What can you tell us about Evita? Will it seem like a Sunset Blvd. in style?
No, I think it’s radically different from Sunset Blvd. I’m looking at the stage now as we speak, looking at the Palladium stage, and it’s kind of got the energy of a rock gig. It’s almost like Eva Perón does Coachella. You know, it’s got a kind of real energy. Fabian Aloise, who is our amazing choreographer, has done the most exceptional work, as he did on Sunset, but Evita is wall-to-wall dance. I mean, we really have turned it into a dance show, and his choreography is outstanding, and this cast is working up a sweat in every single number.
But yes, there is a kind of desire to ask the audience to really, radically listen, to really kind of become co-authors in the experience and engage with the material in a way that, again, is not literal, but there are lots of surprises. There’s a lot of energy. I’ve got a few surprises up my sleeve that people will discover from the first preview, but it certainly has a very different energy to Sunset because, of course, they’re very different shows. It’s trying to get to kind of the essence of this particular show, but what I love about both of those shows and also inside every piece that Andrew’s ever written is that they’re very weird.
They’re very radical pieces of work. They’re like fever dreams, and if you think of Evita, you know, you leap from one song to the next, almost like a concert, and you can kind of jump-cut, almost, cinematically from one to the next. You know, one minute, you’re in JunÃn in Argentina, and the very next moment, you’re in Buenos Aires. So it’s kind of like allowing it to feel like a fever dream, allowing it to feel like a gig, and to be really, really kind of explosive.
I think that captures the atmosphere of both my experiences going to Buenos Aires and going to Buenos Aires football games where whole stadiums shake at La Boca Stadium, and also the kind of energy at a populist political rally. So I think all of these ideas are kind of swirling around the Palladium at the moment, and it’s a real thrill to behold, particularly Fabian’s amazing work and the work of our three leading performers, all of whom we brought over from the U.S. Rachel Zegler and Diego Rodriguez are singing this material like I never heard it before. I think it’s going to feel like an entirely new Evita for a whole new generation.
Has the music itself changed in any way? When you say Coachella, I’m starting to think, is this going to be a rock Evita?
LLOYD: Well, it is a rock opera, and actually, if you listen to that early concept album, you know, it’s pretty rock and roll, and I think the productions, over time, have maybe kind of gone down a slightly different route where you’re kind of using a blend of orchestrations. We’re just kind of tinkering with the orchestrations, and in terms of the rhythm section and guitars, bass, and drums, there’ll be a particular energy given to this particular version of the show, but ultimately what I love about doing these shows is it’s the score that you know and love, and it’s the orchestrations that you know and love.
What are the plans for Evita? Will it be coming to Broadway?
Who knows? Who knows? All I’m concentrating on, at the moment, is that we’ve got to get it open in the London Palladium, but I mean, I love working in New York, and I love coming to Broadway, and I love transferring work there. So let’s watch this space. Let’s see what happens….