Evita

Jamie Lloyd’s production of the Lloyd Webber/Rice musical fills the London Palladium on a hot evening, famously even spilling onto the balcony which has caused some newspaper pieces as well as social media ‘fuss’. Rachel Zegler, who has just been in the Snow White live action remake, takes the title role and genuinely she is the best thing in the show—not just with the sweet voice of a Disney alum, but raunchy in a production that sexualises almost every character including many of Peron’s military associates.

The staging is limited to an ascending platform, like the seating at a sports arena, and otherwise all is darkness pierced by light. And the volume is set to loud.

The story of Eva Peron’s rise, written in the seventies and sounding every bit like the Englishmen who wrote it, has somehow retained popularity because of the songs and the quality of the casting. Formerly a concept album it has gone as far as finding itself on film and the casting of Latino performers gives it more power. The Tim Rice narrator character, Che, is brought fantastically to life by Diego Andres Rodriguez. Even though all performers have microphones attached to their bodies there are also hand-held mics for a concert feel. Che and Eva steal the microphone from each other in the fantastic chemistry between these two figures. James Olivas as Peron has less chemistry with Eva, which may well be the point.)

The big song for Eva is delivered not on stage to the audience, but from the balcony of the London Palladium to the street below. This has been in the media, and consequently the people who assemble outside at around 9pm numbered in hundreds. Zegler forsakes the leather shorts and crop top for a white gown and jewellery and delivers an incredible rendition of the song. There’s a whole interpretation that this scene is forsaking the wealthy (who have paid for a ticket) to directly address the people… Objectively this is nonsense: ticket pricing is what keeps people from the theatre, not populism and nascent fascism. Jamie Lloyd doesn’t use constructed sets so he’s not going to slide in a balcony in front of the orchestra which sits behind the screen at the top of the stage. It’s not his kind of theatrics, and the Palladium is a magnificent building. The sequence is received really very warmly by the audience, and the theatre staff go to great lengths to tell people that if they leave the theatre they will not be re-admitted. Clearly people have attempted to sneak out and see what it’s like to experience the song as presented. And who can blame them? This is a multi-camera sequence which is ingenious but it’s Rachel Ziegler’s performance that sells it no matter how incredible it is to see hundreds of people in Argyll Street and beyond. Zegler, during an earlier scene where the middle-classes and the military are hurling abuse at her, owns their abuse like a modern political figure might do. From the dancing in leather shorts and cropped top to the elegant manipulation of the populace, it’s just a fantastic performance. You could insist that she performs on stage and not worry about the set and she would still be among the best I’ve seen.