Review Roundup: Rachel Zegler Stars In EVITA, Directed by Jamie Lloyd

Rachel Zegler has taken the West End and its sidewalk by storm in her starring turn as Eva Peron in The Jamie Lloyd Company’s production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s EVITA. Read reviews for the production!

James Olivas portrays Juan Perón opposite Zegler (Eva Perón) and Diego Andres Rodriguez (Che), joined by Aaron Lee Lambert as Agustín Magaldi and Bella Brown as  The Mistress / Alternate Eva. 

The Ensemble are Carl Au, Gabriela Benedetti, Shakara Brown, Damian Buhagiar, Kyeirah D'Marni,  Sally Frith, DeAngelo Jones, Lucas Koch, Natasha Leaver, Michael Lin, Dianté Lodge, Louis  Mackrodt, Mireia Mambo, Mia Mullarkey, Perry O’Dea, Alysha Sontae, Monica Swayne, Jon  Tsouras and Harrison Wilde, with Myla Carmen, Barney Hudson, Nathan Louis-Fernand, Kirsty  Anne Shaw, Ricardo Spriggs and Regan Bailey Walker as Swings. Auora Breslin, Lois Haidar, Siena  Merilind-Wu and Ffion Rosalie Williams share the role of The Child. 

The creative team are Fabian Aloise (Choreographer); Soutra Gilmour (Set and Costume  Designer); Alan Williams (Music Supervisor and Musical Director); Jon Clark (Lighting Designer);  Adam Fisher (Sound Designer); Will Burton CDG (Casting Director); Jim Carnahan (US Casting  Director); Carole Hancock (Wigs, Hair and Make up Designer); Harry Blumenau (Children’s Casting/  Children's Administration); Kate Waters (Fight Director); Lily Mollgaard (Props Supervisor); Ingrid  Mackinnon (Intimacy Coordinator); Rupert Hands (Associate Director); Amy Thornton (Associate  Choreographer); Cory Hippolyte (Resident Director); Paris Green (Resident Choreographer); Rachel  Wingate (Associate Set Designer); Kelsh B-D (Associate Sound Designer); Lucía Sánchez Roldán (Associate Lighting Designer); Rachel Woodhouse (Costume Supervisor); Harry Barker (Assistant  Sound Designer); Andy Barnwell and Rich Weedon for BW Musicians (Orchestral Management) 

EVITA features an iconic score including Don't Cry For Me Argentina, Oh What A Circus, Another Suitcase in Another Hall, and the Oscar-winning You Must Love Me. Fuelled by ambition and passion, Eva Perón rose from poverty to become the most powerful woman in Latin America. A symbol of hope to many Argentines, her star shone brightly as she captured the nation's heart and divided its soul. 

Gary Naylor, BroadwayWorld: Zegler will dominate the headlines and she deserves the accolades and the tumultuous applause on opening night because she sings really well. She also emotes with a smoldering, crowdpleasing intensity. But the show’s concept does not allow her to act. We simply never really discover who EVITA is, what power she held over men, Perón in particular, and what price she paid psychologically, although we do get a Pucciniesque demise. All she has to work with are the songs and three costumes and she’s fighting music mixed far too loud far too often. She has no chance of ever developing a rounded, nuanced Eva.

Arifa Akbar, The Guardian: If you feel denied of the subtleties of story, character and commentary on populist power, you will still have an eye-popping night out. And the balcony scene is a stroke of genius.

Sam Marlowe, The Stage: It knocks the breath from your body and leaves you gasping, every moment taut and vibrating with passionate intensity… It’s a blisteringly modern take on the show – a production that’s articulately in dialogue with our 21st-century world of image manipulation, interchangeable identity, dubious iconography and deep division. And above all, it’s an absolute blast. Unmissable.

Alice Saville, The Independent: You know there’s something deeply twisted under that pretty shiny surface, but, like the audiences of Evita, you’re powerless to resist… This gorgeous sensory overload of a show is its own comment on the rising tide of fascism. Populism is sexy, captivating, overpowering – a way for weary people to escape the dull realities of right and wrong.

Rosemary Waugh, TimeOut London: This is Jamie Lloyd doing what Jamie Lloyd does best: taking something a bit lumpy and trad and thwacking it into fast, furious and fun shape. And it’s not just ‘for the yoof’ showboating… Verdict: he’s Jamie Lloyded ‘Evita’, and it’s great.

David Benedict, Variety: This is, undoubtedly, a technically flawless achievement... But dazzling though it is, there’s something faintly decadent about abandoning the depth of Rice and Lloyd Webber’s strongest achievement for a thrill-ride display.

Clive Davis, The Times: Zegler… is reduced to a blank-eyed marionette for virtually the whole show. Her voice is fine but it has to compete with the musical director Alan Williams’s wildly amplified orchestra... Call it TikTok musical theatre, if you like.

LTR, London Theatre Reviews: This Evita doesn't just rehash the past — it reimagines it. Technically sublime, fiercely performed, and visually magnetic, it offers a fresh take on a classic and establishes Rachel Zegler as a theatrical force to be reckoned with.

Sarah Crompton, WhatsOnStage: Ultimately, like it or loathe it (which some people will), this Evita is an event with a capital E, an assertion of the unique power of theatre to become both story and spectacle, to draw people in... Zegler holds everyone in the palm of her hand, ignoring all distractions... ‘It’s something for all of us.’

Marianka Swain, London Theatre: When Fabian Aloise’s super-athletic choreography… kicks into high gear… it feels like being inside a stadium gig, a football match and a political rally all at once: exhilarating, addictive, ultimately terrifying. This darkly brilliant Evita is bursting with star quality.

Nick Curtis, The Standard: Great theatre can be about many things: star quality, spectacle, the lightning-in-bottle capture of a moment... In this Evita, all those things come triumphantly together.

Greg Stewart, Theatre Weekly: This Evita is not without its flaws — it’s rushed, flashy, and sometimes narratively thin — but it’s also thrilling, stylish, and full of theatrical bravado. Jamie Lloyd’s vision may divide opinion, but it’s never dull.

Houman Barekat, The New York Times: If this “Evita” sometimes has the feel of an extended trailer, that’s because its primary artistic goal is not to tell the story of Eva Perón, or even to say anything profound about authoritarianism, but to celebrate, as loudly as possible, the cultural phenomenon that is “Evita,” the musical. It is an exercise in meta-kitsch, and, on those terms, it succeeds.

Average Rating: 74.6%