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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Evita' Theater Review: Rachel Zegler Takes London by Storm as Eva Perón in Otherwise Uneven Revival
Could it be time for Jamie Lloyd to hit the pause button? The prolific director, whose radically reimagined Sunset Blvd. last month won Tony Awards for best musical revival and lead actress Nicole Scherzinger, is rolling out productions at such a rate that his template — big stars, event theater, a style that might be described as minimalist swagger — is beginning to look entrenched, and a bit hit-or-miss. Spectacle worked wonders with his recent, disco-dancing Much Ado About Nothing starring Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell. But while there was a glorious opportunity for a revisionist take on Evita — to reconfigure the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice mega-musical from the 1970s for a more politically confused and troubled age — Lloyd has simply turned up the volume. More from The Hollywood Reporter Foo Fighters Are Back With First Song Since 2023 to Celebrate 30th Anniversary What the Hell Happened With the Sean "Diddy" Combs Verdict? 50 Cent, Kesha, Aubrey O'Day and More Stars React to Diddy Verdict: "The Cultural Weight of This Decision Is Immeasurable" The result feels decidedly erratic. The central performance from Rachel Zegler at times gives you goosebumps, but at others is in desperate need of direction; showstoppers bring usually reserved London audiences to their feet (mostly unheard of here, though it happened too during Much Ado); directorial choices damage whatever narrative interest the work might have. It's entertaining and galling in equal measure. As ever, the immediate set is minimal: bare, except for tiered steps that run the length of the stage and a giant sign, EVITA, across the back (in what does feel like a contemporary spin, Eva Perón is presented here more as a brand than an icon). Other than that, the staging will be accompanied by carefully selected props: the live camera that has become ubiquitous in Lloyd's productions, a shower of blue and white confetti, blood and paint. The show opens as a tease, the song 'Requiem for Evita' sung almost as a Gregorian chant, by cowled figures gliding through dry ice. But any thought that this might be a pared-back evening are immediately cast aside as the curtain rises to reveal the Evita sign and a strutting Zegler, oozing feline sexiness in leather bra and hot pants. At the same time, Che (Diego Andres Rodriguez), an ambiguous character from Eva's own poor background, begins his protracted debunking of the Perón legend with 'Oh What a Circus.' And the musical's real face blasts into action. Throughout this number, and for some time after, Zegler endures her most difficult phase of the revival: physically commanding the stage (as she does the entire evening) but with a single, fixed expression, something akin to a teenager's attempt to appear superior, that suggests there's next to nothing going on behind the pose. It quickly becomes apparent, too, that the evening is going to be dominated by over-miked excess — the volume way too loud, the songs pitched too shrilly. Not only can this lead, at times, to a self-defeating sensory overload, but it exacerbates the issue often raised by sung-through musicals, of plot and character simply getting lost in the mix. While 'Buenos Aires' is one of the big-belt numbers — accompanied by thrilling choreography involving the whole cast — that bring down the house, many of the production's most satisfying moments involve a rare dialing down and focus. One is 'Another Suitcase in Another Hall,' poignantly sung by Bella Brown as the discarded mistress of Juan Perón (James Olivas), in a welcome change of tempo and temperature. Another, and not surprisingly the show's high point, is when Zegler puts her stamp on 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina.' There was mild controversy when it was discovered in previews that Zegler would perform the show's signature song not in the auditorium, but on the Palladium's exterior balcony for the benefit of passers-by gathered in the street — who, horror of horrors, have not paid handsomely for a