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Jamie Lloyd gives his treatment to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Evita with the help of star Rachel Zegler in this punchy and stripped-back revival. 

The musical tracks the rise and tragic death of Eva Perón, the  First Lady of Argentina, who won the hearts of her people over with her activism and her benevolence, with Zegler dominant in the lead role. Lloyd’s revival is typically stripped back, as is the acclaimed director’s style, though here the speed with which this production races through Peron’s life is jarring. It is Perón’s illness and subsequent death that the play really suffers from its speed, with Perón’s power almost over before you know it. 

Nevertheless, it is the power of the production’s musical performance where this revival truly shines. Alan Williams’ music direction powerfully restructures some of the numbers in a manner that suits the bare bones approach of the show. Despite feeling more like a staged concert at times, it is the power of the music, combined with the control of the talented cast, which makes this piece so memorable. 

This is no more obvious than in Zegler’s Perón. Zegler, decked out in very little, leans into Perón’s powers of seduction and is intoxicating in the role. Coupled with a superb live vocal range, this is a tremendous individual performance which puts Zegler’s Perón up there with the very finest. It is a shame that the run-up to the show focused more on the gimmicks, such as the broadcast of the iconic balcony scene (ruined here by audience reactions to outside punters’ behaviour), rather than aiming attention at the quality of performers. 

The rest of the production falls quite seamlessly into Lloyd’s minimalist vision. James Olivas’s Juan Perón swaggers in and out without much depth apart from a cartoonish villainous delivery to the camera once in power, and his adulterous affair with Bella Brown’s Mistress is only briefly covered. Meanwhile, Diego Andres Rodriguez’s Che serves as the piece’s narrator and voice of the people, suitably bloodied and beaten by the play’s conclusion, in a stark contrast to Perón’s immaculate white. 

Evita is musically sizzling, but its reduction to its bare bones, even down to the jarring handheld microphones, points more towards a stage concert rather than a full-blown musical. This show is in no way subtle, from the eye-popping costumes, sensual choreography and the massive EVITA emblazoned upstage like an overgrown light box. 

Nevertheless, Zegler’s delivery and the relentlessly slick ensemble pull together with a velocity that makes it impossible not to be swept up by Lloyd’s own version of populism.