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New York Times
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Rachel Zegler Delights in an ‘Evita' for the Masses
'She's a diamond in their dull gray lives,' sings the Argentine president Juan Domingo Perón of his wife in 'Evita,' Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's sung-through musical about Eva Perón. She was a former matinee star whose popularity among the working classes bolstered support for her husband's government, and 'Evita' expresses some skepticism about political populism. Yet a new revival, directed by Jamie Lloyd and running at the London Palladium through Sept. 6, is emphatically populist in its relentless bombast, heavy symbolism and button-pushing grandiosity. The initially moody staging — industrial gray metal stairs, smoke effects, dark costumes — belies the sensory overload ahead: Balloons are popped; lights are turned up blindingly bright; blue and white confetti rain down on the audience. Rachel Zegler ('Snow White' and 'West Side Story'), making her West End debut, is a delight in the title role, strutting bossily in a black leather bra and hot pants while a chorus — representing soldiers or ordinary citizens — cavorts elaborately around her to a brassy tango-inspired soundtrack, delivered by an 18-piece band. (Choreography is by Fabian Aloise, lighting is by Jon Clark and set and costumes are by Soutra Gilmour.) The show begins and ends with Evita's death from cancer, at the age of 33, in 1952. In the intervening two hours she is goaded and reproached in song by Che (Diego Andres Rodriguez), a wisecracking Everyman in a black T-shirt and cargo shorts, who teases Evita for cozying up to an authoritarian leader and sleeping her way to the top. In one song he quips bitterly, 'Don't you just love the smack of firm government?' (For this impertinence, he is later killed — doused with fake blood, then with blue and white paint, the colors of the Argentine flag.) Evita is portrayed as a cynical, ruthless social climber, and the audience is invited to sympathize with the people she hurts along the way. She unceremoniously dumps a boyfriend — the tango singer Agustín Magaldi (played with hangdog charm by Aaron Lee Lambert, who sings beautifully) — once he has ceased to be useful to her. And she breezily steals Perón (James Olivas, physically imposing but stiff — and thus convincingly military) from his girlfriend (Bella Brown), who sings a doleful song before vanishing, never to be seen again. Much preshow hype surrounded Lloyd's decision to stage the famous scene in which Evita sings the show's signature tune, 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina,' on the theater's exterior balcony; members of the public see the spectacle in the flesh, while theatergoers make do with video footage beamed onto a big screen in real time. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Breaking Baz: Red-Hot Rachel Zegler Soars In ‘Evita' London Palladium Previews, Heating Up The Box Office As Chatter Turns To 2027 Broadway Transfer
EXCLUSIVE: Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) is a sensation as her voice soars through the London Palladium's auditorium — and beyond — portraying Eva Perón in Evita, the classic Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd-Webber show directed by Jamie Lloyd. Also, Zegler, all 5-foot-2 of her, is the biggest star in town, with punters adding $200,000 and more to the box office daily since previews began a week ago, bringing the total advance, as of late Friday afternoon UK time, to in excess of $9 million for a 12-week summer run. Broadway might get a taste of Zegler's 'highflying, adored' Evita, as one of the show's songs puts it, in 2027, but more on that farther down the column. More from Deadline Breaking Baz: 'Snow White' Star Rachel Zegler Signs To Play Eva Perón In 'Evita' At London Palladium Breaking Baz: Rapper Stormzy Launches #Merky Films With Role In 'Big Man' & Inks Netflix Deal: "I Want To Do My 10,000 Hours" And Study Acting & Movies, He Says Director Jamie Lloyd On How 'Sunset Blvd.' Goes For The Jugular, 'Evita' Rocks And 'Godot' Was Keanu Reeves' Midnight Dream - The Deadline Q&A Michael Harrison, who produces Evita for the Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals partnership along with the director's Jamie Lloyd Company, declines to discuss the production's box office figures, though he agrees that they're 'healthy.' He asserts that the show's 'gone through the roof with the public,' driven by 'pure word-of-mouth that's nothing to do with normal advertising.' Beaming, he amplifies: 'It's her! It's Rachel. People are talking about her. They're saying her singing is phenomenal. They're loving what Jamie's done with the show.' To be fair, it's also down to Diego Andres Rodriguez's breathtaking Che, James Olivas' energetic portrait of Juan Perón and the super cast and creative team. But yeah, audiences are going wild for Zegler. It's quite something to fully command, as she does, the stage of the historic London Palladium. Harrison notes that audiences at previews, which began June 14, combine those who'd seen Evita before and newcomers. Undoubtedly, the word-of-mouth Harrison refers to has been driven by how Lloyd has chosen to stage the Act 2 opener 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina,' with Zegler performing the popular number live from the Palladium's balcony, free to lucky passersby down below in Argyll Street, which then is broadcast live to the paying audience seated inside. The 9 o'clock moment has, since news spread, become a destination point. Zegler now sings to 800, sometimes up to a thousand, members of the public who roar with approval. Security has been increased to keep the throng attuned to the performance. 