Evita

Evita is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical of the tragic story of Eva Peron, firstly let me congratulate Thalian Theatre Company for taking on such an iconic musical.

Maureen Davies as director had a tough task and I could see the effort that had been taken to tell this story I really thought the staging of the death was thought out well.  However, when staging, I think all of the big chorus scenes could have been brought forward a little, this would have helped the audience to see everyone on stage as well as the projections being used.

The harmonies and the band were something that stood out for me. It was clear they had been worked on and the band was fantastic, Margeret Johnson did a great job.

The Thalian stage is a lovely space, but it can be a challenge to make sure all the chorus can be seen when they are all on stage, this was the case in the big chorus numbers.  The chorus members were all used and given a chance to shine, when less people were used in some numbers.  Emma Gilby tried hard to make sure everyone had an opportunity.

Tammy Wall played the iconic role of Eva Peron.  For me she had a great stage presence and a beautiful voice.  Her portrayal of the death of Eva towards the end of the show had such great pathos and she timed it to perfection to get the correct response from the audience.

Juan Peron was played by Alex Horrex-White.  Alex had an excellent voice, and he had the stage presence for such an important man, unfortunately I was distracted by his make-up, which gave an unrealistic look.

Che Guevara is the classic narrator of this Andrew Lloyd Webber classic, and Darren Barsby sung and told the story well, not an easy role well done.

Clive Dancey played Agustin Magaldi.  Clive had a lovely voice and super characterisation, a lovely contrast to the other male characters.

Peron’s Mistress played by Chloe Deamer had a lovely number in Act 1 that Chloe sang great, she made the most of her song.

The projections overall were well used to make sure a minimal set was used, however attention to detail sometimes needs to be considered, for example the use of the Euro in one of the projections. It was nice to see blackouts not used for scene changes, however backstage crew wearing jeans and a headset, I believe did take away from what the director was trying to achieve.

I always feel welcome and I am grateful to Mandy Sayers and the front of house team for their hospitality.

 

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