THE HANGOVER REPORT – Living it up: Tony-winner NICOLE SCHERZINGER is everything in her Carnegie Hall debut

Nicole Scherzinger performs at Carnegie Hall (photo by Phillip Galbreath).

Last night, I had the wonderful pleasure of witnessing Nicole Scherzinger’s completely sold out Carnegie Hall debut. To be sure, the singer-actress has had a fascinating career. She first found success as an entertainer as the front woman for girl group The Pussycat Dolls. Only later in life did she have the opportunity to transition to musical theater, being cast in London in the West End revivals of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats (as Grizabella, of course) and Sunset Boulevard, the latter for which she garnered enormous acclaim and the Olivier Award for her leading performance as fading film star Norma Desmond. This past Broadway season, she repeated her success in Sunset Boulevard, also bagging the Tony Award for her fearless turn in the Jamie Lloyd-helmed revival.

In her Carnegie Hall debut, Scherzinger was greeted with thunderous ovation as she walked out onto the iconic stage, looking stunningly glamorous in a regal gold gown. Throughout, she lived it up as she showcased her velvety voice — an instrument that’s capable of considerable range and power. Ever the instinctual singer and actress, she approached each song with guts and thrilling attack. In addition to being a vocal and dramatic force of nature, she’s also a very funny lady, amusing the audience (and herself) with her often silly and self-effacing banter. Over the course of the one-night-only event, Scherzinger took on different genres of music, ping ponging between pop and musical theater with remarkable ease — and receiving multiple standing ovations along the way.

After an uncharacteristically disoriented start, she launched into the Funny Girl anthem “Don’t Rain on My Parade” with a vengeance. Following the determined opener, Scherzinger paid tribute to the divas who have played the hallowed hall, putting her distinctive mark on “I Put a Spell on You” and “Diamonds Are Forever” by way of Nina Simone and Shirley Bassey, respectively. After appeasing her Pussycat Dolls fans, the versatile star switched gears by singing an uplifting medley of the hit Josh Groban single “You Raise Me Up” and “Reflection” from the Disney animated film Mulan. Particularly revelatory was her foray into the Stephen Sondheim songbook, sublimely mashing up “Losing My Mind” from Company and “Not a Day Goes By” from Merrily We Roll Along. She closed out the first half of the evening by putting over a rousing rendition of “Maybe This Time” from Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret and gliding off the stage flaunting the her Olivier and Tony statuettes.

Scherzinger returned after the intermission in a gorgeous translucent black outfit declaring “I Am What I Am” from Jerry Herman’s La Cage aux Folles. In a welcome change of pace, she then sang her own original song “Bullshit”, oozing attitude and confidence in her delivery of it. Of course, she brought the house down with her iconic powerhouse back-to-back renditions of “With One Look” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye” (that breath control!) from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard. Then came an extended version of “Purple Rain”, her electrifying tribute to her late mentor and friend Prince. To conclude the evening, she unleashed “Show Off” from the underrated musical The Drowsy Chaperone, immediately followed by what can best be described as an ecstatic mega-mix of pop songs — complete with deliciously full on choreography — during which she came down and cavorted with the ecstatic audience. Now can someone cast her in a revival of Kiss of the Spider Woman?

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

NICOLE SCHERZINGER
Concert
Carnegie Hall
Approximately 2 hours, 15 minutes (with one intermission)
One night only

Categories: Music, Other Music

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