Nicole Scherzinger had Carnegie Hall in the palm of her hand.
Dripping in diamonds, the Pussycat Doll turned Broadway phenomenon took center stage on Wednesday, October 8, for her first-ever concert at the prestigious New York City venue, where she’d go on to receive a whopping seven standing ovations throughout the evening.
Taylor Swift may be the showgirl of the moment, but for an hour and 45 minutes, Scherzinger, 47, was the epitome of the word as she soared through an 18-track setlist that included dazzling covers of classic show tunes, rousing cuts from her Sunset Blvd. soundtrack and, yes, a roof-raising encore of the pop hits that made her a household name in the mid-2000s. Talk about range.
Scherzinger opened her show — part of a three-night-only run that she debuted at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Monday, October 6, and will conclude at Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall on October 30 — with Funny Girl‘s “Don’t Rain on My Parade” before tearfully taking a moment to soak it all in.
“I have been so blessed to have had so many dreams come true these past few years, but I don’t know if I ever dreamed this big,” she marveled. “Ever since I was a little girl, I said, ‘One day. One day I’m going to perform at the Carnegie Hall.’”
Scherzinger’s first act focused on jazzy musical numbers like Shirley Bassey‘s “Diamonds Are Forever” and Follies‘ “Losing My Mind,” while the second took a more personal approach; in addition to reviving Sunset‘s “With One Look” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” she paid tribute to her late mentor Prince with “Purple Rain” and debuted an original tune about not so patiently waiting for her now-fiancé, Thom Evans, to propose, which she hilariously titled “Bulls***.” (Scherzinger later acknowledged that it’s been “84 years” since she released music but promised “something” is on the way.)
During the concert, Scherzinger’s sense of humor was on display just as much as her powerhouse vocals. At one point, while listing her ancestral roots, the Hawaiian-born singer crudely joked that she “also has a little English in me — and his name is Thom.” Elsewhere, she pulled her Tony and Olivier Awards seemingly out of thin air and proudly held them up to the crowd while belting the final note of Cabaret‘s “Maybe This Time.”
For her last act, Scherzinger ditched the sparkly gowns and jewelry for a sheer bodysuit to run through the Pussycat Dolls’ “Buttons,” “When I Grow Up” and “Don’t Cha” followed by her 2011 solo banger “Don’t Hold Your Breath.” Carnegie Hall has a strict no-phone policy, but that went out the window the second the medley began. Fans of all ages were up on their feet dancing and videoing the woman of the hour, who — much like her Sunset character, Norma Desmond — thrives when the cameras are on her.
With a set this wonderfully chaotic, you may think at first that this couldn’t possibly be the same room in which Judy Garland famously carried out the greatest night in show business. And yet, it made so much sense.
