Casting is now complete for director Jamie Lloyd's upcoming summer revival of Evita at the London Palladium.
As previously reported, Rachel Zegler (West Side Story, Romeo + Juliet, Snow White)
will star in the title role of the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber
musical, which will begin previews June 14 prior to an official opening
July 1 at the London venue. She will be joined by Diego Andres Rodriguez, currently making his Broadway debut as Artie in Lloyd's revival of Sunset Blvd., as Che.
Newly announced for the limited engagement, currently scheduled through September 6, are James Olivas as Juan Per贸n, Aaron Lee Lambert as Agust铆n Magaldi, and Bella Brown as The Mistress/Alternate Eva.
The ensemble will include Carl Au, Gabriela Benedetti, Shakara Brown, Damian Buhagiar, Kyeirah D'Marni, Sally Frith, DeAngelo Jones, Lucas Koch, Natasha Leaver, Michael Lin, Diant茅 Lodge, Louis Mackrodt, Mireia Mambo, Mia Mullarkey, Perry O鈥橠ea, Alysha Sontae, Monica Swayne, Jon Tsouras, and Harrison Wilde, with Myla Carmen, Barney Hudson, Nathan Louis-Fernand, Kirsty Anne Shaw, Ricardo Spriggs, and Regan Bailey Walker as Swings.
Auora Breslin, Lois Haidar, Siena Merilind-Wu, and Ffion Rosalie Williams share the role of The Child.
The newly announced creative team will also include choreographer Fabian Aloise, set and costume designer Soutra Gilmour, music supervisor and musical director Alan Williams, lighting designer Jon Clark, and sound designer Adam Fisher. All but Fisher are reprising their work from the production's 2019 Regent's Park staging. Casting is by Will Burton, with U.S. casting by Jim Carnahan. The creative team also includes wig, hair, and makeup designer Carole Hancock; children's casting director and children's administrator Harry Blumenau; fight director Kate Waters; prop supervisor Lily Mollgaard; and intimacy coordinator Ingrid Mackinnon, with orchestral management by Andy Barnwell and Rich Weedon for BW Musicians.
The through-sung musical follows Eva Duarte, an illegitimate young
girl from Los Toldos, who rose from anonymity to become an actress and
eventually the First Lady of Argentina before her tragic death from
cancer at the age of 33. Song titles include "Don鈥檛 Cry for Me Argentina," "Buenos Aires," "Rainbow High," and "High
Flying Adored," among others.
Evita originally premiered as a two-LP recording in 1976 starring Julie Covington in the title role and Colm Wilkinson as Che. Harold Prince staged both the original London and New York productions of the musical, which made stars of Elaine Paige in London in 1978 and Mandy Patinkin and Patti LuPone the following year on Broadway, where it won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Lloyd Webber and Rice had previously collaborated on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar. Evita would mark their last major collaboration together.
Madonna, Antonio Banderas, and Jonathan Pryce starred in the 1996 film version of Evita. Though 2012 was the last Broadway revival of Evita (starring Elena Roger and Ricky Martin), there have been attempts to bring it back to the Main Stem. The most recent New York production, staged at City Center in November 2019, featured Solea Pfeiffer and Maia Reficco splitting the titular role under the direction of Sammi Cannold. That same production was then staged in Washington, D.C. and Cambridge, Massachusetts鈥攖hough future plans have not materialized.
Lloyd first directed Evita at Regent鈥檚 Park Open Air Theatre as part of its 2019 season.
The upcoming revival is produced by Michael Harrison for Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals and Lloyd for The Jamie Lloyd Company by arrangement with The Really Useful Group Ltd.
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