‘Evita’: A refreshing new look at an old story

In London in 1976, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice released an album of a show that would be called “Evita.” By early 1977, the album took the world by storm and when “Evita” premiered in London in June 1978, everyone was humming “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.” In September 1979, “Evita” opened on Broadway to a sold out run and won seven Tonys, including Best Musical, Score, Book and Director. “Evita’s” Broadway run went on for four years.
A successful revival opened in London in 2006, followed by the 2012 Broadway award-winning production. Fortunately, a national tour followed.
The story is about the life of Eva Peron, and how she became the wife of Argentine dictator Juan Peron. It takes us – via “pop opera” – from her illegitimate birth and rejection by her father’s family, to the bitter poverty and the manipulative climb to power and the desire for a position of acceptance in upper class society, which always seemed just out of her grasp. A narrator character of Che hovers in and out of the story, cynically bringing reality to the intrigue as the play unfolds.
Michael Grandage directed this production and moves his people with a definite purpose, keeping the chemistry bubbling throughout the performance.
Caroline Bowman is an impressive Evita with a solid, clear voice. She has the gutsy timber that gives Evita the needed drive for her character.
Sean MacLaughlin as Peron underplays the immoral tyrant/dictator with a strong tenor and enough passion and subtle weakness to keep the audience aware of his insecurities.
Joe Young plays Che and carries his role with a solid baritone that brings a little light into the many dark moods of this piece. He treats the character with a slight whimsy and humor that previous Che’s did not. As the everyman, Che has charisma and fine delivery and is one of the best Che’s “Evita” has had since Broadway.
Playing Peron’s child mistress, Krystina Alabado’s treatment of “Another Suitcase Another Hall” was a soft, lovely, welcome and heartfelt moment that transfixed the audience. “I’d Be Surprisingly Good For You” with Eva, Peron and a group of Tango dancers comes across with the seductiveness of their first meeting that made the combination an interesting and inventive mix. The signature balcony scene and song, “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” had a poignant moment of Eva making the first real grab for her own power. An extraordinary group of outstanding dancers carry chirographer Bob Ashford’s creativity to the finest limit.
Award winners Christopher Oram (scenic and costume design) and Neil Austin (lighting design) are extremely well done. A full orchestra carries the show under the baton of William Waldrop.
I have seen four productions of “Evita” – some good and some I wished I had missed – and this revamped version is a different “Evita” and holds its own. It scores way up there in fine musical theatre. A well-done, enjoyable visit to a story that always intrigues and at the same time entertains.
Camille Bounds is the theatre and arts editor for the Western Division of Sunrise Publications.
Where: The San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd., San Jose
Tickets: $40-$90
Through: Nov. 24
Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes with one intermission
Details: (800) 745-3000 or broadwaysanjose.com