Rachel Zegler’s starring role in Evita at the London Palladium has once again made headlines after multiple people reportedly fell ill while waiting outside in soaring temperatures to catch a glimpse of the star.
The Snow White actress, 24, has won critical acclaim for her portrayal of Eva Peron in Jamie Lloyd’s bold reimagining of the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. The show features an unusual staging that sees Zegler perform the iconic number Don’t Cry For Me Argentina from a balcony above the theatre, drawing crowds to the street below.
On Thursday, around 200 fans gathered outside the West End venue in 30C heat, with emergency services reportedly called just minutes before Zegler’s big performance.
A source told The Sun: “As word spreads more and more people are flocking to the Palladium to see Rachel's performance and it's turning into a bit of a nightmare. Crowd control is bad enough on the public street but with the heat it's becoming really dangerous. Ambulances were parked outside the venue for almost an hour before racing to the hospital just minutes before Rachel appeared.”
Zegler plays the Argentinian First Lady Eva Peron in the 1978 musical, which follows Peron’s rise from poverty to becoming one of the most powerful and beloved figures in Argentine history, before her untimely death from cancer at 33.
The actress looked every inch the part in a platinum-blonde wig and 1950s-style white ballgown, channelling Eva Peron as she appeared on the balcony for the show’s most famous moment.
While her vocals and performance have drawn widespread praise, some theatre-goers have voiced frustration over the balcony scene being staged outside.
“I’m excited to see her, but not sure how I feel about paying that much to watch the most iconic moment on a screen,” wrote one viewer on X. Another called the setup “a bit of a rip-off” and said they would have preferred the scene to take place indoors.
However, others have defended the creative decision, arguing that the outdoor performance underlines key themes in Evita such as public image, spectacle, and political theatre. “It’s meant to be grand and distant. That is the point of Eva’s performance. It fits,” one fan commented.
Zegler rose to fame playing Maria in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, a role that earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. She has since gone on to star in the Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods, both released in 2023.
