"I've Been Working Toward This Moment My Entire Life" - Nicole Scherzinger

Welcome back everybody. Thanks folks. Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest tonight is a platinum selling singer, actress, and dancer who's making her Broadway debut as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Please welcome to the Late Show, Nicole Scherzinger. You're an absolute vision. Thanks for dolling up for us. That's so nice. Okay, so Sunset Boulevard, it opened last Sunday, marking your Broadway debut. How are you feeling? How am I feeling? How are you feeling? Oh, Stephen, I have been waiting for this moment my entire life and I've been working towards this moment my entire life. I mean, I just, a lot of people don't know that I grew up in in theater and this is my first love and I'm just, my heart is just overwhelmed. I can't believe that I've had to wait my entire life to see you in a Broadway play. No, I'm serious. You know, I got a chance to see you on Wednesday. I came to see you and I got a chance to come back afterwards. A little bit of a spoiler here of how things end up at the end. That's you and me backstage afterwards. But Stephen, Stephen, you look like you're, we're in two different places. Like you're in Disney World and I'm at Jurassic Park. I'm like, I'm gonna eat you like a snack. Well, one of the things that I said to you backstage was an absolute star in complete control of her instrument and the material and the audience and I now I want to see you in everything. Really. I can't believe, I can't believe this is the first time that you've been on Broadway. It's what a, I feel like the rest of us has been robbed that it's taking you this long. It's awesome. You know, it's divine timing. It's God's timing. It's this role. It's this story. It's my director, Jamie Lloyd, my composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber. It just, yeah, the stars have aligned. And do you, like, it was so nice to say hello because that was your second show. There's two show Wednesdays. It was your second show that day. And not only do you give everything, what an incredibly demanding performance it is, but people may not realize this, but you barely leave stage for a moment over the course of that musical. Even if someone else has got the center stage and has the lead of a song or the scenes happening between two people, having somebody else, you're looming in the background. You're sitting on a chair. What are you thinking in those moments? Are you thinking about dinner? I mean, you did this for five months in London. I know. A lot of the times, at the very start of the show, a lot of people don't realize that I'm on stage, just in the back, upstage in a chair. And that's where I do all my prayers and my meditation to just anchor me and to ground me. And I literally pray every night for the cast, the crew, the production, the sound, the lights, the front of house, everyone in this theater, for the entire theater to be covered. And then my papa is an archbishop, so he gave me a very special prayer as well. So I do that every night. And every time I go on stage, I do the sign of the cross for protection and to bless everyone. Your papa? My grandfather. Your grandfather. Your grandfather's an archbishop. In the Catholic church? Yes. How does he have children? Russian Orthodox. Okay, a little different. Yes, exactly. I thought we just made news. I just wanted to make sure. And then he had 10 kids. There you go. Did he have 10 kids? Yes. Wow, that's extraordinary. The show started on the West End. What's the difference, or is there any difference, between a British theatrical audience and a London audience and a New York audience? There's a huge difference. The British audience is very demure, it's very mindful, very respectful, very reserved, right? Well, in the show that I saw in New York, there was two showstoppers in the middle of the show. Now, cut to the Broadway audience. They are just free as a bird. They want you to know how you are feeling, right? Am I right? They want you to know how they're feeling, and they're free, and it's awesome because it's more of an exchange. It's so reciprocal, and they give you so much energy. How about the theatrical community here in New York? Because, of course, obviously, you've performed all over the United States, but this is the first time you've been in a Broadway community. So what about the people backstage? What's it look like? Honestly, it's the best community to be a part of. Obviously, in our industry, it's quite cutthroat and competitive at times, but the Broadway community is like the world's most talented humans as your biggest supporters. They believe in you when you don't believe in yourself. It's just been such a blessing to be embraced by the community here. Well, and you coming in as a Broadway, at least, neophyte and just tearing the roof off the place, everyone's been nice about it? Literally tearing at the blood and everything else. Exactly. Yeah. Everybody's been so supportive, is the word. They just want you to win. They've got the same teeth and balls as you. Does that make sense? The same passion and hunger and heart and kahuna. Oh, it makes total sense. It makes 100% sense. I learned that you were friends with one of the true greats, Prince. I was curious what you learned from him because he, I don't think, was shy about his opinions and was such an incredibly well-rounded artist. What did you learn from him? Oh, my God. What didn't I learn from P? To just know him was to truly love him is such a blessing in my life. He actually came, he loved me in this space. He came to see me in Cats in the West End, so I know he would be so proud and he's with me while I'm doing Sunset. But he always said, don't do things that you know you can already do. Do things that you haven't done yet. And that's why I'm here. I never thought I would do this role. And he also loved, he said to me, you're an analog singer, Nicole. You're not a digital singer. You need to have huge, big orchestrations, big enough for your voice. So thank you, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Well, that was sort of the impression that I had when I saw you when you come out for the first time and you do your first number. That's one of the reasons why I want to hear you do everything. Your voice is so rich and it's so powerful and you have such great dynamic command of your voice that I don't think there's anything. I'm a huge Sondheim fan. Yeah, me too. And I was lucky enough to interview him a few times. And I even got to do, he asked me to do Company. I did a part in Company. And most terrifying thing I ever did, most terrifying thing I ever did was stand there with the New York Philharmonic in our last rehearsal and sing Sorry, Grateful. And right before my part came in, Sondheim came in and sat in the front row. Oh, and but what did that take? It took teeth and balls, didn't it? It did. Yes. It definitely felt I was I was panicked enough that I felt like someone was biting my balls. Oh, bless. Do you have a favorite Sondheim? I absolutely my favorite Sondheim song is Losing My Mind. I don't want to put you on the spot, but would you have it in you to give me just a couple of bars? I mean, the very beginning of the song, I mean, it's not going to be like, you know, the very beginning, the start of the song goes, it's just the song speaks to my soul. The sun comes up. I think about you. The coffee cup. I think about you. I want you so. It's like I'm losing my mind. It's like Norma Desmond loses her mind every night. Like I'm losing my mind. Thank you so much. I can't wait to sing for you again. You're awesome. Sunset Boulevard is on Broadway at the St. James Theater. Nicole Scherzing, everybody. We'll be right back.