Diego Andres Rodriguez has more than a touch of star quality in 'Evita' in the West End

In the space of a year, Diego Andres Rodriguez has made his Broadway and West End debuts, starring opposite two of the industry’s most sought after leading ladies: Nicole Scherzinger and Rachel Zegler.

Twelve months ago, Diego Andres Rodriguez, a musical theatre student at the University of Michigan, was waiting for his stage career to begin. Then he received a life-changing email from a casting agent, who remembered his audition for the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical New York, New York. He hadn’t gotten the part and a year had passed, but the agent came with a fresh offer: the chance to audition for the Broadway transfer of Jamie Lloyd’s production of Sunset Boulevard.

With only a week’s notice, and knowing next to nothing about the show — “I knew the movie, I watched it all the time, but I didn’t know it was a musical, and I didn’t know it was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber” — he rustled up the money for a plane ticket to New York. “I just thought, ‘I’m going to be there in a couple of months anyway. I might as well put my foot in the door,’” he says.

Rodriguez did just that, and booked the part of Artie Green, as well as understudy Joe Gillis, in a powerhouse cast led by Nicole Scherzinger, who has won an Olivier and Tony Award for the role of fading movie star Norma Desmond. “She gives everything that she can to this artform,” he says. “She’s like an Olympic athlete. The diligence, the dedication… she’s a beast on stage.”

While the much-lauded production continues to wow audiences on Broadway, Rodriguez has crossed the pond — “my first time going east!” — to star in another of Lloyd’s radical reworkings of a Lloyd Webber musical: the Rachel Zegler-led Evita at the London Palladium. And this time he is cast in a lead role as narrator Che, in this rousing story about the life of Argentinian political figure and activist Eva Perón. “It’s been such a fun journey of doing Sunset and at the same time learning this whole other show, because I see the commonalities between them: Norma is an icon and so is Eva, and Joe is kind of like Che,” he says.

While certain interpretations have positioned Che as the revolutionary figure Che Guevara, specifically by director Hal Prince, Rodiguez says his portrayal will draw on the name’s roots in Argentinian slang, for “bro” or “mate”. “I’m just this dude playing this role that is part Judas [from Jesus Christ Superstar, another Lloyd Webber musical], part Joe, but all Che, and all me,” he explains.

Lloyd’s highly stylised Evita had its first outing at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2019 and it is clear that his London Palladium run will continue in the same boundary-breaking vein: Zegler can be spotted each night singing “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” on a balcony outside the theatre, much the same way that Tom Francis takes to 44th Street on Broadway during the title song of Sunset Boulevard.

What else can we expect from the auteur director? “You can’t fail to do a Jamie Lloyd show without ending up in your pants,” Rodriguez laughs, before saying more seriously, “It will fulfil all the expectations of audiences hoping to see another mind-blowing, life-changing Jamie Lloyd production.”

Another element that sets this version apart from the Regent’s Park run is the casting of Zegler. Rodriguez gushes: “Rachel’s fantastic, oh my God, what a role! I love her.”

Speaking about her influence, he adds: “She’s a Latina who is representing in incredible ways. Being a Latina woman as a Disney princess does so much for the community. She was Maria in West Side Story first and it was so beautiful to see a little Latin girl playing this Puerto Rican.” Now starring as Eva Perón, Rodriguez believes she is someone for people to look up to. He continues: “There’s that beautiful crossing of lines that I think Jamie finds in his casts.”

Representation of different communities in the arts is important for Rodriguez. After growing up in the border town of McAllen in Texas, he feels a responsibility to show the younger generation that someone from his area can make it in the industry. Rodriguez believes he never would have entertained auditioning for a musical if it weren’t for In the Heights, Miranda’s musical about the dreams and struggles of a Latino neighbourhood in New York. “I was about eight years old and my dad said to me: ‘They made a whole show about Latinos — and it has rap!’”

That’s why starring opposite Mexican-American performer Mandy Gonzalez (as alternate Norma) in Sunset was such a big moment: “We were leading this show on Broadway that has nothing to do with Latinos at all.”

Rodriguez comes from a big family. His dad is one of 10 siblings, and eight of them are actively involved in the arts, including another musical theatre performer, two film directors, and a musician. “None of my family came to watch me in sports. But when I was on stage, all of them would come to watch the show,” he says.

He would love to collaborate with them on arts projects back in Texas: “There are family restaurants, and I’d love to have a family entertainment business.” But for now he’s happy to be exploring his new home, checking out the sunset from his digs near Primrose Hill, seeing lots of theatre (he loved Here We Are at the National), and making his West End debut. “It’s going to be an Evita for a new generation.”

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Photo credit: Diego Andres Rodriguez in Evita. Inset: Jamie Lloyd, Rachel Zegler, Diego Andres Rodriguez, and James Olivas in rehearsals. (Photos by Marc Brenner)