“Shook, Gagged”: Jeremy O. Harris Takes the Girls of Katseye to See Sunset Boulevard

FRIDAY 10:44 PM OCTOBER 25, 2024 BROADWAY

Director Jamie Lloyd’s new production of Sunset Boulevard, featuring a seismic Nicole Scherzinger turn as the iconic Norma Desmond and a stalwart performance from Tom Francis as the fledgling young writer she inveigles, has been thrilling audiences from London to New York, where it officially opened at the St. James Theater last week. But the stripped-down, technologically innovative revival meant a little something extra to the girls of pop supergroup KATSEYE, who grew up worshipping The Pussycat Dolls. “I just love Nicole Scherzinger so much,” says Lara Raj. “She’s the reason why I wanted to be in a girl group, I think.” It was only right, then, that a few of the groups members joined Jeremy O. Harris and Bridgerton star Simone Ashley at a performance last week. After wiping away tears and meeting the cast backstage, the girls talked to us about their dream roles and all-time favorite Broadway divas.

———

JEREMY O. HARRIS: I am here at the St. James Theater with Lara and Sophia and Simone talking Sunset Boulevard at the midway point of the show. So girls, how do we feel?

LARA RAJ: I am shook. I just love Nicole Scherzinger so much. She’s been my idol. She’s the reason why I wanted to be in a girl group, I think. So seeing her doing Broadway is so unexpected, but also expected. She’s just incredible.

HARRIS: She’s amazing.

SOPHIA LAFORTEZA: Lara and I have been looking up to her ever since we were trainees, and I even performed her song during Dream Academy. The first thing I’d want to tell her is that she’s given me a new dream role, because musical theater is my life. Everybody knows this. I grew up with it. I thought that I was going to be on Broadway, but then I ended up in a girl group. But now seeing Nicole on stage I’m like, “In 20 years I will be back here and I’m going to play her. I’m going to make sure that I stay that flexible and that fit so that I can actually fulfill that dream.”

SIMONE ASHLEY: That’s how I feel. I think all girls, women, young women, older women, we watch Nicole and we’re like, “This is defying what society tells us of what it is to be a woman in the industry or in general.” Because she is a badass. She’s so talented. She owns it and she owns her body and her femininity. And I was saying to you, Jeremy, she also still has that childlike joy and sense of humor that she brings out in the character. She kind of proves that if you work as hard as she does and you’re as disciplined and as passionate as she is, you can achieve those kinds of goals. So hearing you say that is really powerful because that’s what Nicole’s doing. She’s planting seeds like you’re dreaming and being like, “Oh my god, I can do this as well.” 

HARRIS: I love that. Have you guys ever seen Sunset Boulevard, the musical?

RAJ: No.

ASHLEY: Just the movie.

RAJ: We’ve heard of the movie, but we didn’t really know what to expect.

HARRIS: So what was the moment that you were like, “Oh, this feels different?”

LAFORTEZA: Definitely right before intermission when I heard the confetti and my heart skipped a beat. I was like, “Okay, this is a turn.” So now I’m excited for the other half.

HARRIS: I love it. The moment he started driving and the opening credits started, I was like, “Okay, now I’m gagged.”

LAFORTEZA: That was amazing.

ASHLEY: I think the ensemble—

LAFORTEZA: They’re amazing.

ASHLEY: Every single one of them, I’m like, “Oh my god.”

HARRIS: Do you have an ensemble crush yet, a chorus boy or chorus girl crush?

ASHLEY: Chorus girl crush? She has her hair in a half-up ponytail. I think she’s got shaved sideburns.

RAJ: I know who you’re talking about, yeah. She’s a badass.

ASHLEY: She’s wearing, you know, like Bermuda shorts?

HARRIS: Oh, yeah.

RAJ: Every time she comes on, I’m like, “Oh…”

HARRIS: Sophia, do you have one yet?

LAFORTEZA: I can’t keep my eyes off of the younger version of…

HARRIS: She’s amazing.

LAFORTEZA: She’s beautiful. And she opened the show. She’s amazing.

ASHLEY: She’s unapologetic. She’s just gorgeous.

LAFORTEZA: She was serving to the camera the whole time.

