Montreux Jazz Festival 2025: icons may flock but the music is king

If only we could hear Norma Desmond belt out, “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend, that little tart Betty Schaefer, was hot like me?”

That moment doesn’t come during Nicole Scherzinger’s latest series of performances, which made an entertaining stop Thursday night at Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. The evening felt like two shows in one, musical theater tunes filled most of the night, while the familiar Pussycat Dolls hits dominated the final stretch.

Even so, the mix didn’t feel disjointed. When Scherzinger performed two powerhouse numbers from Sunset Blvd., the stage production that reignited her career, it was clear that her Norma Desmond is far from a tragic relic. The reimagined version she starred in on Broadway and the West End turned Norma into a glamorous, self-aware woman who still knows how to command attention. And it worked.

There’s still a sense of longing among Los Angeles theater fans who never got to see her Sunset run live. Many did make the trip east to witness her Tony-winning turn in late 2024 and early 2025. “You were everything in Sunset!” someone shouted from the audience, a perfect comment for a diva’s big night. The crowd seemed split between those who had already experienced her Broadway performance and those finally getting the chance to see what the buzz was about.

When the Sunset section arrived midway through the concert’s second act, “the show that got me here today,” as she told the audience, With One Look served as the warm-up. The real showstopper was As If We Never Said Goodbye, a moment that recalled Barbra Streisand’s grand interpretation of the same Andrew Lloyd Webber song. As she sang, you could feel the audience itching to leap to their feet, holding their breath until the final note before erupting into applause.

Not long after that peak, Scherzinger swapped elegance for attitude, segueing into the Pussycat Dolls’ Buttons while revealing a sleek, button-free catsuit. Though she now leans toward her stage-actor era, she clearly hasn’t lost her pop-star spark, gliding through familiar choreography with the same energy that once filled arenas.

Nicole Scherzinger at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Oct. 30, 2025.Timothy Norris/Los Angeles Philharmonic

This wasn’t part of a full tour but rather the finale of a three-date run at legendary venues, Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and finally Disney Hall, just one day after being honored at Variety’s Power of Women L.A. event. You can easily imagine her taking this format on the road or setting up a residency. Whether audiences come for the Dolls material or her Broadway ballads, she’d probably win them all over by the end.

The concert opened with an unmistakable statement of intent as she tackled Don’t Rain on My Parade. For someone relatively new to the musical theater spotlight, it was a bold move, practically stepping onto Streisand’s territory. Her performance was strong, though traditional, and from there she loosened up with a sultry take on I Put a Spell on You. She followed it with Diamonds Are Forever, a perfect nod to the greatest Bond theme ever recorded. While Shirley Bassey remains unmatched, Scherzinger handled it impressively, and certainly more convincingly than Doja Cat’s recent Oscar misfire.

The mood shifted when she introduced her first recognizable hit, playfully leading in with, “Y’all look so good, I think I might ‘stickwitu’ forever. That reminds me of a song…” It was a brief nostalgic detour before returning to theater classics. A medley of Sondheim’s Losing My Mind and Not a Day Goes By hinted at the emotional terrain that would define the Sunset segment later on.

For her pre-intermission closer, Scherzinger delivered Maybe This Time from Cabaret, the ultimate anthem for underdogs. While she might not fit today’s trend of casting fragile waifs in the role, her confident, powerhouse take recalled the days when performers aimed for sheer vocal impact. At the end, she injected a touch of humor by crouching near her side table, seemingly searching for something, before triumphantly raising her Tony and Olivier Awards, declaring, “Maybe this time, I’ll win!” She affectionately introduced them as “Laurence and Antoinette.”

Intermission thoughts: You either adore this kind of showbiz extravagance or you don’t. The patter, the bravado, the storytelling, it’s all part of an old-school charm that’s rare these days. Scherzinger feels born for this space between pop stardom and theater royalty. She’s as confident delivering quips between songs as she is nailing coloratura runs. If this marks the beginning of her next era, one that leads to her singing I’m Still Here two decades from now, she’s on the right path.

“The ladies are looking absolutely divine,” she told the crowd, before adding, “A lot of hot men in the house tonight.” She knows how to work a room, whether it’s the posh halls of Carnegie or the lively energy of Royal Albert. “Looks like all the WeHos showed up,” she joked, drawing thunderous laughter.

Her humor stayed sharp throughout. Speaking about her mixed background, she said, “I’m Hawaiian, Filipino, Spanish, Chinese, Polish… Irish 2%… and I’ve also got some English in me. His name is Thom.” The crowd laughed as she gestured toward her fiancé, Thom Evans. Later, she introduced her only original song of the night, Bullshit, explaining, “This is my idea of a love song. It’s about waiting for that special someone to, how do you say, get it together and put a ring on it.” After flashing her engagement ring, she grinned: “Needless to say, he got the message.”

Scherzinger didn’t neglect the audience behind her either. “You’ve got the best seats in the house!” she told the upper balconies early on, then later joked about forgetting they were there. “Oh great, you guys are here; I’d forgotten. Give it up for my surprise party back there.” She grew emotional recalling her connection to Prince, calling him “a big part of who I am — my mentor, my big brother.” Turning away for a moment, she dabbed her eyes and laughed, “Thank God for these tissues.”

Her rendition of Purple Rain honored that bond beautifully. For the crowd’s LGBTQ+ contingent, she offered a powerful take on I Am What I Am, the Jerry Herman anthem from La Cage aux Folles. To please the musical theater purists, she opened her final act with the cheeky Show Off from The Drowsy Chaperone, fully embracing its playful spirit.

Appearing in what looked like a stylish dressing gown, she sipped tea and quipped, “Let me put this down before I spill too much,” before slipping into a more revealing look as the show built toward its sultry finale.

The closing Pussycat Dolls medley found her dancing in black lace and heels, towering in presence and energy. It was pure showgirl glamour, the kind of spectacle that could anchor a Vegas residency without question.

But what lingered most for the Disney Hall audience was that breathtaking Sunset Blvd. sequence, where Scherzinger’s Norma Desmond shimmered once again, this time without the Broadway cameras or heavy dramatics. Instead, she delivered something softer, warmer, and irresistibly magnetic. Norma didn’t have to be a villain that night, because from this dazzling performance, it was already clear that Nicole Scherzinger herself is the real showstopper.