ticket. As it turns out, this is Lloyd's greatest stroke of inspiration (similar to what he did with Tom Francis' Joe Gillis for the title song in Sunset Blvd. or Jessica Chastain's Nora at the end of A Doll's House). The theater audience does see the actress of course, captured on a giant, wide screen as she moves through the ornate Edwardian building. Her vampish garb replaced by a First Lady's majestic white dress, bejeweled, her dark hair now white, she sings from the balcony, the camera dissolving between her cinematic close-ups and the rapt crowd. Zegler crushes the song, eking out of it every ounce of emotion, real and contrived. The number is brilliantly conceived and executed, a genuine goosebump moment. But with the Palladium neatly filling in for Buenos Aires' Casa Rosada, it also tellingly offers what Lloyd's minimalist abstraction has hitherto denied: a sense of context and color. While there was a glimpse of Eva's feistiness and strength in the first half, Zegler as a performer is now fully unleashed. Set free from the limitations of lyricist Rice's crass social climber, the actress finds much more expression and emotion in the second half, as Eva navigates ambition, public perception and illness. Zegler's rendition of the dying Eva's 'You Must Love Me,' the song added for Alan Parker's 1996 film with Madonna, is extremely moving. It's a pity that the men can't really match her. Though he delivers the songs competently, Rodriguez (Sunset Blvd.) suffers in the way of all Ches. The character's high and mighty put-downs wear thin as the show progresses, and any political objections he may have to the Peróns are undermined by smug preening. Lloyd's casting of Olivas as Perón — in reality 23 years Eva's senior and invariably played by an older actor — seems perplexing. Why have a young man who looks exactly the same as the monolithic blockheads who are Perón's followers and henchmen? Why circumvent an inescapable age dynamic in the relationship? It doesn't help that Olivas is rather bland in the role. Lloyd's early reputation was partly built on an imaginative knack for tapping new meaning from the darkest and most interesting recesses of a play, notably but not only Harold Pinter's work (Lloyd's Betrayal, also with Hiddleston, was lauded on both sides of the Atlantic). Evita isn't the same kind of animal, but there's juice in the albeit contestable nature of Perón's political leanings. That could have resonated at a time of ever-growing right-wing populism, but is not capitalized upon here. It seems typical of the production that one brutally telling moment, Che's face and body suddenly becoming bloodied during a Peronist march, is easily lost with the actor stranded downstage as confetti distractingly showers the audience. Given that the director has cast Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter in his upcoming Broadway production of Waiting for Godot, there may well be an electric guitar in the mix. Nonetheless, let's pray he doesn't drown out the Beckett play's marvelous silence. Venue: The London Palladium, LondonCast: Rachel Zegler, Diego Andres Rodriguez, James Olivas, Aaron Lee Lambert, Bella BrownLyrics: Tim RiceMusic: Andrew Lloyd WebberDirector: Jamie LloydSet and costume designer: Soutra Gilmour Lighting designer: Jon ClarkSound designer: Adam FisherMusic supervisor and musical director: Alan WilliamsChoreographer: Fabian AloisePresented by Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals and The Jamie Lloyd Company Best of The Hollywood Reporter Seeing Double? 25 Pairs of Celebrities Who Look Nearly Identical From 'Lady in the Lake' to 'It Ends With Us': 29 New and Upcoming Book Adaptations in 2024 Meet the Superstars Who Glam Up Hollywood's A-List Solve the daily Crossword
The Guardian
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Andrew Lloyd Webber is ‘hot again' –with help from new kids on musicals block
