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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Arifa Akbar

Evita review – Rachel Zegler is phenomenal but Jamie Lloyd’s rock show drowns out the story

Rachel Zegler as Eva Perón.
Steely … Rachel Zegler as Eva Perón. Photograph: Marc Brenner

Director Jamie Lloyd has outraged some theatregoers, who evidently feel short-changed after paying good money to see Rachel Zegler as Eva Perón. In one scene, she wanders off stage and on to an outward-facing balcony to sing a magnetic reprise of Don’t Cry for Me Argentina to the gathered crowd outside the theatre.

What are these grumps complaining about? Not long ago, Lloyd staged Romeo and Juliet in the West End, but here is a balcony scene like no other. It makes for a sensational moment, when Perón triumphantly addresses the crowd on her husband Juan’s election victory. It is 360-degree theatre, for the rich inside (who see it on a video feed) and for the “hoi polloi” outside – very fitting for Perón given her disdain for the wealthy.

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