NEED TO KNOW
- Sundown Boulevard star Tom Francis performed his remaining Broadway efficiency on July 6
- Nicole Scherzinger gave an emotional tribute at curtain name, calling him “Broadway’s beefcake” and “our West Finish surprise”
- The pair have carried out collectively for the reason that present’s 2023 London debut and share the identical birthday
Tom Francis has left the constructing.
The Olivier Award winner and Tony nominee, 26, took his remaining bow in Broadway’s hit revival of Sundown Blvd. on Sunday, July 6. And whereas his departure was a celebratory second for all Francis has completed, it additionally marked an emotional goodbye for his solid mates, particularly main woman Nicole Scherzinger.
“Thanks a lot. I simply wish to say a couple of phrases, if that’s okay with you,” Scherzinger instructed the viewers from the stage of the St. James Theatre in New York Metropolis after curtain name. “At present is a really bittersweet day for me and our Sundown Boulevard household. Tonight was the ultimate efficiency for our very personal Tom Francis.”
“He’s our West Finish surprise, Broadway’s beefcake,” she continued, drawing cheers from the group. “Olivier Award winner, Tony Award nominee. I wished to take a second to have fun you tonight, Tom, and the sunshine you dropped at me and the remainder of our firm — not solely right here, however since 2023 again in London once we first opened, two years in the past.”
Francis starred reverse Scherzinger as Joe Gillis within the stripped-down, noir-inspired manufacturing of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical directed by Jamie Lloyd.
The revival transferred to Broadway in October 2024 following a buzzed-about run on London’s West Finish, the place Francis rapidly gained discover for his powerhouse voice, emotional depth and — as Scherzinger joked — a jaw-dropping physique.
“You undoubtedly are my brother from one other mom,” Scherzinger added, nothing the 2 are born on the identical day!. “I really like you a lot, and I do know I communicate on behalf of all of us: we love you a lot.”
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She went on to thank Francis “for sharing your expertise, and your pleasure, and your muscle groups with all of us right here and everybody out on forty fourth Road, Schubert Alley” (a nod to his notorious Act 2 walkabout).
“I, together with everybody else, we are going to miss you very a lot,” she mentioned. “However we want you the very best of luck in your new journey. Thanks a lot. We love you a lot.”
Scherzinger, 47, stays with Sundown Blvd. by its scheduled restricted run, which ends on Sunday, July 20. The Pussycat Dolls singer and Masked Singer panelist has earned the very best evaluations of her profession for her Broadway debut, in addition to a 2024 Tony Award win for Greatest Main Actress in a Musical.
As for Francis’ position, starting July 8 and thru the tip of the run, Pierre Marais will play Joe.
“It has been an honor to see Tom remodel into a real Broadway main man. He and Nicole have led this Broadway firm with humor, compassion, and love,” Lloyd mentioned in an announcement. “I’m thrilled to see what’s subsequent for his exceptional profession and I’m honored to have performed a small half in introducing him to New York audiences.”
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Francis is subsequent slated to star alongside Nicholas Galitzine, Invoice Skarsgård and Ray Nicholson in The Mosquito Bowl, a brand new Netflix movie from Friday Evening Lights director Peter Berg. The World Battle II drama — based mostly on Buzz Bissinger’s bestseller of the identical title — tells the true story of 4 prime faculty soccer stars who enlist within the Marines after Pearl Harbor and play in a single remaining, legendary sport earlier than the lethal invasion of Okinawa.
The actor, who’s courting Maia Reficco and had a memorable run within the remaining season of You earlier this yr, beforehand instructed ipromiseyoumedia that he was feeling anxious about life after Broadway.
“I am coming to the tip of this period of Sundown Blvd. and I do not know what I will do subsequent — I do not know the place I will dwell, the place I will work, something,” Francis mentioned. “And in different points of my life, once I’m in a gradual state of affairs, I am usually fairly chill. However I am not nice with change so in these moments, I overthinking issues and that is undoubtedly what’s taking place to me now.”
“It should be exhausting to say goodbye, however I am actually happy with the work,” he added.
Tickets for Sundown Blvd. are actually on sale.
