mesmerizing (especially when “the lights go red and everything gets really intense” in the last 20 minutes). “I just think it works so well here. I love the cameras. Then there are these moments for both of the big ballads where the cameras are off completely, which makes it feel so much more intimate.” (Lloyd’s already putting his same tools to work in another reinvention of an iconic Andrew Lloyd Webber work: Evita, starring Rachel Zegler, is in previews on the West End and opens July 1 for a limited run.)

Sunset is hardly the first Broadway show to inspire such a following. The devoted fans of the 1996 musical Rent who used to camp out at the theater had their own nickname: Rentheads. But Sunset regulars point to a few other draws that keep them coming back. For one, it’s hardly static: The show has continued to evolve over the course of its Broadway run, thanks to both its main cast as well as its understudies and guest stars. “Jamie Lloyd is adamant about everyone having their own take on the material. It’s super exciting to see someone throw a wrench into this well-oiled machine,” Davenport says. “To that end, Tom and Nicole frequently change their line deliveries in their scenes. The material is consistent, but no two shows are alike.”

The St. James itself has also fostered a sense of community among loyal fans, who say they get recognized not only by other repeat-viewers but also the staff at the show. “The St. James box office is so nice. I’ve never had an experience like this where they really try to take care of the people who they know love the show,” says Loerick. “I feel like they really know the frequent flyers, and they’re so kind.”

“I’ve been a Nicole truther since I saw the video of her singing ‘Phantom of the Opera’ many moons ago. She’s the underdog in terms of musical theater.”

Perhaps that’s because they know the performers appreciate the fandom, too. “There’s at least three people that I know their faces because they will always sit in the front row,” says Hodgett Young, who originated the role in London before coming to Broadway. (The biggest difference between crowds? “The audiences are much louder here. I feel like there’s a politeness with British audiences.”) “It is really nice to see those people come back because it is a similar feeling to when I’ve had family come to New York to see it. It’s like they've got my back.” She saves all the drawings and trinkets that fans bring to the stage door; some nights she even wears them on stage.

I witnessed this community in action while waiting by the stage door in early June. A very sweet stage guard I chatted with was wearing a Sunset Blvd. Playbill necklace that a fan who has seen the show “10 or 12 times” made the crew. In his eyes, nothing has minted new superfans like the show’s famous walkabout: In the opening of the second act, Francis sings the title number “Sunset Boulevard” while snaking through the backstage of the theater, out onto West 44th Street, and through Shubert Alley before joining the rest of the company and making his way back into the theater (where his performance has been playing live on screen). For fans, it’s become an event in and of itself. “Sometimes they won’t see the show that day and they’ll come for the walkabout scene,” the guard tells me. “One day we had at least 200 people outside for the walkabout.”

Videos of the walkabout are all over TikTok, which has become a gateway for new Sunset Blvd. fans as well. (It doesn’t hurt that Scherzinger and Francis — as his beverage-reviewing alter ego Soda Scout — are also active on the app.) At the stage door, 20-somethings Sofia and Izzy, who are already decked out in Sunset Blvd. merch, both encountered Francis’ walkabout on TikTok and say it inspired them to fly from Kansas City to see the show for the first time. Marianne, a teacher from South Carolina, was seeing the show for a second time after hearing about it on TikTok; she was previously a Phantom of the Opera fan. Abby from Houston and her mom watched the original 1950 Sunset Boulevard film together and then, after Abby started getting into musical theater, decided to come see the show after seeing Francis — where else? — on TikTok. “I’m in love with all of you guys. Please invite me backstage,” Abby jokes, leaning into my phone in the hopes the cast is listening.

The bloody, beating heart of the show is, of course, Scherzinger. Her Norma slithers from menacing to comically unhinged to downright fearsome. The fact that Scherzinger never quite achieved Main Pop Girl status in her own solo career lends an undeniable weight to both the role of a discarded diva hungry for validation, and her Tony win for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical. “Nicole Scherzinger is my colleague — that’s wild,” says Hodgett Young, whose mother texts her every time Scherzinger comments on one of her Instagram posts.

For many, Scherzinger was the initial draw. What millennial doesn’t have memories of a “Don’t Cha” sing-along from their youth? Others less familiar with the “Buttons” singer’s bona fides were skeptical of her ability to lead a West End production. But that’s also part of Lloyd’s smarts in casting Scherzinger as Norma: She’s a character with something to prove.

“I’ve been a Nicole truther since I saw the video of her singing ‘Phantom of the Opera’ many moons ago,” says Naveen Hrishikesh, a writer and content specialist (who “loves a show about a woman who belts”). “I find her to be the underdog in terms of musical theater. She studied musical theater. When she sang “Memory” [from Cats] at the Olivier Awards, I was just obsessed with her voice.” He, too, read dismissive comments online following her West End casting. But after seeing the show, “I was like, ‘I stood by this woman all these years — and she crushed it.’”

Davenport, the TikTokker, saw the first post-Tonys performance of Sunset from the front row and describes it as nothing short of “electric” as she reveled in Scherzinger’s award-winning glow. “Wild to be that close anytime, but especially during the standing ovation after ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye,’ in which she didn’t move a muscle,” she says. “She always slays her big numbers, but she really claimed them that night. Just pure joy.”