by Move about Romeo: The second most famous balcony scene in the theater has stolen the show.
Every night this week Rachel Zegler performed in the middle of Jamie Lloyd’s production by Evita in the London Palladium to sing the largest number of Oxford Circus Crowds. Last weekend the Hollywood Ingue was a surprised buyer, but since her performance by Don’t Cry for Me Argentina became viral, it has become the hottest (free) ticket in the west end.
Some wait two hours to catch the seven -minute scene. But what is experience – and is it worth hanging for me?
On Wednesday evening the crowd was a mix of music theater fans and Rachel Zegler Stans. Most were in the twenties and 30s, although an elderly couple had been sent by their daughter on vacation from Nebraska, and Susan, who was the longest there, was a 76-year-old who had seen the original production with Elaine Pige.
“We are both interested in the accessibility of the arts,” said 25-year-old Sian, who had come with her drama school buddy. “I don’t know the show, but I know that the context of the song sings for the farmers. And we are the farmers!” This meaning only increased when the theater goers got out during the interval to bring the ticketless hordes to video on their telephones.
Some in the crowd had already seen the show and returned to an IRL version of the performance they had seen on the screen in the playhouse. “Evita is my favorite musical and I saw a number of productions,” said 37-year-old Rowena. “But this really made it skilled: the staging is very bald, no props or decorations, but they do a lot with it.”
Related: Don’t cry for me, all you collect! The problem of moving Evitas large balcony number from the stage to the street
Around 9 p.m. a stage hand appeared on the balcony to unleash the long -armed camera that would take the pictures that were projected on the inside. A dozen choir members who were costed in the athleisure appeared on the street and came silent when their faces were dabbed by the associated mask images. “I’m actually not ready for it,” whispered a young man. “My heart is pounding.”
A few moments later, the intro of the song led over the loudspeakers – his familiar melody, which was sung by strings – and Zegler slid in the middle of the balcony with a blonde updo and huge diamond clusters that glittered out of her neck and ears. She looked tenderly and a little through the search for a connection before looking for a connection before she started with these iconic lines: “It will not be easy, you will keep it strange …”
It is a famous song that was interpreted in different ways from Stars from Patti Lupone to Madonna. Zegler’s voice has a clarity and innocence that is well suited to his frequently cancelable texts. Her tiny Disney princess hands reduced the edge of the iron railing and there was even a snow -white smile. But they had a feeling of Eva Perón’s selfishness and manipulation as the diva gestures -the royal wave, the weapons to the sky -and Game of Thrones lovers may have found Daenerys Targaryen trends.
In the end, she turned away from us to secure her close -up, and proclaimed “every word is true”, even if flutes were laughing in the background. The holder and applause of the crowd became part of the performance as well as the accompanying sum of the choir. When Perón lies her Robin Hood because she steal the oligarchs for the well -being of people, the Argyll Street screamed their approval.
The fact that the street remains open as a pedestrian road during the performance added the color, with passers -by approaching the door of the door to ask what was going on in the world. And the speed of the spread when Zegler returned inside was theater magic: the street turned back from Casa Rosada to a dirty abbreviation for the tube in an ash putr.
Nina from Argentina was one of the handful of passionate fans who, after the show, joined the stage door at the stage door at the secondary quantity of autograph hunters. She was impressed by Zegler’s pronunciation and wished she could see the entire production. But all cheap tickets for under 30 years were sold out and the rest was too expensive.
