Evita Sings on a Balcony, Fork Found in Kitchen
It’s a day that ends in -y, so Rachel Zegler must be finding herself in yet another controversy not of her making. This time, it’s the theater-going public of London vs. Jamie Lloyd. The punters are upset that “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” arguably the most famous song in Evita is getting broadcast to the paying audience, while randos on the street get the live performance. Evita is singing to the masses, ignoring the richie riches who payed to see her. Likely place for her to be.
What is all the hubbub about?
The Guardian calls the new revival of Evita starring Rachel Zegler “the hottest ticket in the West End right now,” with folks shilling out up to £250 (about $335 at time of publication) a seat. Now imagine you’ve spent that much cash only to watch a simulcast of the play’s most famous song. The only song in the whole musical that regularly gets done for karaoke. In fact, you have a better chance of seeing Rachel Zegler sing “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” at karaoke than sitting inside the London Palladium.
Does it make sense, dramaturgically?
Arguably, yes. Evita is about a charismatic woman who loved and was loved by the descamisados — the underclass who revolted and put Eva Perón husband, fascist dictator Juan Perón, in power. “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” is about how she hasn’t lost her poor girl roots and is still down with the people. So singing the song to the people of London and forsaking the people who can afford a $300 theater ticket is kind of on-theme.
Then again, people don’t save up for a night of theater, only to be told they’re the privileged elites whose blood will run in the streets when the rev comes. No one likes to hear that on a nice night out. People also argue that this is one of director Jamie Lloyd’s main gimmicks, which are perhaps wearing thin.
So Jamie Lloyd does this a lot?
Lloyd has been fucking with the proscenium for a while, going back to at least how he ended Jessica Chastain’s Broadway version of A Doll’s House. That is, with her walking out of the Hudson Theater and onto the street. Then there’s Lloyd’s Broadway production of Sunset Boulevard, which had Joe sing the titular number while walking along West 44th street. TikTok had a lot of fun staging their own “Sunset Boulevard” renditions in places such as Muppets Courtyard (rip) at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
But the AV club multimedia experience is just one of Lloyd’s hallmarks. Through his revivals — A Doll’s House, Romeo & Juliet, and Cyrano de Bergerac among them — tend to feature minimal staging, and modern (also minimal) costuming. Behold:
If there’s one thing you can depend on in life it’s a male cast members in black boxer briefs covered in slime in a Jamie Lloyd curtain call https://t.co/Kb6Z1yQqCo pic.twitter.com/VnvP7yioRQ
— Tom Zohar (@TomZohar) June 15, 2025
What’s with the goo? Why is anyone covered in goo at the end of Evita?
Yeah, why is someone covered in goo at the end of Evita? The en-gooed cast member appears to be playing Che, the character who acts as Vox populi/show’s conscience who explains that, actually, fascism is bad even when hot girls do it. Does the “Waltz for Eva and Che” end with some sort of sploshing incident? Does Eva’s embalming go horribly, horribly wrong? Unclear.
Can we extrapolate what Jamie Lloyd’s revivals of other great works of theater would look like?
Funny you should ask, because social media has been hypothesizing. The “Jamie Lloyd’s ___” meme had boffo box office on theater Twitter.
Jamie Lloyd's Avenue Q https://t.co/eNcpWEgg3R pic.twitter.com/WpPE3AyKVg
— Jamie (@Jamie_VonShtupp) June 15, 2025
Jamie Lloyd’s Oh Mary pic.twitter.com/PnbjfP1zL1
— mary (@elaine_stritch) June 18, 2025
jamie lloyd presents sondheim’s 80th birthday concert pic.twitter.com/uhLFCVUu3b
— garry p (@garryp_123) June 17, 2025
Jamie Lloyd’s Phantom of the Opera https://t.co/dQKdom2cpC pic.twitter.com/hjBAoPESOi
— adam patla (@apat10) June 15, 2025
Has Patti Lupone weighed in?
Thankfully, not yet. She probably does have something to say about Zegler’s arm position during the Big Number, as she waxed philosophic about Madonna’s in her memoir.
Related