Rachel Zegler Sang 40 Pages to Land Evita on Broadway
Rachel Zegler sang 40 pages of music to win Evita.
She said she did it while starring eight shows a week in Romeo + Juliet on Broadway. She told the story Oct. 5 in New York City at Variety's Business of Broadway Breakfast, presented by City National Bank.
Forty pages is a marathon. Most Broadway auditions ask for one or two songs. Zegler said she worked through much of the score before she was cast.
She got the part. Then she had to do the job twice, first in London and next on Broadway.
Evita is the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice about Argentine first lady Eva Peron. Zegler led director Jamie Lloyd's London revival at the London Palladium and won a 2026 Olivier Award for the performance, Britain's top theater honor Playbill. She will reprise that work when the production transfers to Broadway in 2027. Diego Rodriguez and James Olivas star with her, according to Variety.
In London, her big number left the building. For "Don't Cry For Me Argentina," Zegler sang from an outside balcony to people gathered in the street while the ticketed audience inside watched on screens. She said the staging opened up a conversation about accessibility in theater, giving people without tickets a way to share in the moment, as reported by BroadwayWorld.
Auditioning while employed is common on Broadway. Actors often rehearse one show by day and perform another at night. Zegler said her Evita tryout ran alongside her run in Romeo + Juliet.
The breakfast brought several seasons into one room. Zegler, writer Aaron Sorkin, actor Bradley Whitford and Rodriguez appeared as featured speakers. Tom Felton hosted. He played Draco Malfoy in eight Harry Potter movies.
Sorkin and Whitford are reuniting for a revival of A Few Good Men, meaning a new production of an older play. Director Michael Arden will stage it. The play was first produced on stage in 1989. Whitford was a replacement in that original company, an actor who joins after opening to take over a role.
The title later became the 1992 film directed by Rob Reiner and starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson.
Another project discussed was Dolly: A True Original Musical. Bartlett Sher will direct from a book by writer Adam Speers. Katie Rose Clarke and Carrie St. Louis will share the role of Dolly Parton, a double-casting approach that lets two actors split the eight-show week.
For ticket buyers, this means a clear calendar. Evita arrives in 2027 with its London lead intact. Behind it, a courtroom drama and a country-music life story are moving toward Broadway.