RAJ: The hair pulling. 

LAFORTEZA: And it brought me back to our performance training where we had to just look at the camera. And sometimes we would tap out, but she was in the whole time.

RAJ: I was amazed by her movement. It was so fluid. 

ASHLEY: The level of confidence.

HARRIS: Any actor reading this is going to start bursting into tears. This is the nicest thing ever. But they’re calling us back. So I guess this is the end of intermission.

HARRIS: I have the girls of KATSEYE with me, once again. Now the show’s over, we’re backstage, we’ve just danced and taken photographs with the cast. What are our thoughts?

MANON BANNERMAN: Um, wow. Emotional.

DANIELA AVANZINI: Happy, joy.

RAJ: Shook, gagged.

BANNERMAN: Literally gagged.

LAFORTEZA: Nicole Scherzinger. When she started singing that song [“As If We Never Said Goodbye”], I couldn’t stop crying. I got a headache because my mom would sing that all the time, and for some reason, Nicole morphed into my mom and I started crying. And then I was like, “I want to play this role so bad.” It’s crazy because Nicole inspired all of us to be in a girl group and for her to have her Broadway debut and kind of start again in a whole other field that I’ve been dreaming of my whole life, she’s inspired me again. I’m so emotional about it.

BANNERMAN: That’s so awesome. Thank you for bringing us.

HARRIS: What was the last musical any of you guys saw?

AVANZINI: Pretty Woman. A couple years ago I came to this exact theater.

HARRIS: The Saint James.

AVANZINI: Yes. I went with my mom, it was beautiful. I was very young though, but it was amazing.

RAJ: Mine was Dear Evan Hansen.

LAFORTEZA: You’ve seen Dear Evan Hansen?

RAJ: Girl, I was a theater kid.

LAFORTEZA: I know, but like, I want to watch it.

RAJ: I saw everything.

HARRIS: Did you see Dear Evan Hansen in L.A. or New York?

RAJ: No, New York. I’m from New York.

HARRIS: Oh, so you saw Ben Platt. Ben Levi Ross did it in L.A. That’s my boy.

LAFORTEZA: I saw Once on This Island like two weeks ago.

ASHLEY: Oh, did you actually?

LAFORTEZA: Yeah.

HARRIS: Where did you see it?

LAFORTEZA: I went home to the Philippines and I watched musicals.

ASHLEY: I love musicals.

HARRIS: Once on This Island is very good.

LAFORTEZA: Ti Moune is like my dream role. I want to play Erzulie or Ti Moune.

HARRIS: Dreamboat Isaac Cole Powell was in an amazing production of Once on This Island, the last revival here.

JEONG: Such a fun show.

HARRIS: What about you, Manon? What was the last musical you saw?

BANNERMAN: I don’t remember what musical it was but I remember I was nine years old and it was my first time in New York and it was me and my mom and we went to The Apollo?

HARRIS: Yeah, the Apollo.

BANNERMAN: It was amazing. I literally don’t have any memories, but, you know.

HARRIS: I love that. And do you have a last musical?

ASHLEY: I can’t remember my last musical, but my last play was yours.

HARRIS: Oh, it was mine?

ASHLEY: Yeah, it was.

HARRIS: NBD. Okay, so Nicole is a great Broadway diva, she’s now cemented that. Who are the divas that you always think about when you think about Broadway divas?

ASHLEY: Audra McDonald.

HARRIS: Audra McDonald, great Broadway diva. She’s about to be across the street very soon in Gypsy.

LAFORTEZA: Idina [Menzel].

RAJ: Cynthia Erivo.

LAFORTEZA: Yes. Eva Noblezada and Lea Salonga. Eva, she’s in The Great Gatsby right now and she’s also in Hadestown. They’re both Filipina queens, so. And Nicole too.

RAJ: Phillipa Soo.

HARRIS: These are the girls, these are the girls. I love it. You guys all said that you want to be in a musical now. What’s your dream role?

BANNERMAN: First, I need to like, tap into musicals now and watch a bunch. If you have any recommendations, send them over.

HARRIS: You know what I think? I think you’d be a really good Mimi in Rent.

