Rachel Zegler serenades crowd for free in London production of ’Evita’

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LONDON — In a new production of “Evita,” one of the biggest moments isn’t on the stage.

Midway through the show, Rachel Zegler, playing Argentine first lady Eva Peron, emerges onto an exterior balcony at the London Palladium and sings “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” to whoever is passing by below. The performance is streamed back on video to the audience inside.

News has spread quickly since the show began previews this week, and hundreds have gathered outside the historic venue in London’s West End theatreland to enjoy the free serenade by the “Snow White” star.

The show’s composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, said that it makes for “an extraordinary moment” in his musical about a woman who rose from poverty to power and was adored by the masses.

“Within the theatre, it’s really exciting because suddenly you see her with a genuine huge crowd, which you can’t do onstage,” Lloyd Webber told The Associated Press on Thursday. “I think there will be people who are disappointed that she hasn’t sung it live in the theatre, but I think it’s goinag to be greatly outweighed by the theatricality of using film in that way.”

The decision by director Jamie Lloyd has sparked some grumbling from ticketholders who paid up to 245 pounds (US$330) for a seat, only for the musical’s most famous number to be sung offstage.

It’s a technique Lloyd has used before. He had a character in “Sunset Boulevard” perform a song while walking down the street outside the theatre, and his production of “Romeo and Juliet” saw star Tom Holland play a key scene on the theatre roof.

Theatre blogger Carl Woodward told the BBC that he could understand why some theatregoers who’d forked out for a ticket felt “a bit aggrieved,” since “a trip to the theatre for some is really a once-a-year occasion.”

But Lloyd Webber cited an opinion piece in The Times of London noting that the gesture is “kind of what Eva Peron would have wanted — that people are actually experiencing her big anthem, as it were, for free.”

— Lizzie Knight contributed to this report.