Tom Francis Talks SUNSET BLVD. Tony Nomination and That One Scene

“If you wanna know the real facts, you’ve come to the right party,” Tom Francis tells the audience in the opening moments of SUNSET BLVD.

Longtime fans of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s lavish 1993 musical, or the 1950 Oscar-winning film that inspired it, will be familiar with the broad strokes of the picture Francis starts to paint: In the pitch-black hours of night, a murder has been reported at a gilded mansion on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard. The ravenous tabloid press will be descending like vultures at any moment. Why? Because, as the leading man explains, “an old-time movie star is involved — maybe the biggest star of all.”

That movie star is, of course, Norma Desmond, an icon from Hollywood’s silent film era played by Nicole Scherzinger. When Francis’ character, the struggling writer Joe Gillis, stumbles into Norma’s palatial estate one day with the cops hot on his tail, he quickly becomes ensnared in her world — one filled with delusion, paranoia and obsessive dreams of reconquering the industry that left her behind in favor of youth and talkies.

However, from the moment Francis emerges from a bodybag to open the show, it’s clear this revival, titled SUNSET BLVD., is unlike any iteration that’s come before it. Eschewing massive set pieces — or any set at all, really — in favor of cinematic camera work and visionary staging, the production transfixes audiences with the sheer power of Scherzinger and Francis’ performances as they conjure a tale of ruthless Hollywood dreams and deadly consequences.

Featuring show-stopping numbers like “With One Look,” “Sunset Boulevard” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” the electrifying, boundary-pushing revival — which is playing at the St. James Theatre through July 13 — has been nothing short of a runaway hit since it arrived on Broadway following a lauded run on London’s West End, where it took home seven of its 11 nominations at the 2024 Olivier Awards.

Now, SUNSET BLVD. has become the most-nominated revival of the current Broadway season, scoring seven Tony Award nominations including Best Revival of a Musical and lead acting nods for both Francis and Scherzinger.

Fresh off attending his very first Met Gala, Francis is ready for his close-up, chatting exclusively with Ticketmaster about reinventing SUNSET BLVD. on Broadway, receiving his first-ever Tony nomination, working with the iconic Andrew Lloyd Webber, how the revival teaches theatergoers new ways to dream and more.

Congratulations on your Tony nomination!

Thank you! Yeah, I can’t believe it’s happened.

Where were you when you found out you were nominated?

I was in my living room, on the phone to [my publicist]. ‘Cause I couldn’t figure out what channel it was on. That was about as my category was getting announced and he told me over the phone. So it was lovely, it was the perfect way to find out.

What does being nominated mean to you?

It’s just a thing that I didn’t really think was ever gonna be possible. And so I’m just so incredibly grateful for it. And to be in a category with the people that I’m in the category with is a bit of a dream come true. I mean, I grew up listening to, like, Jeremy [Jordan] and Jonathan [Groff] and Darren [Criss] and everybody. So yeah, it’s a bit of a — I mean, can I swear? I was gonna say a bit of a mindf–k, but in the best possible way.

So, it’s not really a spoiler to say that you start the show by emerging from a bodybag center stage. How does making such a bold entrance set the stage for the tone of the revival?

This piece really is like no other Sunset Boulevard that’s ever really happened before. It’s a very, very different version. And I think it just, from the get-go, coming out of the bodybag, is a pretty bold start. It sets up that world straight away — it’s like, yeah, here we go!

Your character, Joe Gillis, is many things. When we meet him, he’s an ambitious writer who’s very frustrated and desperate. In some ways, he’s an opportunist; in other ways, he ends up being a victim. What’s your take on Joe’s motivations throughout the course of the show?

If I’m being completely honest, I didn’t think about it too much. I really think that the music that Andrew [Lloyd Webber] wrote, and the words that Don [Black] and Christopher [Hampton] wrote, just do a lot of the work for you. It’s such a brilliantly written piece that I just let all of that inform my choices in every way. Because it kind of tells you what to do. The underscoring, especially, just completely informs how you’re supposed to be. And yeah, I think I just kind of leant into that and trusted that that would help me.

How do you view Joe’s relationship with Norma?

Yeah, it’s a dark one — it’s a twisted relationship that they have. Because they’re both using each other in different ways. And it’s fun to have that push and pull, especially with me and Nicole. It’s very fun to play against, like, who wants what at what point in the show.

Speaking of Nicole, when I saw the show in London, it was the first time I’d ever seen someone get multiple standing ovations throughout a performance. She was just electric. What has it been like working with her?

