Rachel Zegler will make her West End stage debut in ‘Evita’ at the London Palladium

Superstar director Jamie Lloyd’s shows don’t always star massive celebrities, but it’s fair to say that you’d have to go back to the pre-pandemic era to find one that didn’t.

So when it was announced that his superb 2019 Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita would be transferring to the huge London Palladium for the summer it did at least beg the question as to who would be starring as iconic Argentine politician Eva Perón. Last time out it was the talented but relatively obscure US performer Samantha Pauly. But the Palladium is a lot bigger, the run is a lot longer, and Lloyd is a much bigger deal these days.

Anyway, long story short, screen star of the moment Rachel Zegler will follow in the footsteps of the likes of Madonna, Elaine Paige and Patti Lupone to star as Perón.

It caps a busy spell in the Gen-Z star’s life: following the recent conclusion of her Broadway debut in a lively Romeo + Juliet, Zegler is currently on the promotional trail for her new Disney project, a live action update of Snow White in which she stars as the eponymous put upon princess (the film has generated various controversies, which you can read about here if that floats your boat).

And now she’s making her West End and professional musical theatre debut at the Palladium, though absolutely no need to worry her lungs aren’t up to it – she first came to global attention via the songs on her YouTube channel, which led to her award-nominated breakthrough role in Stephen Spielberg’s West Side Story.

Evita, if you’re not aware, is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best musical and his finest collaboration with his most famous lyricist Tim Rice. It is not really the ideal place to learn about actual Argentine history, but it’s a heartfelt and – in Lloyd’s hands anyway – witty drama about a woman’s rise to power against colossal odds and considerable romantic conflict. Like a lot of Webber musicals it can be pretty chintzy, but Lloyd is a master of blowtorching off the dated bits off the maestro’s shows, most notably via his titanic production of Sunset Boulevard, which is still playing on Broadway.

There are a couple of juicy further roles in the show, in the form of the men in Evita’s life, Ché and Colonel Peron. It’s possible more big names will follow, but Lloyd tends to announce his celebrity performers up front and fill the cast out with relatively unknown talent.

The production will be based on Lloyd’s outdoor 2019 version rather than definitely the same, but for a flavour of what it’ll be like, read our review.

Evita runs at the London Palladium Jun 14-Sep 6. Buy tickets here.

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