EXCLUSIVE: The fact that it’s not safe for Evita star Rachel Zegler to reprise her West End coup de théâtre outdoor balcony performance of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” for its anticipated Broadway transfer “is alarming in what it says about America,” says her co-star Diego Andres Rodriguez, who played Che in director Jamie Lloyd’s celebrated revival of the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
Rodriguez, who appeared in the New York production of Lloyd’s Sunset Boulevard, adds that ”it’s worrying” that the animosity felt towards Zegler in some quarters could lead to harm if she re-enacted that one sizzling scene in an open space.
When the show ran at the London Palladium last summer, hundreds of passers-by would gather outside the landmark theater to witness Zegler singing live, for free, while her performance was beamed onto screens to the audience inside.
Rachel Zegler performs “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” on the Palladium balcony in London
Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
Private security guards kept order while Zegler sang.
Earlier this month, Lloyd Webber proclaimed in an interview with USA Today that “the one thing that absolutely cannot happen is what we did in London on the balcony. We can’t do that in New York. I mean, something awful could happen,” chillingly adding, ”We have gun laws in London.”
Rodriguez expressed his concern during a conversation with Deadline on Sunday night at the Standard Theatre Awards, hosted by Mason Alexander Park, star of the London production of Oh, Mary!
The ceremony was held at Stud House in Hampton Court, the private home of Standard owner Evgeny Lebedev, set in ancient parklands once used as Henry VIII’s royal hunting grounds.
Zegler, who took the prize for Best Musical Performance (the show also won Best Musical Production), looked forlorn when the subject of the balcony was raised. She says she’s waiting to see whether or not Evita will transfer, and she’ll “see what happens then.”
Rachel Zegler at the Standard Theatre Awards
Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
I’m told officially that “nothing is confirmed” for Broadway yet.
But back to the posh party. It was a fun, lively affair in a stunning 18th century pile originally built for the sovereign’s Master of the Horse. Around 50 guests attended, which made for an intimate occasion. Back in the day a vast guest list — maybe 400-500 — attended a grand luncheon at the Savoy Hotel. This was not of that size, but in a way it was grander with liveried staff and the very best silverware and an Old Master hanging in one of the loos.
The front door to Stud House leads directly to a vast gallery hall where we’re greeted by modern artworks such as one of Anselm Kiefer’s forgotten women of antiquity sculptures — a half-body mannequin shrouded in white crinoline skirts — and a nude Sleeping Beauty encased in a glass coffin.
Into such a place came thespian artists draped in their finest including Cate Blanchett, a nominee for her performance as Arkadina in director Thomas Ostermeier’s thrilling Barbican Theatre production of Chekhov’s The Seagull.
Cate Blanchett
Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
The Oscar-winning actress would like to transfer The Seagull to Broadway but she’d also welcome the opportunity of taking the play to Schaubühne Berlin, where Ostermeier is artistic director, and then onto “places like Greece.”
But gathering the ensemble together is tricky due to busy schedules, Blanchett says.
The Seagull cast included Tom Burke, Emma Corrin, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jason Watkins, Tanya Reynolds, Priyanga Burford, Paul Higgins, Zachary Hart and Paul Bazeley. They’re all still in touch via a group chat they’ve dubbed the “nudists colony,” Blanchett reveals.
Before I had a chance to probe further, Hayley Atwell along with her husband, the musician and singer Ned Wolfgang Kelly, entered the salon. I’ve known her forever and I didn’t recognize her. “It’s the hair,“ she says patting her head. “It’s all gone; you’re used to seeing it long.”
Ned Wolfgang Kelly and Hayley Atwell
Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
Winners and a few nominees were on the guest list, and Atwell’s name was on the winning column for Best Actress in a Play for her Beatrice opposite Tom Hiddleston’s Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane last year, also directed by Jamie Lloyd.
Its Broadway transfer is already set for a 10-week engagement in the fall.
Atwell also stars with Gerard Butler in Empire City, which director Michael Matthews recently shot in Melbourne.