When Andrew Lloyd Webber walked on stage to collect the Tony award for best musical revival for Sunset Boulevard, it was the first time in 30 years he had been recognised by the American Theatre Wing. The Jamie Lloyd-directed revival was the star of the show at American theatre's big night last Sunday with its three wins signifying a return to prominence for the veteran composer. But this wasn't just about one hit show starring a former Pussycat Doll. Look around theatreland on either side of the Atlantic and Lord Lloyd Webber's fingerprints are everywhere: a successful revival of Starlight Express (in the unlikely environs of Wembley); a forthcoming outing for Jesus Christ Superstar; Lloyd Webber himself is directing Evita (starring Rachel Zegler) in London, there is a new musical called The Illusionist in the works, and cryptic messages announcing the return of Phantom of the Opera have sprung up around New York. Arguably, we have reached peak Lloyd Webber five decades after his work was first performed on stage. Critics have been lining up to declare that British theatre's biggest name is 'hot again'. But those close to him aren't calling it a comeback. 'I don't think he ever went away,' said the West End producer Michael Harrison, who joined forces with Lloyd Webber in late 2022. 'The big hits like Phantom continue in London; you can go and see Cats in Australia or Germany, and his work extends to Asia. 'I think all that's happened recently is that he has been very open to let new creatives look at his work,' Harrison added. 'So when Jamie Lloyd comes along and says: 'I've got this idea to do Sunset Boulevard with Nicole Scherzinger', he embraces it rather than puts up barriers and says: 'The shows must always be as they were 20 years ago'. He's very open to let people give new interpretations.' At the Tonys, Lloyd Webber spoke of how impressed he was with Lloyd's 'radical' reinterpretation of Sunset Boulevard 'With all those older shows, it's great when somebody comes to you with a new idea of how to do it,' he said. Luke Sheppard is a millennial director who grew up listening to Lloyd Webber and is the creative force behind the revival of Starlight Express. He said the composer was open to adding new elements to the show and was willing to write new songs. Certain songs (deemed 'old fashioned') were dropped from Sunset altogether. Sheppard said: 'Andrew let us explore some quite big ideas, like having a child on stage so that we really saw it through a young person's imagination. We created new characters, Andrew wrote us some new songs, and we did a lot of gender flipping with different characters as well to really kind of expand those storylines. 'The generosity and the openness that Andrew showed as a very successful composer producer, allowing us to explore, that was really quite amazing.' Harrison said if you looked at Lloyd Webber's early career there was already a mould-breaking tendency at work. 'People talk about immersive theatre being a new thing. Well, Cats was in an old TV studio: your seats revolved as the show began, or there was the complete transformation of the Apollo Victoria into a railway track for Starlight Express,' he said. Sign up to The Guide Get our weekly pop culture email, free in your inbox every Friday after newsletter promotion 'Even before that there were the Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar concept albums; he was launching shows through music,' Harrison added. 'He's always been a forward thinker and a little bit ahead of his time.' Lloyd is another director who grew up on the musicals of his new creative partner. Face tattoos and slick, sexy stagings aren't historically part of the Lloyd Webber package but Lloyd has added them all to the mix, and in so doing added a quality not usually associated with Lloyd Webber: coolness. Sheppard said: 'I'm a musical theatre kid, so for me, he's always been cool. There's something quite rock'n'roll about Andrew, his songs capture the sound of the music at the time. You think about some of the stuff in Starlight Express, particularly the song AC/DC, which Electra sings. It was really revolutionary, that sound, when it first came out.' Lloyd Webber's revival isn't just based on his classic work. The Illusionist is loosely based on the 2006 film of the same name that starred Edward Norton as a persecuted magician. Lloyd Webber's previous Tony came for his original adaptation of Sunset Boulevard in 1995. Despite the long wait between wins, the current crop of revivals and new work suggest it's a good bet it won't take quite as long next time.