'At the first preview, the video shown inside the Palladium didn't show the faces of all the people on the street listening. It does now, and it conveys how Eva's addressing her people from the balcony of the Casa Rosada,' Harrison explains. Now, apparently, there are gasps when the 2,280 seated in the Palladium catch sight of the masses gathered outside. Harrison disagrees with those who say it's unfair to those who have paid good money for tickets while scores get to witness the brilliant coup de théâtre in the public square for naught. The loudest complainers, Harrison suggests, have yet to see the show. 'Audiences inside are elated when they watch Rachel on the big screen,' he says. To a degree, yes. Those experiencing Evita for the first time will know no different. Some of us boomers saw Elaine Paige (recently anointed Dame Elaine), who originated the role in 1978, from the upper, upper circle known as the 'cheap seats' at the Prince Edward Theatre and marveled at her interpretation of the sung address from the Casa Rosada balcony. It was staged by legendary director Hal Prince to be performed inside an auditorium. The effect was electrifying, with sparks embedded into to each and every one of us — sealed in memory forever. Live theatre is about connection between artist and audience. A thespian will utter a phrase or perform a song or a chorus line will dazzle. Or a piece of music, in this case by Lloyd Webber. Once in a while a strange alchemy occurs when words spoken or sung, or actions taken, music played, reaches across the footlights and zaps and zings those who watch in awe. I felt robbed of that emotion when Zegler appeared on the screen. I felt a zap, but I missed the emotional zing of her 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina' while also noting and understanding Lloyd's intentions as a radical interpreter of the art of the musical. Listen, Zegler gives plenty more zing with a Z elsewhere in Evita, and as Jamie Lloyd, who was seated in front of me, exclaimed, 'Rachel sings like an angel, doesn't she?' It's true, she does. And I look forward to hearing her again at official opening night on July 1. The show that I'll see in a few days will be different from the first preview I caught. Every night since, Lloyd and choreographer Fabian Aloise have introduced new changes and will continue to do so up until next weekend. 'That's what previews are for,' as Trevor Nunn (Cats, Les Misérables, Sunset Blvd.) always chimes when he's putting on a show. There's a lot riding on this Evita that's costing north of $6 million for a 12-week limited run. Can Jamie Lloyd pull off another reexamination of an Andrew Lloyd Webber show with the same Olivier- and Tony Award-winning pizazz he did with Sunset Blvd.? Opening night will reveal whether the fixes and tightening will elevate this Evita, a version of which was first directed by Lloyd and the same creative team in 2019 at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Aside from a central piece of Soutra Gilmour's set, this latest iteration is different in a 1,001 ways. And if Zegler manages to excel beyond her fab first preview performance, then, well, let the superlatives fly. They already are from producer Harrison, as you would expect. He hails Zegler as a 'proper leading lady' who is 'brilliant on stage, and off.' What Harrison meant by 'and off' is that apparently Zegler's been 'delightful' with cast, crew, backstage and front-of-house staff. I often scoff when I hear that kinda guff, except that I saw it for myself at a relaxed, low-key, post-first-preview drinks party. Zegler entered the room and immediately headed over to castmates, hugging them with such an infectious burst of warmth that even a far-removed onlooker was moved. What's next? Evita can't extend at the Palladium because the venue's booked solid. People on the show bitch-slapped me with their eyes when I asked about a transfer to Broadway. It's way too early, they wail. Next year's out, they cry, because Rice wants to concentrate on the forthcoming Broadway run of Chess, his musical with ABBA's Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, starring Aaron Tveit, Lea Michele and Nicholas Christopher. And Lloyd Webber will be busy helping to usher The Jellicle Ball, the Perelman Performing Arts Center's radical adaptation of Cats, to bigger audiences in New York. Then Jamie Lloyd has other productions both here in London and in NYC to direct. There's intense talk of Zegler playing the Julie Andrews part in The Sound of Music at Lincoln Center. But, hold on to the 'Do-re-mi' of it all, that's not in any shape or form confirmed. So don't cry for Evita coming to Broadway in 2026. However, prospects are brighter, positively glowing in fact, for 2027. Harrison, when I saw him today, reluctantly hints that there's merit in my Broadway theory. 