Written by JILL LAWLESS
London (AP) One of the most significant scenes in a recent staging of Evita takes place off-stage.
Rachel Zegler, who plays Argentine first lady Eva Per n, appears on an outdoor balcony at the London Palladium halfway through the performance and sings Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina, to anyone who happens to be walking by below. The crowd inside watches the act via video.
Since the show’s previews started this week, word has gone swiftly, and hundreds of people have congregated outside the iconic location in London’s West End theater to take in the Snow Whitestar’s complimentary serenade.
“It makes for an extraordinary moment in my musical about a woman who rose from poverty to power and was adored by the masses,” said Andrew Lloyd Webber, the show’s composer.
“It’s really exciting in the theater because you see her with a real large crowd all of a sudden, which isn’t possible onstage,” Lloyd Webber told The Associated Press on Thursday. Although some people may be unhappy that she hasn’t performed it live in a theater, I believe that the theatricality of employing film in that way will vastly surpass any disappointment.
Some ticket buyers, who paid up to 245 pounds ($330) for a seat, have expressed dissatisfaction at director Jamie Lloyd’s choice to have the musical’s most well-known tune sung offstage.
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Lloyd has already employed this tactic. Star Tom Holland played a pivotal role on the theater roof in his production of Romeo and Juliet, and he had a character in Sunset Boulevard sing a song while strolling down the street outside the theater.
Carl Woodward, a theater blogger, told the BBC that he could see why some theatergoers who had paid for a ticket felt a little let down because, to some, going to the theater is only something they do once a year.
Lloyd Webber, however, referenced a Times of London editorial post that stated that the gesture is somewhat in line with Eva Perenn’s wishes, as people are genuinely enjoying her enormous anthem, so to speak, at no cost.
This report was aided by Lizzie Knight.