New York Times
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Sunset Boulevard' Starring Nicole Scherzinger Wins the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival
A radically reimagined production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Sunset Boulevard,' with no turban and lots of technology, won the Tony Award for best musical revival on Sunday night. The production, which began performances at Broadway's St. James Theater last September and is scheduled to run only until July 13, is the brainchild of its director, Jamie Lloyd, a 45-year-old British auteur who prioritizes dialogue and psychological depth over furniture and props. Lloyd's production first ran in London's West End, where it won last year's Olivier Award for best musical revival. The show proved to be a star vehicle for its leading lady, Nicole Scherzinger, who in her 20s achieved fame as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, and then spent years as a judge on television talent shows before landing this role, which has reintroduced her, at age 46, as a powerhouse performer. In the musical, Scherzinger plays Norma Desmond, a onetime star of silent films who has vanished from the limelight but delusionally dreams of returning to the big screen. The show, set in Los Angeles in 1949 and 1950, is based on a 1950 Billy Wilder film; Lloyd Webber wrote the stage production's music, while the book and lyrics are by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. The original Broadway production won seven Tony Awards, including best musical, in 1995. That production starred Glenn Close, who returned to play the role again in 2017 in the only previous Broadway revival of the show. The current production is characterized by its heavy use of technology adapted from filmmaking and its minimalist, modern aesthetic. The actors are dressed mostly in black and white; Scherzinger performs much of the show barefoot, and she and her co-star, Tom Francis, end the show drenched in blood. Because the story is about, and set in, Hollywood, Lloyd opted to integrate and interrogate cinematic devices — much of the onstage action is filmed by performers holding movie cameras and is projected onto a huge screen behind the actors. One of the production's highlights is a coup de théâtre at the top of the second act, when Francis, playing a writer named Joe Gillis, performs the title number while walking through Shubert Alley and along 44th Street, with the action visible to audience members onscreen. The revival is being produced on Broadway by companies controlled by Lloyd (the Jamie Lloyd Company) and Lloyd Webber (Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals), and by ATG Productions, which operates the theater where the show is playing, and by Gavin Kalin Productions. The show was capitalized for up to $15 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission; it has been selling more than $1 million worth of tickets most weeks, but it is not yet clear whether it will recoup its capitalization costs.
New York Times
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Tonys 2025 Live Updates: ‘Sunset Boulevard' Named Best Musical Revival, While Cole Escola Wins for ‘Oh, Mary!'
A radically reimagined production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Sunset Boulevard,' with no turban and lots of technology, won the Tony Award for best musical revival on Sunday night. The production, which began performances at Broadway's St. James Theater last September and is scheduled to run only until July 13, is the brainchild of its director, Jamie Lloyd, a 45-year-old British auteur who prioritizes dialogue and psychological depth over furniture and props. Lloyd's production first ran in London's West End, where it won last year's Olivier Award for best musical revival. The show proved to be a star vehicle for its leading lady, Nicole Scherzinger, who in her 20s achieved fame as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, and then spent years as a judge on television talent shows before landing this role, which has reintroduced her, at age 46, as a powerhouse performer. In the musical, Scherzinger plays Norma Desmond, a onetime star of silent films who has vanished from the limelight but delusionally dreams of returning to the big screen. The show, set in Los Angeles in 1949 and 1950, is based on a 1950 Billy Wilder film; Lloyd Webber wrote the stage production's music, while the book and lyrics are by Don Black and Christopher Hampton. The original Broadway production won seven Tony Awards, including best musical, in 1995. That production starred Glenn Close, who returned to play the role again in 2017 in the only previous Broadway revival of the show. The current production is characterized by its heavy use of technology adapted from filmmaking and its minimalist, modern aesthetic. The actors are dressed mostly in black and white; Scherzinger performs much of the show barefoot, and she and her co-star, Tom Francis, end the show drenched in blood. Because the story is about, and set in, Hollywood, Lloyd opted to integrate and interrogate cinematic devices — much of the onstage action is filmed by performers holding movie cameras and is projected onto a huge screen behind the actors. One of the production's highlights is a coup de théâtre at the top of the second act, when Francis, playing a writer named Joe Gillis, performs the title number while walking through Shubert Alley and along 44th Street, with the action visible to audience members onscreen. The revival is being produced on Broadway by companies controlled by Lloyd (the Jamie Lloyd Company) and Lloyd Webber (Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals), and by ATG Productions, which operates the theater where the show is playing, and by Gavin Kalin Productions. The show was capitalized for up to $15 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission; it has been selling more than $1 million worth of tickets most weeks, but it is not yet clear whether it will recoup its capitalization costs.
