Evita Steals The Limelight, Journalists Lose Their Minds
With so much happening in the world, a short run of a musical at the London Palladium is obsessing the media.
According to the British media, there is much national lamentation and clutching of pearls at Jamie Lloyd’s new production of Evita starring Rachel Zegler. The Guardian has published 4 articles in a week about the show while the far right Daily Mail has published five and even ITV News featured a story about ‘shocked and disappointed’ audience members of the show.
What is the source of all this ire? The Mail obviously zeroes in on ‘Woke Snow White’ actress Rachel Zegler while the woke Guardian’s Emma John shows some true internalised misogyny describing Ms Zegler thus: “Her tiny Disney princess hands clasped the edge of the iron railing and there was even a Snow White smile” Who knew that ‘tiny Disney Princess hands’ were a thing or that commenting on a woman’s appearance was essential to an article in a left leaning newspaper? But I digress.
Because it wasn’t the woke or the tiny hands that had lazy writers frothing at the mouth it was the Jamie Lloyd’s decision to stage the show’s iconic song ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’ on a balcony overlooking the street at the front of the London Palladium. For context, the scene is based on a speech that the real Evita, Eva Peron, gave while standing on the balcony of the Casa Rosada overlooking a street in Buenos Aires. The audience in the theatre sees the performance on a screen while any random punter mincing along Argyll Street W1 can stop for a few minutes and see actual Rachel Zegler performing live. And hundreds do just that for every performance - as Che sings in the show “The best show in town was the crowd,” except now it is also the biggest story in town.
“Oh What A Circus!” Allegedly cried some audience members not named by the journalists. These ticket purchasing members of the public supposedly felt ripped off that they didn’t get to see this scene performed live inside the theatre. It feels like every news editor who was presented with this obviously concocted story had brain fade and lost control of their critical faculties. It’s not like we have had a slow news few weeks recently!
Firstly, buying a ticket to a show does not entitle you to Directorial control: Jamie Lloyd is the Director and it his vision you are paying to see. You might not like it but that’s another story.
Secondly, nobody is reporting on the shocking story of English National Opera translating all those Italian, French and German arias into English instead of keeping them in their original languages.
Finally, and really obviously, last weekend was West End Live. This incredible free event takes place in Trafalgar Square, right in the centre of London, and features performances from every musical in London, some that are on tour and some that haven’t yet opened. This year it also featured Rachel Zegler singing Don’t Cry For Me Argentina and being fabulous.
It is hard to fathom the gullibility of the media in all this. I really hope that this whole furore was planted and encouraged by Evita’s PR company, AKA, because the result has been an avalanche of attention and bookings for the show and has made theatre the centre of attention.
To be honest, I feel sorry for those poor hacks from the far right rags, the soft left papers and the telly who, instead of reporting on the genuinely important geopolitical stories of the day, found themselves trying to create a storm on a balcony about a 46 year old musical that has a 12 week summer run in London.
Find out more about Evita and book tickets HERE