BANNERMAN: I don’t know that one, but I’ll watch it.

HARRIS: I think you’ll enjoy it.

LAFORTEZA: Rent is everything. I’ll show you.

HARRIS: What about you guys?

RAJ: Okay, this has been my lifetime dream. Don’t call me corny. Eliza from Hamilton.

LAFORTEZA: Girl, it’s not corny. That’s amazing.

RAJ: Eliza has always been my goal.

HARRIS: I don’t think it’s corny but when someone says Eliza, I think of Doolittle from My Fair Lady.

RAJ: Or Regina George from Mean Girls.

LAFORTEZA: Yes.

HARRIS: This is very new-gen. I love it. Hamilton, Eliza. You should do it.

ASHLEY: Which musical has “For my dress has always been my strongest suit”?

HARRIS: Oh, that’s Aida.

ASHLEY: Aida, yeah.

HARRIS: “My Strongest Suit” is one of the great songs. What’s yours?

LAFORTEZA: Oh my god. Kim in Miss Saigon.

HARRIS: Did your mom do that one?

LAFORTEZA: Yes, she was in the West End, the batch after Lea Salonga. And then, I want to play Eponine in Les Miserables. I also want to play Eurydice in Hadestown.

ASHLEY: Ragtime.

HARRIS: Oh, they’re doing that right now at City Center.

ASHLEY: Oh, wow. Let’s go see it.

HARRIS: Yeah, we have to go see it. 

ASHLEY: I love Evita. Eva Peron, she’s a badass.

HARRIS: I think Jamie [Lloyd] was doing Evita.

ASHLEY: Really? I’ll make some calls.

LAFORTEZA: I would want to play Maureen from Rent.

HARRIS: That’s so good.

LAFORTEZA: I want to be her so bad.

SIMONE: Spring Awakening.

HARRIS: Spring Awakening, oh my god!

SIMONE: Where has it gone? It needs to come back.

LAFORTEZA: Heathers.

HARRIS: Okay, should we do a production of Heathers?

ASHLEY: You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown.

HARRIS: Okay, who would you play?

ASHLEY: Oh my God, what’s her name, that Kristen Chenoweth plays?

HARRIS: The little sister?

ASHLEY: Yes, Sally. Sally, yeah.

LAFORTEZA: I want to play Lucy.

HARRIS: I love Sally though. “That’s my new prerogative. That’s my new prerogative.”

LAFORTEZA: I love that song.

HARRIS: Larry, we were just talking about their dream roles. What’s your dream diva role?

LARRY OWENS: Diva role? I want to play Charlie Brown in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. 

HARRIS: I’m dead. And Larry, who was your ensemble crushes? I don’t think we gave Tom [Francis] enough love.

LARRY: No, we can give Tom more love.

HARRIS: Tom is a very special man. I saw the room shift when he disrobed. That was… [laughs]

OWENS: Because it was such a huge, theatrical moment as staged by Jamie Lloyd. It was important to the story. Theatrically shifting.

LAFORTEZA: The leading man was leading.

HARRIS: If you had to tell someone one thing about this musical, you only have one sentence to get them to come see it, what would you say? Because most people don’t like musicals. People are selling musicals as though they’re not musicals. But if you had to get someone who doesn’t see a musical to come see this one, what do you say?

LAFORTEZA: It’s not even like a new dream. She reignited a dream that I thought couldn’t be accomplished anymore. I came into this new thing that I wasn’t dreaming of because I wanted to do musical theater and then I got in a girl group and I was like, “When am I going to get to do what I’ve been wanting to do?” And she just proved that to me.

RAJ: I feel like she also brought a lot of her pop star artistry into this so well. She was very unapologetically herself. It didn’t feel like she was playing a different role, do you know what I mean?

LAFORTEZA: Which is what she just told us. She was like, “Bring your own authentic, unique artistry when being in a group.” And I feel like she just takes herself everywhere that she goes, no matter what role she’s playing, which is such a skill. You can’t be taught that/

HARRIS: What was it like meeting her?

LAFORTEZA: Unreal. It was a dream.

RAJ: Me and Sophia always say that if she had a baby, it would be us.

LAFORTEZA: We’re her daughters.