It’s been a crazy journey. She’s just a force of nature as a human being. I’ve never met anyone who’s got a work ethic like her. I’ve never met anybody who’s as committed to something as her. Yeah, it’s been an inspiration turning up to work every day being opposite her, I have to say.

I would assume it’s safe to say that elevates your performance as well.

Well, she comes out and just delivers a show-stopping performance every single night. So it’s like, the bar is high. [Laughs] I try and match her as much as I possibly can.

Do you have a favorite song to perform in the show?

Probably “Let’s Do Lunch,” I think. Just because I get to have, like, a breakdown at the end, which relieves any nerves. And it’s one of the few moments where everyone’s on stage, it’s amazing.

True, and that ensemble is just, like… wow.

They’re incredible. They are truly incredible.

You also perform the title track at the top of Act II, which is just a marvel on so many levels. Without giving everything away, what goes into pulling off “Sunset Boulevard” every night?

There’s about 60 people who make it happen. The thing that I love about this number is that it’s really shone a light on how many people it takes to make a show work. Because, really and truly, it takes 60, 70 people to make any show work — that’s not the cast. Like, every single part of that show, it takes them to see it, but it’s not so much of an obvious thing. Whereas this number really just amplifies and sort of puts a magnifying glass on how many people it takes to make a show work.

We have sound crews that are out there with different carts so that the signal can change and we can get different signals. We’ve got camera operators and camera crews that make sure the cameras are working. There’s people that follow me around the whole entire walkaround place with a rucksack on their back, and they have, like, signal and receivers in their rucksacks and they’re following me ’round, laying cables around behind us. Like, if people could really see how frantic it is behind the camera so that we can make that uninterrupted shot happen, it’s an absolute feat of teamwork in the theater. And it’s so nice that people are really, really looking and going like, “Oh wow, it takes a village.”

And yet you’re playing it cool in front of the camera every night.

[Laughs] Trying to!

This revival also uses camera work and video screens on stage in really interesting ways throughout the show. How does that cinematic quality add to the story?

Jamie Lloyd, our director, [and video designers] Joe Ransom and Nathan Amzi, the three of them were just incredible in the concepts that they came up with. I think it just adds a layer to the show, it’s like the perfect vehicle to have a video screen and [cameras] because we’re talking about Hollywood. The whole thing’s about Hollywood. The whole entire [score], the vehicle is Hollywood. And so having a huge video screen, it just seemed to make sense.

It also just makes it so accessible. I feel like you can sit anywhere in SUNSET BLVD. and you can have a pretty good seat, because you’ve got this huge video screen and you can really get [up close] and see our eyes and stuff. It gives a different kind of wow factor to the audience. Like, seeing everyone’s faces when my face turns up for the first time in the car chase, it’s electric.

You recorded SUNSET BLVD: The Album live at the Savoy Theatre in London before coming to Broadway. What was that like? Did you approach those performances any differently?

I think they pulled from a few different performances, which was our idea because we just didn’t want to have a load of pressure on one performance. So it didn’t feel that pressurized to be honest. Like, the shows were quite pressurized at that point anyway because we were inviting theater owners from Broadway and different producers from Broadway to come over, to help us try and get it over [to New York], so every show was quite intense. And then when it came out, yeah, it’s a lovely feeling to know that it’s gonna be there forever.

What have you learned from working with Andrew Lloyd Webber?

That he really knows how to write a hard melody to sing! No… that’s a great question. I think my main thing is — and it does tie into my original answer, if I’m being honest — he is so specific with the rhythms that he writes and the melodies that he writes. And honoring those rhythms, it really does do all of the work for you. So just trusting the composer, I think, is probably the main thing I’ve learned. He’s an incredible writer and I love singing his melodies, and singing them as close to perfect as I can in terms of pitch and tempo and rhythm. It literally is the biggest gift ever.

How do you hope this revival of SUNSET BLVD. teaches audiences “new ways to dream”?

I use the analogy that it’s kind of like jazz. It takes the rules of theater and breaks them like jazz takes the rules of music and breaks it. And I think for people coming to the theater, and people who make theater and people who are interested in theater, just to try anything. To do anything. Just try. Don’t let an idea scare you. Just fall into it, and see if it works or not. Because that’s what we did with this and it’s paid off.

What’s your plan for the day of the Tony Awards?

I just plan on being like a horse with blinkers on, and just sort of try and focus on breathing. And try to take it in and enjoy as much of it as possible, ’cause it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Do you expect the Tonys to be more or less pressure than the Met Gala?

That’s a great question. I’m not sure ’cause I’ve not done it yet! But I think maybe more pressure? No, I don’t know! I don’t know! It’s a really hard question. Let’s have an interview post-Tonys and I can answer that question.

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