EVITA West End Reviews

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 a...

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.

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 i...

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.

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...

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.

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...

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.

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, ig...

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.’

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 i...

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.

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, th...

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.