'But let's get to opening night,' he sighs. 'We're still in previews working on the show day and night and yesterday we had a matinee, so let us get on with it. Then we'll consider the possibilities of Broadway. And you've got to consider aligning the availabilities,' he remarks reasonably. Just realized that there's been no mention — until now! — of Disney's Snow White movie, the experience of which shook Zegler and the studio. More so those who paid to see it in theaters. Who cares about that film, anyway? It should never, ever have been greenlighted in the first place. Only Zegler with that voice of hers rises above la merde. Only to then endure opprobrium being unfairly dumped on her from wimps who should've known — and who should've behaved — better toward her when the Disney dud was released. What Zegler went through on Snow White has only served to embolden her. She's the real deal in this astute study of objectification at the Palladium. Somehow it's quite right and proper that she should triumph in Evita because what she actually suffered during the Snow White saga was a case of rampant misogyny and hypocrisy. Now she rules. Best of Deadline Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds A Full Timeline Of Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' Feud In Court, Online & In The Media 'Poker Face' Season 2 Guest Stars: From Katie Holmes To Simon Hellberg
Telegraph
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Evita: Rachel Zegler is perfection in a dazzling revival
After enjoying huge success with his stripped-back Sunset Boulevard, Jamie Lloyd works fresh, technically-dazzling magic on another Andrew Lloyd Webber classic. For this summer's West End run of his radically reconceived Evita, first seen to acclaim at Regent's Park in 2019, the director has pulled off a casting coup. Rachel Zegler, the star of Disney's doomed live-action Snow White, is (for better or worse) one of the year's most talked-about Hollywood names – and here makes her UK stage debut as the titular Argentinian 'spiritual leader'. The result is a total triumph, dominated by a powerhouse, reputation-restoring performance from Zegler, 24, and stamina-testing choreography by Fabian Aloise (who deserves equal credit with Lloyd). Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's musically gorgeous and gear-shifting 1978 account of Eva Perón's whirlwind life (1919-1952) – from provincial upstart to sainted First Lady of Argentina – thrives on emphasising what a circus it all was. But the wow-factor is knowingly pushed to the max here, both on the Palladium stage and on its outdoor balcony, where Zegler draws nightly crowds in the street below for her impactful mid-show rendition of Evita's signature tune, Don't Cry For Me Argentina, which is captured live by an unobtrusive camera crew and projected on to a wide screen inside. Showing once again both the presence and vocal prowess that she brought to her break-out turn as María in Steven Spielberg's 2021 film of West Side Story, Zegler makes Lloyd Webber's music sound better than ever. Her talent demands our rapture; equally, her mass seduction of the audience feels carefully plotted, enhancing the show's thematic thrust. Lloyd ensures the evening stokes a cult of personality – combining whistle-stop biography with a parable for our age of showbiz politics. With its loud amplification and Soutra Gilmour's monumental set – a potentially treacherous flight of bleachers crowned by an illuminated EVITA sign – the show has the oomph of a rock gig and attains the fervour of a political rally, complete with fusillades of confetti. It's a continual button-pushing spectacle, from the mournful posturing of the opening funeral where the dry-ice flows as thick as tear-gas. Diego Andres Rodriguez's beautifully expressive Che (loosely, Guevara) is a cynical onlooker drawn into Evita's story; later we see him stripped to his underpants – a very Jamie Lloyd touch – and doused in the blue and white colours of Argentina's flag in paint-like goo. It's quite a scantily clad night, in fact: Zegler's Evita descends from on high dressed only in a black bra, hot pants and knee-high boots. The star is effectively playing an actress, whose profile surged when she hitched herself to the politically ascendant military man Juan Perón (played by the imposing James Olivas). We try to fathom Evita's every look and gesture: is her fixity and drive reflective of a steely desire to propel herself to the fore – or of an inner resolve to champion the people? It helps to have mugged up a bit on the historical chronology, but the piece is fundamentally