Don’t Cry for Disney’s Woke Snow White—Eva Perón Sensation in Evita Revival

Rachel Zegler made her West End debut on Saturday night, starring as Evita in a twerking, glittering, gritty new production of the much-loved musical.

The show opened with the 24-year-old star striding across the stage in bra, boots and hot pants, then ended with her in diamonds and a blonde Evita wig, sinking into a tulle ballgown to take her bows as the audience went wild.

An overwhelmed Zegler looked close to tears at the standing ovation and cheers that roared around the Palladium, but permitted herself a tiny moment of personal triumph when she raised her arms and clenched her fists in victory.

‘I’ve done it!’ the gesture seemed to say. ‘Take that, all you haters.’

It was a very Evita-esque response from a young woman who is almost as controversial as Eva Peron herself, a rising star who is adored and abhorred in equal measure. Perhaps she is now hoping that her luminous Evita can eradicate the debacle that surrounded her recent film role as Snow White in Disney’s calamitous woke remake of the cartoon classic. Oh, what a circus, oh what a show indeed.

After being cast as the Disney princess, Zegler had to endure hateful racist attacks on social media about her Colombian heritage. Later, her remarks about the portrayal of the original Disney heroine and her public support for a selection of contentious subjects just made things worse.

For a start, she thought that the prince’s interest in Snow White was just ‘weird, weird’. And, listen up everybody, she didn’t have much time for that new American president, either. ‘May Trump Supporters And Trump Voters And Trump Himself Never Know Peace,’ was her choice posting following the American election last year.

What can you say? American-born Zegler is the kind of outspoken Gen Z starlet who trumpets her views on social media, usually about how much she exults in being a feminist, hates D. Trump and supports Palestine.

That’s perfectly fine and she is entitled to her opinions, but when Disney cast her as Snow White it didn’t expect a leading lady who would rant on about how the original cartoon was an outdated exercise in misogyny and sexual oppression. And then go on to alienate and antagonise half of its potential audience with her strident political beliefs.

Behind the scenes there were private admonishments, then public apologies from Zegler and a lot of bad publicity. With production costs of £200 million Snow White was a box-office flop, taking in a global total of just over £150 million.

Yet it would be wrong to pin the blame for this entirely on Zegler’s outspoken exuberance. The woke chokehold, the charmless CGI dwarves and the lack of humour didn’t help either.

Certainly, in the run-up to her comeback – and her debut on the British stage – Zegler has been much more prudent. On Saturday, she ventured onto Instagram to post a cute kiddy pic of herself in a pink tutu and ballet shoes. ‘She’s making her West End debut tonight,’ she wrote in a glutinous caption underneath.

There was also a softly-softly interview in Vogue magazine, where Rachel showed she had been paying attention on her Publicity Awareness Damage Limitation Just Shut The Hell Up PR course.

‘It was a lot of wonderful hard work,’ she replied carefully, when asked about Snow White. ‘I’m very proud of the work that was done on it, very proud of the way my performance was received, because it was a performance I cared deeply about, as I do with all the things I work on.’

New Jersey native Zegler shot to fame when Stephen Spielberg cast her in his 2021 remake of West Side Story. Back then she was a relative unknown, plucked from 30,000 hopefuls to star as Maria in what became a celebrated performance in a well-received film.

Spielberg described her as ‘a great singer and a fantastic actor’ – and she certainly turns in a compelling performance in this tremendous new production of Evita, directed by theatrical wonderkid Jamie Lloyd.

Zegler looks tiny on the vast prairie of the Palladium stage, a slip of a girl in her sequins and shorts. In some clinches with her giant beefcake husband Juan Peron (James Olivas) it looks as if she is saying goodbye to daddy before skipping off to toddler ballet school, not plotting a president’s political ascendancy.

Yet with the rich banquet of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice songs at her disposal, lyric soprano Zegler shows just what she can do.

Director Lloyd is known for his love of al fresco scenes, and there is an unusual piece of staging just after the interval, when Zegler performs Don’t Cry For Me Argentina. She sings the musical’s famous showstopper on the exterior balcony of the Palladium to the bemused folk wandering down scruffy Argyll Street in central London.

Filmed footage of this is shown to the audience on a stage screen, not always successfully. For a long time on Saturday night some bloke was standing in front of the street camera and our view of Rachel singing her heart out was obscured by his big head.

Unless Lloyd is making some point about Eva singing to the descamisados (the shirtless) – the impoverished Argentinians who adored her – it is hard to see what the purpose of this might be.

It may be a fabulous free stunt for the public to enjoy, but it certainly denies the paying audience the emotional resonance of this big moment – did those in the £190 seats in the royal circle feel short-changed? I did, a little. How I wished Zegler’s Eva had walked back through the auditorium, still bellowing about her wild days and mad existence. It would have blown the roof off.

Still, I have few complaints about this irresistible revival which finds director Jamie Lloyd achieving the impossible – making Andrew Lloyd Webber fashionable again.

Lloyd’s hit remake of Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard just bagged a Tony Award for its star Nicole Scherzinger – and with Zegler on board this Evita, a Broadway transfer and further glory seems likely. And do you know what? She deserves it all and more.

From Maria to woke Snow White to Evita, Zegler has come a very long way in a short time. At a tender age, she follows in the footsteps of Elaine Paige, who originated the role in London in 1978. ‘It was the show that changed my life overnight,’ said the newly anointed Dame.

Patti LuPone did the honours on Broadway the following year and won a Tony for her efforts. Should I mention that neither Elaine nor Patti was impressed when Madonna took on the role in the 1996 film version of Evita?

‘Madonna is a movie killer. She’s dead behind the eyes,’ screamed Patti. ‘She certainly died well,’ was all sniffy Elaine had to say about Madonna’s performance.

What is it with all these outspoken diva Evitas? Rachel Zegler has made mistakes en route to this celebrated role, but don’t cry for her. She’s a sensation.