Rachel Zegler “Will See What Happens” With ‘Evita’ Broadway Transfer Amid NYC Safety Concerns; Show Wins Top Honor At Standard Theatre Awards

Now that Evita will be making the transfer from the West End to Broadway, Andrew Lloyd Webber says there will be no re-enactment of the ballyhooed outdoor balcony performance of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.”

via: Deadline

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.

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.”

I’m told officially that “nothing is confirmed” for Broadway yet.