Now she’s shooting Treasure Island for Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment with David Oyelowo and Jack Huston. “It’s all men, and I play Bess, a role that’s not in Robert Louis Stevenson’s book,” she says.
Hayley Atwell
Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
I stroll over to my old friend Stephen Fry, who is busy preparing to shoot a spy drama for Fox called The Interrogator, a story Deadline broke back in February.
Fry disclosed that he wrote the show’s pilot script 11 years ago and it’s been bobbing about ever since. Until now. The series will be shot in Madrid, Spain standing in for the U.S. Fry will play a former MI6 operative who uses his skill set to “gain, not the truth, but information that will lead me to the truth that will prevent” a horrific incident.
“It’s been around for 11 years but it’s only just now come together, but very quickly,” Fry says.
The actor, writer presenter and producer had planned to transfer with the National Theatre’s revival of The Importance of Being Earnest. “The idea was that I’d take my Lady Bracknell, the one I did when it moved into the West End, to Broadway,” but now it will scoot over there next year instead.
(L-R) Ava Joe, Patrick Kinmonth and Stephen Fry
Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
Both Fry and Blanchett were awarded honorary prizes in Lord Lebedev’s gift.
The prized busts were handing out in a break during a splendid dinner. The menu had delights such as lightly smoked salmon tartare with jasmine caviar in a smoked dashi broth, miso aubergine, and aged beef fillet with a truffle cream tartlet.
The judging panel, on which I sit, chose James Graham’s amazing drama Punch, featuring an unbelievably brilliant performance by David Shield, as Best Play.
I laughed when the playwright revealed that he has been working as a consultant on Saturday Night Live UK. The very mention of the title made me chuckle, which was odd considering no smile passed my miserable lips whilst watching the darn show over the weekend; others enjoyed far more than I did. I will say that it was remiss of me not to have acknowledged that the one and only performance that I liked, a lot, was that of Jack Shep’s comic shy Di portrait of Princess Diana in a last supper sketch.
(L-R) David Shields and James Graham
Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
Graham says they learned a lot from Saturday’s premiere and “there’s been a lot to discuss,” and that it’s a question of stamping a “British identity” on the show and bringing forth our natural humor. And I wish them all well. I’m being polite.
Graham’s Dear England football miniseries drama will play on the BBC during the World Cup. Can’t wait to see it. Shields portrays midfielder Jordan Henderson in the show that stars Joseph Fiennes as England’s men’s team manager.
The actor also has a role portraying New Yorker writer John Hersey, who wrote about John F. Kennedy’s bravery in World War II, in the eight-part Netflix miniseries Kennedy, starring Michael Fassbender and Laura Donnelly as Joe and Rose Kennedy.
Seated to my right at the communal banquet table Sunday was 23-year-old Grace Oddie-James, without doubt a star-in-the-making who made an immediate impression in Simon Stone’s adaptation of The Lady from the Sea at the Bridge Theatre last fall. My fellow drama awards judges and I voted to bestow the Emerging Talent trophy to Oddie-James, who acts and writes.
Grace Oddie-Jones
Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
The Oxford University graduate will join a production of As You Like It at Shakespeare’s Globe that’s being co-directed by Charlie Josephine (he’s also playing Orlando) and Sean Holmes. Lola Shalam will star as Rosalind and Oddie-James has been picked to play Celia. The production runs August 14-October 25.
Audiences packed out London’s Almeida Theatre during the run of Ava Pickett’s fascinating debut play 1536 directed by Lyndsey Turner, exploring the impact of Anne Boleyn’s impending execution in 1536 on a trio of everyday English women. It’s being filmed as a drama series, and beginning May 2 the play directed by Turner transfers to the Ambassadors Theatre for a three-month season. We decided that Pickett was our winner in the hotly contested Emerging Talent award.
I wandered around the ground floor with its conservatory, comfy reception rooms and endless passages lined with art and candles and I could hear singer Ava Joe and guitarist Will Jones setting up to serenade us. What a splendid way to spend an evening at an awards ceremony that made up its own rules.
And no red carpet.