Rachel Zegler & Andrew Lloyd Webber Bring 'Evita' To Life | Entertainment News | Hollywood News

I had a very funny evening the other day thinking of, I'm going to ask AI what's a great idea for a musical. I love how meta that is, like you create a musical and then you're asking AI. Yes, yes. I mean, you know, and the answer is that, I mean, AI is only in the end a digital storage machine. I mean, and it will, you know, constrain what it wants out of existing things. And it's going to be fantastically helpful in various areas, of course, but when it comes to absolutely creating something totally original, it can't. Oh, wow. I mean, it's incredible. I feel so lucky to be a part of it and the way that it's been captured is so wonderful and now people get to have a slice of it at home, which is really wonderful. It's really great because it's a live performance and what is fantastic is that there's no messing around with it, no enhancement, no fiddling around tuning vocals, none of the things that happened. It's exactly as it was that night and it just shows, you know, what a wonderful cast we had and how extraordinary Rachel was. Is. Did you know the day that you were recording it, though, that you were going to be there? No. I, with stuff like that, I'd rather not know because I will sit there and have such bad anxiety and I'm like my worst critic, as most performers are, and so no, I had no idea. But having listened to it, as painful as it is to listen to myself saying anything, I am very happy with how it turned out. I never know how a movie star like you can watch your face blown up about 20 times on the screen. It's sadistic. I know. I mean, what was incredible about the balcony moment was that in the theatre, you realise why Rachel was a movie star, too. And I mean, I goosebumps when I think about it. I mean, it was just amazing. It was fantastic for the people outside seeing something like that, which had never been done before. But then inside the theatre, when the camera panned back so you actually saw a real crowd, the gasp that was in the audience was suddenly that this is actually, well, it's like watching something that really is going on live. And knowing that you're about to see that artist again, I mean, the whole thing was amazing. It was riveting. It was riveting to do, as well. I never got to watch it. I think that's the best. I grieve it. It's one of those things that you really grieve. I feel like you get this momentum going when you're doing a show eight times a week. The warm-up, the cool-down, everything that happens, you finally feel like you've landed in a nice place, a nice routine. It's over. But it's some of the greatest people I've ever met, some of the greatest people I've ever worked with, the most talented group of people, certainly, that I've ever gotten to work with. So it's really just a lot of giving thanks for the experience and then obviously getting to come back with the album press and doing everything back here in London. It's really heartwarming. Let's do what we need to do to make this happen. I think there were certainly discussions of whether or not the sound would be piped out into the street, and I was like, we need to do whatever we can to make that happen, and we did. And I'm so grateful for it because we brought one of the most iconic, if not the most iconic, musical theatre moments in history to the people, which is exactly what the character would want, it's exactly what the historical figure would want, and then it was also just a theatrical feat that Jamie was able to accomplish. Technically, it was very difficult. Yes. I mean, really difficult. Yeah. But it worked. And one of the extraordinary things about technology now, I guess, is that this is genuinely something that I don't think could have been done, certainly, ten years ago. And I mean, when I first heard about it, I thought, fantastic idea. But first, of course, the council said no. Of course they said no. And a lot of work was done on them and this, that and the other. Afterwards, the council said, wonderful thing, bringing democracy, democratising theatre and all of that. I mean, no way were they happy originally. But it worked. The main thing is we've got to see how we do it again when we go to New York, which we will, if I've got anything to do with it. Yes. Where we've just got to, basically, we've just got to get all the investment and everything lined up and everything. It's not so easy to work in New York, because it's very, very tough, you know, to make anything work. But I'm sure we'll get there. I mean, behind the scenes right now, we're all working on this. It'll be amazing. New York's my home and it has been my home for my whole life. So, getting to do anything at home and bringing it to my friends and family who watched me sing these songs around my living room when I was a kid, to get them to see it in such a medium, it's amazing and I'm dying to be a part of it. I mean, I had a very funny evening the other day thinking of, I'm going to ask AI, what's a great idea for a musical? I love how meta that is, like, you create a musical and you're asking AI. Yes, yes. I mean, you know, and the answer is that, I mean, AI is only, in the end, a digital storage machine. I mean, and it will, you know, constrain what it wants out of existing things. And it's going to be fantastically helpful in various areas, of course. But when it comes to absolutely creating something totally original, you can't. Oh, wow. I mean, it's incredible. I'm so, I feel so lucky to be a part of it. And the way that it's been captured is so wonderful. And now people get to have a slice of it at home, which is really wonderful. It's really great because it's a live performance. And what is fantastic is, is that there's no messing around with it, no enhancement, no fiddling around tuning vocals, none of the things that happen. It's exactly as it was that night. And it just shows, you know, what a wonderful cast we had and how extraordinary Rachel was. Is. Did you know the day that you were recording it that it's going to be there? No, I, with stuff like that, I'd rather not know because I will sit there and have such bad anxiety. And I'm like my worst critic, as most performers are. So, no, I had no idea. But having listened to it, as painful as it is to listen to myself saying anything, I am very happy with how it turned out. I never know how a movie star like you can watch your face blown up about 20 times on the screen. It's sadistic. I know. I mean, what was incredible about the balcony moment was that in the theatre you realised why Rachel was a movie star too. And I mean, I goosebumps when I think about it. I mean, it was just amazing. It was fantastic for people outside seeing something like that, which had never been done before. But then inside the theatre, when the camera panned back so you actually saw a real crowd, the gasp that was in the audience was suddenly that this is actually, well, it's like watching something that really is going on live. And knowing that you're about to see that artist again. I mean, the whole thing was amazing. It was riveting. It was riveting to do as well. I never got to watch it. I think that's pretty bad, actually. I grieve it. It's one of those things that you really grieve. I feel like you get this momentum going when you're doing a show eight times a week. The warm-up, the cool-down, everything that happens. You finally feel like you've landed in a nice place, a nice routine. It's over. But some of the greatest people I've ever met, some of the greatest people I've ever worked with, the most talented group of people, certainly, that I've ever gotten to work with. So it's really just a lot of giving thanks for the experience. And then, obviously, getting to come back with the album press and doing everything back here in London is really heartwarming. People said, let's do what we need to do to make this happen. I think there were certainly discussions of whether or not the sound would be piped out into the street. And I was like, we need to do whatever we can to make that happen. And we did. And I'm so grateful for it. Because we brought one of the most iconic, if not the most iconic, musical theater moments in history to the people, which is exactly what the character would want, is exactly what the historical figure would want. And then it was also just a theatrical feat that Jamie was able to accomplish. Technically, it was very difficult. Yes. I mean, really difficult. But it worked. And one of the extraordinary things about technology now, I guess, is that this is genuinely something that I don't think could have been done, certainly, 10 years ago. And I mean, when I first heard about it, I thought, fantastic idea. But first, of course, the council said no. Of course they said no. And a lot of work was done on them. Afterwards, the council said, wonderful thing, bringing democracy, democratizing theater and all of that. I mean, no way were they happy originally. But it worked. The main thing is we've got to see how we do it again when we go to New York, which we will, if I've got anything to do with it. Where we've just got to, basically, we've just got to get all the investment and everything lined up and everything. But I'm sure we'll get there. I mean, behind the scenes right now, we're all working on it. It'll be amazing. New York's my home. And it has been my home for my whole life. So getting to do anything at home and bringing it to my friends and family who watched me sing these songs around my living room when I was a kid, to get them to see it in such a medium, it's amazing. And I'm dying to be a part of it.