{"id":389631,"date":"2026-04-13T10:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/389631\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T10:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:19:07","slug":"so-beautiful-rachel-zegler-hails-accessibility-of-evitas-free-balcony-scene-olivier-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/389631\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018So beautiful\u2019: Rachel Zegler hails accessibility of Evita\u2019s free balcony scene | Olivier awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the most talked about theatre scene of the year: Rachel Zegler performing Don\u2019t Cry for Me Argentina<\/a> from the balcony<\/a> at the London Palladium to crowds gathered on the street below. At the Olivier awards<\/a> on Sunday night, Zegler delivered the song from Evita again \u2013 this time on the stage of the Royal Albert Hall \u2013 and took home the award for best actress in a musical.<\/p>\n

Host Nick Mohammed said that Zegler had become \u201ca new landmark for London sightseers\u201d during Evita\u2019s run last summer. \u201cPeople who hadn\u2019t bought a ticket could effectively watch it live for free whereas everyone inside had to pay to watch it on a giant screen,\u201d he explained, jokingly calling it \u201ca business model that I\u2019m sure could really catch on\u201d.<\/p>\n

Zegler described Evita\u2019s director, Jamie Lloyd<\/a>, as a \u201cgenius\u201d for staging the scene in such a way and giving \u201ca piece of theatre, just in the street\u201d to young people who may not be able to afford West End ticket prices. \u201cIt\u2019s so beautiful that Jamie Lloyd made such an accessible moment of theatre for people to walk by and witness something really, really cool,\u201d she said. Later, she added that she felt lucky to have been a part of the show and that she would like \u201cevery person from every different walk of life\u201d to be able to experience art in such a fashion. She praised Londoners for making her feel welcome and described those who had waited outside to watch the balcony scene as being \u201cso giving with their energy and love\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rachel Zegler sings Don\u2019t Cry for Me Argentina on the balcony at the London Palladium. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt\/PA<\/p>\n

The actor, whose musical films include West Side Story<\/a> and Snow White<\/a>, said that she would sing the high notes from another of Evita\u2019s songs, A New Argentina, as part of her routine before going on stage. At the awards, she praised Elaine Paige who originated the role of Eva Per\u00f3n, first lady of Argentina, in the West End in 1978. Paige received the special award for her career in theatre and said that Zegler\u2019s victory was the \u201cproof of the pudding\u201d for Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice\u2019s enduring musical.<\/p>\n

A popular winner, Zegler made a point of thanking Bella Brown, the alternate Eva Per\u00f3n at the Palladium. Brown played the role of the Mistress in the musical but was also Zegler\u2019s understudy and at one performance replaced the star mid-show. \u201cI could not have done this without such a brilliant alternate,\u201d Zegler said, hailing Brown\u2019s work in both roles.<\/p>\n

While acknowledging the difficulty of replicating the balcony scene, Zegler and Lloyd Webber have spoken of their hope that Evita will transfer to Broadway, like Lloyd\u2019s revival of the composer\u2019s Sunset Boulevard. That show, starring Nicole Scherzinger, won seven Olivier awards. Evita picked up two awards from five nominations, with choreographer Fabian Aloise also recognised. He praised the cast for how they performed his dance moves on a stage designed as a huge staircase. Evita was beaten to the prize for best musical revival by Into the Woods at the Bridge theatre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zegler, who has lived in London \u201con and off\u201d for four years, returned to the Palladium for a solo concert shortly after Evita ended and then again, last month, for a production of the musical The Last Five Years<\/a> co-starring Dear Evan Hansen<\/a>\u2019s Ben Platt. A live recording of that performance will be released next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was the most talked about theatre scene of the year: Rachel Zegler performing Don\u2019t Cry for Me…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,85,46],"class_list":["post-389631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}