a psychological riddle. Exuding self-possession, Zegler can dance nimbly in step with the tireless entourage – delivering suggestive hip-thrusts, gyrations and self-caresses, especially during the big, infectious, lushly Latin numbers (Buenos Aires, and And the Money Kept Rolling In). But she is most transfixing while doing the least: moving close to Olivas's Juan in the tango-tinged flirtation number I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You, or standing in defiant contempt as society snobs whisper against her. The close-up camerawork (cutting between mounted positions and hand-held footage) catches a tactical tear as she sings Don't Cry For Me Argentina – nigh-transformed into a Disney princess in her fairytale ball-gown – then the flash of triumph as the public gathered outside the Palladium applaud on cue. It's Lloyd's masterstroke. Evita could easily be too cool for us to care about – yet the go-for-broke momentum reveals redeeming cracks of vulnerability. The demand to be adored eats Evita up, before cancer claims her. We get a glimpse of doubt as she sits alone at a dressing table and takes off her blonde wig. Then those fake tears turn to the real, poignant thing after she sits slumped, cradled by a fickle Perón, and sings the night's climactic weepie You Must Love Me. As indeed, we must. This ranks as an all-time great revival. Viva Evita! Viva Zegler!
The Guardian
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Everybody's talking about Jamie Lloyd: the explosive rise of superstar director masterminding Evita
Rarely can a balcony have caused such a kerfuffle. But the row about the extramural staging of Don't Cry for Me Argentina in Evita at the London Palladium is a sign of its director's increasing celebrity status. Indeed I'm tempted to rephrase a number from an earlier Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical: 'Jamie Lloyd Superstar, Do you think you're what they say you are?' What, in short, does it tell us about our theatrical culture that this puckishly likable director has become a figure famed on both sides of the Atlantic? His beginnings, as a recent Vogue feature pointed out, were relatively modest. He grew up in rural Dorset, was turned on to live theatre by seeing Michael Jackson on tour and attended the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. But, right from the start, there was something there. The first production of his that I saw was The Caretaker, which in 2007 transferred from the Sheffield Crucible to what was then the Tricycle in London. Two things made it original: the use of a creepy score by Ben and Max Ringham to give the play a film noir feel and the insistent presence of Nigel Harman's Mick reminding us that the work is about the fraternal bond between him and the brain-damaged Aston, which Pinter's intrusive hobo fails to understand. Over the next few years I followed Lloyd's career with interest and was struck by several things. One was his trust in actors and his ability to extend their range. There was Zawe Ashton in the title role in Oscar Wilde's Salome at Hampstead theatre dancing to a ghetto-blaster; Douglas Hodge in Inadmissible Evidence at the Donmar turning John Osborne's disintegrating hero into a quasi-Beckettian figure; and Katherine Kelly, best known for Coronation Street, playing Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer, with a rustic graciousness. For a young director, Lloyd had a rare faith in the language and setting of classic plays: that production of Oliver Goldsmith's comedy at the National was robustly true to the late-18th century just as his Duchess of Malfi at the Old Vic was unequivocally Jacobean. Without distorting authorial intention, Lloyd also made you look again at a work you thought you knew. By casting Elena Roger, who had played Evita and Piaf, as the heroine in the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical Passion at the Donmar in 2010, Lloyd changed the whole balance of the show: Roger's sickly Fosca, instead of being an ugly duckling, was a lonely woman embodying the power of unconditional love. Significantly, much of Lloyd's best early work was done when he was an associate at the Donmar working under the tutelage of Michael Grandage. Even when he branched out and formed the Jamie Lloyd Company in 2013 there was still much to admire. I may have disliked his Doctor Faustus, which became a pointless satire on the lure of showbiz stardom, but there was good work with James McAvoy, including Macbeth and Peter Barnes's The Ruling Class, and notable revivals of Pinter's The Hothouse and The Homecoming. It was, however, a six-month season in 2018-19 of all of Pinter's one-act plays that for me was proof of Lloyd's quality. For a start, the season demolished the myth that Pinter's shorter pieces are inferior to his full-length plays: what became abundantly clear was that, whatever the chosen form, Pinter was preoccupied with analysing the roots of power. Lloyd also attracted an astonishing range of actors: Antony Sher for One for the Road, Tamsin Greig for Landscape and A