Sunset Blvd. musical soundtrack competing for Number 1 on Official Compilations Chart

The original soundtrack for the musical adaption of Sunset Blvd. starring Nicole Scherzinger is currently battling to reach Number 1 on the Official Compilations Chart.

After becoming a sensation on the West End, Sunset Blvd. (which is a minimalistic re-imagining of the original Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, itself a stage adaption of the classic 1950 film noir directed and written by Billy Wilder) could top the Official Compilations Chart for the first time this week.

Its closest competition? None other than the soundtrack of The Greatest Showman, showing no signs of slowing down since its release all the way back in 2017 (!). 

Staged by acclaimed director Jamie Lloyd, Sunset Blvd. stars Scherzinger (in a role that has completely re-energised her career, following her hiatus as a pop star following truncated Pussycat Dolls reunion) as Norma Desmond, a faded starlet who entraps a fame-hungry screenwriter into helping her stage a comeback. 

In the original film, Desmond is portrayed as a vain and vacuous diva, trapped in the fading shadow of her past. What distinguishes Scherzinger's portrayal is a clear empathy for the character, who is just as much as victim of society's changing tides and its views against aging women as she is a master manipulator seeking to get the glory and fame she thinks was denied her. 

A proper definitive turn for Scherzy, she's received wall-to-wall acclaim for her film noir heel-turn, she won the prestigious Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical this year, and the show's move to Broadway in the States has seen her pegged for victory at the Tony Awards too. EGOT incoming alongside a Number 1, perhaps?

You can't keep a Doll down!

As a member of the Pussycat Dolls, earned two UK Number 1 singles - 2005's Don't Cha with Busta Rhymes and Stickwitu - and a further six Top 10 singles, as well as three Top 10 albums; 2005's PCD (7), 2008's Doll Domination (4) and 2009's Doll Domination - The Mini Collection (9).

As a solo artist, Scherzinger released two LPs; 2011's eclectic club record Killer Love (8) and 2014's Big Fat Lie (17). She achieved one solo UK Number 1 single, 2011's wistful banger Don't Hold Your Breath, and what a tune that was.