Evita – Lowry Theatre, Salford
Music: Andrew Lloyd-Webber
Lyrics: Tim Rice
Director: Bob Thomson & Bill Kenwright
Reviewer: John Roberts
The Public Reviews Rating: 
It is arguably Lloyd-Webber & Tim Rice’s best collaboration, with wonderful music and some of musical theatre’s most haunting lyrics, but this production which has been touring the country for almost a year is now is looking and feeling as week and as fragile as the dying days of Eva Peron herself.
Evita is the story of Maria Eva Duarte de Peron, the wife of President Juan Peron, who rose from poverty to become the most famous Argentine woman in History. Having had huge political influence, her input and charity work earn’t her nothing but scorn and hatred from the military and middle-classes but nothing but adoration and love from the workers and descamisados. Evita is the story of her rise to fame and how she came to shape a country.
It must be said that visually this production designed by Matthew Wright is exquisite, from the marble pillars that move around to convey different locations, the wrought cast iron staircases and balconies to the Gold gilded picture frames that adorn the proscenium arch, and the stunning costumes that are so precise really does make Evita the best looking show in town…unfortunately for this production the set and costumes was Evita’s strongest suit.
Abigail Jaye as the heroine Evita looks every bit the strong minded power driven first lady, however despite a strong voice there was very little in her performance in the way of acting the role. Mark Heenehan as Peron was strong in stature with an overly menacing glare in his eyes, but his deep bass/baritone voice seemed to struggle at times with the music. Mark Powell was a charming Che, the guerrilla activist leader, but his silky smooth voice and charismatic way seemed at odds from one of the most notorious characters in 20th Century History. Abigail Matthews gave one of the most convincing portrayals of the evening as Peron’s Mistress and her rendition of Another Suitcase in Another hall was nothing short of beautiful. Credit must also be given to the young girl singing solo during Santa Evita, this is a terrifying experience for even the seasoned pros but to do it at 7 years old in front of 2000 people takes real courage and I for one have the strongest admiration for her.
Thomson & Kenwright’s direction is a little uneven with the first half seemingly lacking in real energy and indeed creativity, however this is blown away by a much tighter and creatively excellent second act, Rainbow High being one of the shows strongest numbers. Bill Deamer’s choreography is fit for purpose and his Argentine Tango infused showstoppers are a joy to behold.
My major concern with the production though is with the orchestra, I understand that touring a full orchestra is an expensive commodity and that certain cuts and choices have to be made, but having a synthesised keyboard replace the subtleties of the string section of the score is a little bemusing, not only did this flatten the overall product but also felt we were listening to an 80’s syntho-pop version of the music.
As said above there are some real redeeming qualities to this production of Evita, but it certainly lacks the Charm of the early 90’s production starring Marti Webb and doesn’t quite reach the bite and energy of Grandage’s recent West End Production. Eva Peron may have seduced a nation but this production of Evita never seduced me…which is a crying shame!
Runs until 18th Sept
Tags: Abigail Jaye, Abigail Matthews, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Bill Deamer, Bill Kenright, Bob Thomson, Evita, Lowry Theatre, Mark Heenehan, Mark Powell, Matthew Wright, Salford, Tim Rice
11:07 pm on September 21st, 2010
i have just returned from seeing Evita at the New Wimbledon Theatre. Before I went i read one of your reviews warning that this new Evita was lacking on many fronts but i chose to ignore it since Evita has been one of my favourite musicals since the studio soundtrack was released in 1976 and i wouldn’t believe it could be desicrated by anyone. Well… what can I say,….? I was wrong. The French have a word “penible” for which there is no direct translation. Tonight was “penible” and more. I have seen close on 450 theatre productions in the past 3 years and this ranks in the bottom 3 if not as the worst. This was karaoke Evita designed to make money but to please noone. It was the musical equivalent of painting by numbers. The only good thing going for it was the orchestra. Above the pit, were a collection of badly cast musical theatre “professionals” who were totally lost when it came to acting or storytelling be it either through word or song. They only looked comfortable when facing the front and grinning whilst dancing, it didn’t matter that they had no clue why they were dancing they were just happy dancing….need i add more…? The whole production was mis-cast e.g. Who can believe that Magaldi is a sleazy middle aged man when he is and, looks ten years younger than Eva? who can believe that Magaldi has stolen Eva’s innocence when her relatives, including her mother are younger than her? Who can buy into Eva “working” her way up the ranks so to speak when she exudes as much sex appeal as a tea cosy? Who can possibly believe that the army generals are a menace when none of them need to shave and the chief looks like Tommy Cannon with his false moustache? Who thought it was a good idea to import the two toy soldiers from Chitty? Who can believe that Che is a desparate man living on the edge of society not knowing if he will be alive tomorrow let alone when he might eat again when he looks like he has spent too much time at the local burger joint. I’m sorry but i don’t think that a single one of these performers has taken the time to research their character, the period nor the place. the whole ensemble looked middle class and comfortable on stage safe in the knowledge that they would be paid at the end of the week and that if they got through tonight’s show there would be a hot shower and a comfortable bed waiting for them at the nearest premier inn from which they could check their facebook messages. ALW you really should be ashamed of yourself and if you haven’t seen this production you should get to wimbledon as as soon as possible and make some major changes because your reputation is being seriously damaged as i write.