A Month After Her Norma Desmond Debut, Rashidra Scott Is Still Grateful

In the same season that Audra McDonald is tackling the behemoth of Rose in “Gypsy;” that Adrienne Warren is Broadway’s first-ever Cathy in “The Last Five Years;” that Lencia Kebede is the first Black woman to play Elphaba full-time in “Wicked” — Rashidra Scott is making history of her own.

On March 4, 2025, Scott made her Norma Desmond debut in “Sunset Boulevard” after joining the cast as the role’s standby on January 20. The evening marked the first time a Black woman portrayed the role on Broadway. The two previous Main Stem mountings of “Sunset Boulevard” both featured Glenn Close as Norma. Betty Buckley took over the role on Broadway after her critically appraised run in London. She was followed by Elaine Paige and understudy Karen Mason. Diahann Carroll played the role of Norma in the 1995 Canadian production, but not on the Main Stem.

Scott’s first planned performance as Norma was slated to be April 20 — and she’ll still take the stage at the St. James Theatre that day. But in a last-minute turn of events, she made her Norma debut about six weeks ahead of time — and hardly missed a beat. The audience was with her every step of the way; through the Jamie Lloyd-helmed production’s shifty video sequences and complex Fabian Aloise choreography (which had Scott tumbling on the ground at times!). Scott was met with rapturous applause throughout the evening, including lengthy ovations after “With One Look” and Act Two’s showstopper, “As If We Never Said Goodbye.”

Speaking to BroadwayWorld a few weeks after the fact, Scott reflected on how monumental that day was — but how she was ready to go.

“This whole process I've just let myself play in rehearsal and discover. I mean, I felt ready. I had my put-in back in January. I've known the show,” Scott said. She was especially grateful to have been in understudy rehearsals and to have recently done a vacation swing put-in as Norma. “I could not have been more prepared and felt more taken care of in that moment,” she said of her debut. “It was just about going out there and trusting what I've created and what we worked on and just doing it — and it felt so good.”

In “Sunset,” Scott succeeded previous standby Caroline Bowman. Scott took the stage in place of Mandy Gonzalez, the Norma Desmond alternate who normally performs on Tuesday evenings. Nicole Scherzinger plays the role of Norma at all other performances.

Scott is no stranger to Broadway, having appeared most recently in the 2021 Tony Award-winning revival of “Company” as Susan. Her other Main Stem credits include “Ain’t Too Proud,” “Beautiful The Carole King Musical,” “Sister Act,” “Finian’s Rainbow,” “Hair,” and “Avenue Q.” 

Despite her success, Scott admittedly has “always been awful at receiving compliments.” But the role of Norma Desmond isn’t one that can be shied away from on any night — especially not on a monumental night like when she debuted in the role. Several cues in the show hinge on the audience’s reaction and applause. That forced Scott to take a breath and bask in the celebratory nature of the evening.

“There were a couple of moments in that where I had to self-talk myself and I said, ‘It's okay to accept this. You have worked hard. It is okay. This is our support and this is all love,’” she shared. Scott then recalled telling herself to open her eyes, forcing herself to scan the audience and find the faces of those who showed up to support her.

“So to just stand there and have nothing else to do but stand there — but to also be in a place with myself where I could actually open my eyes and have a moment of taking it in and actually feeling it and welcoming it … I don't know that I have the words for what that felt like and what that was, but it was really special.”

She added: “I've said to a lot of people, I really do credit my therapy journey and the freedom that working through all of that has in my life.”

Still, the enormity of the day wasn’t lost on her as she tackled one of the most iconic female roles in Broadway history; a real-life movie star who had always been portrayed by a white woman. Scott noted that Norma’s is “a very real story of a woman whose career was cut off in her prime for reasons beyond her control, and she cannot let go of that moment in her life. That's a universal story.” Scott also noted that there were Black silent film stars with a side of that story that is never told.”

“There's a part of me that's like, this is for all of the Black women, all of the Black artists and creatives who — because they were born and lived in a time where we were not given the same opportunities where we were not seen, where the doors weren't opened for us without us kicking them down and or creating them for ourselves only for them to be destroyed — it's for all of that,” Scott said. “It's way beyond just me.”

“I would guarantee you Pearl Bailey never in a million years thought that 50 or 60 years later, another Black woman would be standing on the same stage at the St. James [Theatre] making history as the first Black woman to take over a predominantly and notoriously white role,” Scott said, referring to the 1968 all-Black production of “Hello, Dolly!” that earned Bailey a special Tony Award.

“It's an honor. It's a privilege.
It's very special,” Scott continued. “It's a responsibility that I do not carry lightly.”

“Sunset Boulevard” is running at the St. James Theatre through July 13.

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