Washington Post
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
DEI in Broadway theaters is beyond Trump's reach
Richard Zoglin is a New York-based writer and critic. The announcement of Tony Awards nominees last week included one for 'Pirates! The Penzance Musical' as best musical revival. For me, that antic update of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, with its jazzy New Orleans vibe, featured the signature moment of the Broadway season. All the cast members — a rainbow mixture of races, ethnicities, body shapes and sizes — face the audience and (cribbing a song from 'HMS Pinafore,' with rewritten lyrics) deliver a rousing closing anthem: 'We're All From Someplace Else.' The message is impossible to miss. As the Trump administration wages war against diversity, equity and inclusion programs, everywhere from federal agencies and universities to law firms and even the Kennedy Center, the Broadway theater world may well be the last place in America where DEI is not under fire. Indeed, it is still being celebrated, loud and proud. Look at the chorus line for almost any new Broadway musical and you'll see a carefully assembled mix of Black, White and Asian faces. Interracial couples are no longer the exception onstage, but seem more like the norm. Rare is the revival of a classic play, whether by Shakespeare or Arthur Miller, that doesn't feature 'nontraditional' casting in at least one of the major roles. This season we've had a Black Mama Rose (in the revival of 'Gypsy'); a Black Betty Boop (in a new musical based on the vintage cartoon character); and a Black 'shiksa goddess' in Jason Robert Brown's musical two-hander about a failed marriage, 'The Last Five Years.' Broadway's answer to Trump's crackdown on immigrants? 'Real Women Have Curves,' a spirited musical about Latina seamstresses in Los Angeles, circa 1987, trying to stay one step ahead of the immigration cops. Never mind 'drag queen story hour': In 'Oh, Mary!,' a raucous comedy hit, drag performer Cole Escola plays Mary Todd Lincoln as a foulmouthed alcoholic who cares less about the Civil War (or her husband, Abe, who's having sex with his footman) than becoming a cabaret star. Little chance that one will wind up at the Kennedy Center. Follow Trump's second term Follow As anyone who has watched a Tony Awards telecast in recent years can attest, Broadway is in many respects another country. Acceptance speeches celebrating diversity, LGBTQ pride and 'body positivity' abound. Luckily for Broadway, Donald Trump isn't much of a theatergoer. (He claims he 'never liked 'Hamilton' very much' — though there's no evidence he has actually seen the show.) Nor is Broadway nearly as vulnerable to a vengeful president as, say, a TV network subject to FCC oversight, or a local arts institution dependent on federal grants. It still can largely march to its own drummer. But you don't have to be a MAGA crusader against 'woke' culture to be just a little uneasy at the way the theater world now seems encased in a bubble of like-minded creators, critics and fans: a self-feeding loop of virtue signaling and moral certitude. Good intentions don't necessarily make good drama. (See — or rather, don't see — 'Good Night and Good Luck,' George Clooney's lumbering play about Ed Murrow's takedown of Red-baiting Sen. Joe McCarthy.) Diversity casting can often be confusing for an audience. Worse, it's a topic seemingly too sensitive to even be discussed by most critics and others who cover theater. Audra McDonald, for instance, won rave reviews (and is favored to win a Tony — her seventh) as the first Black actress on Broadway to play the domineering stage mother in 'Gypsy.' But the casting (her daughters are also played by Black actresses) creates an odd disconnect: the unlikely prospect that a Black entertainment family would have any realistic hope of making it big in the segregated vaudeville world of the 1920s and '30s. Similarly, in this season's revival of Thornton Wilder's 'Our Town,' the casting of Black actors as one of the two central families introduced a nagging ambiguity. Was this simply color-blind casting, or are we to assume that Black and White neighbors (soon linked by marriage) would not have raised an eyebrow in a small New England town circa 1900? Diversity casting, of course, is to be welcomed; it has given talented Black and other minority actors a shot at major roles that have been denied them for decades, often introducing new perspectives and interpretations. The real problem is the cone of silence that seems to prevent any discussion of how such choices can affect an audience's reaction — or, in many cases, to even acknowledge the nontraditional casting at all. In shows like these, Broadway is presenting an idealistic, aspirational view of America, where racial differences are miraculously ignored or overcome. It's not all that different, I fear, from the complacent insularity that allowed Democrats to ignore the rise of Trumpism, or what now seem like the excesses of the cancel-culture era that helped enable its return.