Kind of Alaska, Martin Freeman and Danny Dyer for The Dumb Waiter, Jane Horrocks and Luke Thallon for The Room. Lloyd's own productions were often revelatory. Having myself wrestled with the difficulty of directing Party Time, in which a wealthy elite remain oblivious to a round-up of dissidents, I was staggered by Lloyd's courage in having the characters simply line up facing the audience in a cocktail party from hell. Even more impressive was his production of Betrayal, with Tom Hiddleston, Zawe Ashton and Charlie Cox, which stripped the action of circumstantial detail and reminded us that there are three sides to an emotional triangle: in other words, that the deceived partner is always present in the imagination. Betrayal transferred to Broadway and was nominated for numerous Tony awards, since when Lloyd's star has been in the ascendant on both sides of the Atlantic. While that is welcome, it also means that in the last six years Lloyd has forged his own particular style: a hi-tech minimalism that involves abandonment of scenery, heavily miked actors and ubiquitous cameras. It worked well for his version of Sunset Boulevard partly because Nicole Scherzinger gave a dazzling performance and partly because the musical is about the narcissism of the film industry. As the cameras tracked every gesture of the actors, I was reminded of Billy Wilder's quip on seeing the original stage production: 'It'll make a good movie.' But similar techniques were used less happily in Lloyd's production of Romeo and Juliet. The idea that for their first encounter Tom Holland's Romeo should be alone on stage and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers's Juliet should be partying in the theatre foyer struck me as absurd. Lloyd's belief in amplified sound also had fatal consequences in his Drury Lane Tempest. Instead of the tonal variety of the human voice we got an homogenised sound in which, with the exception of Selina Cadell's Gonzalo, it was difficult to tell who was speaking. I thought back wistfully to the 1957 production of The Tempest at that theatre in which the unaided voices of John Gielgud, Alec Clunes and Robert Harris had a distinct and beautiful resonance. Lloyd is a man of undoubted talent, and technology has a place in modern theatre. But he is in danger of falling back on a formula and, without a strong producer behind him, succumbing to the modern cult of the director. Ideally, theatre is a coalition of all the talents in which writer, actor and director are all working to the fullest possible realisation of the work in question. I look forward to seeing how Evita plays at the London Palladium but we should remember that Everybody's Talking About Jamie is the title of a musical and not a recipe for theatrical success. Evita is at the Palladium, London, until 6 September
Daily Mail
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Rachel Zegler praised for defending bodyguard after run-in with fan
Rachel Zegler is being praised for leaping to the defense of her bodyguard after a fan took issue with something he did. The incident was captured in a TikTok video uploaded on Saturday and showed the 24-year-old actress telling a fan as she signed autographs: 'He is protecting me.' When the fan answered back that it was 'too much, no need to shove', Rachel stood firm, adding: 'He works here and he's helping me, because crowds are very intimidating.' SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO When the autograph seeker pushed back, she said: 'I know babe, and I love you so much, but please don't disrespect my Danny, okay?' After seeing the clip, fans rushed to stick up for the actress who stood up for her bodyguard. ''Please don't disrespect my Danny' is everything,' wrote one social media user. Another added: 'Having to gentle parent adults about the necessity of a body guard is crazy.' A third chimed in: 'She's such a Disney princess (literally).' Rachel is currently starring in Evita at the London Palladium. The revival of the Tony winning musical by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice opened on June 14. In an interesting twist, when Rachel has to sing Don't Cry For Me Argentina, she steps out on to the balcony at the Palladium where any passersby can hear her, while the performance is streamed onto a screen in the theater. And while some may think the 24-year-old Zegler is too young to play the former First Lady of Argentina, history records Eva Peron died at age 33. Rachel told Vogue: 'It's one of those roles for women in musical theater that has everything you could possibly want to do as a performer. 'You get to sing your face off, you get to dance, and it's a really meaty acting part where you go through 18 years of someone's life, from the age of 15 until her death.' Speaking of the controversial real-life Evita, she said: 'To this day in Argentina, people revere her or they revile her. Yet she made such an impact. I think it is wonderful when pieces turn to the audience and ask them how they feel.' Her 12-week run opened on June 14 and was scheduled to end on September 6.
