London’s hottest club is currently the area under the balcony of the Casa Rosada, a.k.a. the street beside the Palladium Theatre, where Rachel Zegler makes her near-daily appearance in costume jewelry and a fascist wig to sing “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” to the masses. The stunt is part of Jamie Lloyd’s revival of Evita (he also came up with the walk down the street in Sunset Blvd.; the man likes to put stuff outside), but Zegler’s vocal chops have given it enduring staying power. She sounds amazing, which has made Evita the hottest ticket in London—or not-ticket, if you prefer to just watch that one big number from the sidewalk and then wander off to a chippy or do whatever else there is to do in the U.K. Now you don’t even need to buy a plane ticket, because the production has released a recording of Zegler’s performance on streaming.
Actually, it’s released two recordings! (Here is the link to both on Apple Music.) One of Zegler singing in the studio, and the other live. You should listen to them both because they’re very good and because there isn’t very much else to do on this summer Friday. You may notice that Zegler, who has been unfairly criticized throughout her career, both by right-wing media and her Disney film’s producer, sounds incredible: clear as a bell but emotionally acute, and remarkably healthy for someone whose vocal chords have had constant exposure to the fumes that drift off the asphalt of a major metropolis. You may also remember that, in classic Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice fashion, the song makes almost no sense — if you have to remind yourself that what she’s really saying is “don’t cry out for me,” well, maybe there should be some editing. Rice’s argument about the song’s lyrics has long been that Eva Perón is reciting platitudes to her supporters that will only later become dark truths once she is sick near the end of the show. Sure! I’m too busy enjoying how Zegler applies the lightest dusting of vibrato to the end of the word “Argentina” to care. Also, you may, in listening to these recordings, remember that “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” is five minutes long, with several orchestra interlude. Do NOT let your enjoyment of this performance trick you into thinking it is a good song to try at karaoke. Your friends will not appreciate it.
Evita is currently set to run until September 6 at the Palladium and has not yet announced plans to transfer to Broadway, though those involved have made it clear that they would like it to. Until then, speculate freely about which Broadway theaters have a balcony where they could make this stunt work, and start a petition to get them to also release a recording of Zegler’s “Rainbow High.”