Rachel Zegler explains why divisive Evita decision was important for "accessibility for young people"

Rachel Zegler's memorable West End debut has reached its storybook ending as the star scooped up her Olivier Award for best actress in a musical last Sunday night.

Under the spotlights of the Royal Albert Hall, the Snow White actress got to sing her version of Don't Cry For Me Argentina for a final time in London – the city she brought to a literal halt last summer by performing it on the London Palladium's outdoor balcony.

While Jamie Lloyd's revival of Evita pulled in around 220,000 paying patrons, that outdoor scene alone had thousands of people flooding the street outside every night. In her acceptance speech, Zegler paid tribute to the "130,000 descamisados" (the show's term for the crowd) and later said that moment was the "biggest honour".

Speaking to Radio Times after winning the award she said: " I couldn't believe that I got to be a part of a moment of such accessibility for young people to come and see a piece of theatre just in the street. It was amazing. And I can't believe how fortunate I was to be a part of it."

She continued: "Everybody who showed up to watch that balcony scene was so giving with their energy and their love and their admiration for the art form, that's how I feel about doing theatre in London. The love of the art form is at the core, and I just feel very fortunate to have been part of it."

Director Jamie Lloyd also shared in an exclusive chat with Radio Times that he stumbled upon this viral moment by accident, saying: "I actually came up with that balcony moment not long before rehearsals, to be honest, and it was only because I was walking past the Palladium and saw the balcony and thought, 'how can I resist?'

"And course, it makes a lot of sense with the narrative of the show, I think it's the sort of thing that Eva Perón herself would do, but it was a huge undertaking to try and pull it off and I'm just so grateful to the team and everyone involved that they actually did."

Lloyd is also known for his championing of theatre accessibility and discounted ticket prices, so his decision to take the show's biggest moment was hardly suprising. In a 2016 interview with The Stage, he said ticket prices in the West End were "creating a divide in the audience between the rich and the poor," and on the Oliviers carpet he followed up with:

"We just have to keep keep going. In our Shakespeare season we had 25,000 tickets at £25 for under 30s and key workers and those receiving government benefits and I just encourage all producers to look at schemes like that and ways to make tickets available at all price points."

Part of the popularity of Lloyd's shows is his ability to connect A-list Hollywood actors with traditional plays and musicals – Zegler and Evita, Tom Holland and Romeo & Juliet, Tom Hiddleston and Much Ado About Nothing – a process he says starts with the actor.

"Most of the time, it starts with a relationship with a particular actor, and they may have ideas or we go back and forth on play ideas or musical ideas, and then I build it very specifically with them and around them, and because of them.

"Often, I ask them to bring themselves to do it and I think that's really exciting, when you can kind of explore the relationship between those people and the people that come and see them.

"It's just really great to connect with more people. Lots of people here today that have seen the shows and really connected with them and that's the reason why we do it, to connect to as many people as possible. So it's really just an interesting time, and it's very exciting."

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