Evita

This had a wonderful set with stairs up to an upper level and pieces that were moved in and out to denote different scenes. The hair and costumes were stunning and took us through the period beautifully. The sound was great and although in the main the lighting worked well there were some very dimly lit scenes at the front of the stage the night I was in.

The company members played their parts well and the company numbers used the stage effectively with super choreography from Elizabeth Linden. These fitted the scenes depicted really well as I think this is a difficult show to choreograph. There are obvious dance numbers but the company numbers and crowd scenes looked very effective. The band sounded fantastic under the baton of Paul Firth and the harmonies in the chorus numbers were lovely showing how hard the company had been worked.

The strength of this show was in the casting of the principals. Kerry Newton did a fabulous job of Eva which is such a hard part to play as she is not a likeable character. From scheming hooker to desperate wife of Peron in her later years she played the selfish, hard Eva with great acting, commitment and strong vocals.

Jon Crebbin made a great Peron, both looking the part and with great vocals and Steve Maxfield played Magaldi with a comic ease. Katie McCoy had lovely vocals and the crutches didn’t detract from the scene. Amelia Cunliffe as Peron’s mistress gave us a lovely rendition of “Another Suitcase in Another Hall” and looked stunning.

The glue that holds the show together is the narrator part of Che. This part is the interesting one which challenges the iconic Eva and how the vast majority of her people thought of her. The part was played brilliantly by John Wood who was rarely off stage. He had fantastic vocals and crystal clear diction (so important in this role) and acted the part with contempt for Eva which balances the propaganda created by the Peron’s so the show is much more interesting.

All the principals and Lee as Director had clearly worked hard on the characterisations which more than lived up to expectations and gelled beautifully as a company. Well done to everyone involved. It was a fabulous evening.

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