The National Tour of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's EVITA
There is nothing sadder to me than having to sit through a production of one of your favorite shows that does not meet its full potential and winds up being rather disappointing in more ways than one. Unfortunately, I found this to be the case with the touring production of Evita that played at The Plaza Theatre in El Paso, Texas on March 9. Evita has been one of my favorite shows for years. I was in a production of this brilliant Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with the UTEP Dinner Theatre back in 2013 and I have been in love with the show ever since. I could sing the entire score for you right now if I wanted too. This touring production was the first time that I ever actually got to experience a live production of the show. The cast of this production was incredible and the show's writing remains simply impeccable. These two things allowed me to genuinely enjoy the show and not sit in misery for two hours. However, the production was so poorly directed and designed. It is actually almost mind boggling to me that they charge full price to see this production, considering the quality of the scenic and projection design (Where is Microsoft PowerPoint's credit in the Playbill?!?! Need I mention Google Images??). I understand that productions have budget limitations, but this was so low budget it was ridiculous. I was hoping I could look past the set and the projections, but the staging didn't make up for it either. The cast and written material of this show were the saving graces of this interesting evening in the theatre.
Detailing the lives of one of the most famous first ladies of Argentina (and the world), Evita tells the story of Eva (nicknamed "Evita") Duarte de Peron (played by Yael Reich)'s rise to fame from the time she was fifteen years old until her untimely death of ovarian cancer at age 33. Narrated by a man named Che (played by Lance Galgon. Some productions, including the original, choose to portray this character as Che Guevara, himself. This one does not) who detests the ways of the Perons. We see Eva sleep her way to the top, eventually finding her way to marrying Juan Peron, and becoming the powerful first lady of Argentina.
The touring production of Evita has two things going for it- The merit of the written material and the quality of the performers onstage. This was an extremely mediocre production of an amazing show that was saved by the actors. Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber have written an incredibly intelligent musical that is perfectly complex, with a fascinating plot and a killer score. The production certainly justified why I think the piece is so well written. When the lights came up at intermission, the first thing I said is that the two men who wrote this show did a really good job with it. The material was able to withstand this production.
Andy Fererra's direction was generally flawed. The first few numbers in the show are staged in an acceptable manner, but it only went downhill as the show went on. The first number that I truly had an issue with was "The Art of the Possible," which is song that is supposed to depict Juan Peron's rise to power and fame. I did not get that from the staging of the number. Ensemble members were sitting around the table as if they were in a meeting but we don't know what they are meeting about. There was also some random walking around, followed by Peron fighting two men and being left alone on the table. Another scene that I did not find to be staged well was the inauguration of Juan Peron at the Casa Rosada, where Eva Peron sings "Don't Cry For Me Argentina." Juan Peron starts the scene on the floor with the townspeople behind him waving their flags in an odd use of slow motion, looking up at the unoccupied balcony. When it is time for Evita to make her grand entrance on to the Casa Rosada, there was a black out and Juan Peron, Che, and a few other people went up to the balcony where Evita gave her speech. At the end of the song, there was a blackout. The townsfolk ran offstage and when the lights came up we were supposed to be inside the Casa Rosada. Everyone who was on the balcony when she sang the song stayed there. Che assumed the lines that normally belonged to a general. When it was time for Evita to return to the balcony, everyone then left the balcony, the townsfolk ran back onstage with their backs to her, looking up on the again empty balcony, and she finished the scene on the floor, facing us. Once again, why the citizens of Buenos Aires were waving their flags so slowly and over dramatically, I'll never know.
A popular choice for Fererra was having the citizens walk around in circles onstage, when there was nothing else to do. Fererra also did not seem to be able to transition smoothly from song to song. There would just be blackouts and everyone would exit and reassemble for the next scene. It was very abrupt and it happened so often that the show almost felt as if it was being done in vignettes. I have spoken to multiple people about this production and it seems that the general consensus is that many of the scenes were oddly placed onstage, repetitive, and that many poor choices were made throughout the production.
There were a few things about the direction that I liked. For example, I liked how the funeral of Eva Peron was staged. The musical number "And the Money Kept Rolling In" was well done, as was "A New Argentina." Fererra and Cheryl Baxter-Ratliff's choreography was mostly enjoyable, although it wasn't super in your face as the choreography in other productions of this show are. When the production is at its calmer moments is when it is at its best. For example, the gentler numbers such as "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" and "Santa Evita," were some of the show's strongest moments and I was able to appreciate the meaning behind each of the scenes. I will say about the ensemble, is that I truly believed that every one of them though Eva Peron was actually a real life saint or a Goddess. The way that they were utilized in the second half of the second act, in addition to the opening number really pushed that plot element.
The scenic design (by Bruce Brockman) consisted of a plain balcony like structure, with the projection screen above it and two smaller screens on each side of the stage. Frankly, the projections were bizarre. I don't like to put down the work of any one who works on the technical side of theatre, but this was almost on a different level. As soon as the show started, it looked like it was made using Microsoft PowerPoint. I liked the concept of having photos appear during the show to help further the historical context of the show, but it was distracting and one of my friends who I spoke to about this production noted that it looked like they were all taken from Google Images, using the copy and paste feature. If the scene was in a hallway, they would display a picture of a hallway and if they were at horse races, they would show pictures of horses and so on. One of the more ridiculous projections was the use of cloud graphics whenever there was a ballad. It happened a few times during the show and it didn't make sense, even once.
Throughout the entire show, the music sounded very artificial. During the performance, I was convinced that the music that the actors were singing along to was prerecorded. I don't mean that it sounded too good to be live, I mean that it sounded legitimately fake. It sounded electronic at times and it really didn't sound as if there was actually a live orchestra in the pit. Most of the time, I can tell the difference between a live band and canned music, and this sounded like the latter. One of my friends who was sitting in the mezzanine (I was in the orchestra) said that they saw a few people in the pit, but certainly not a full orchestra. She noted that one of them may have been a disc jockey. On a separate music note, there were a few portions of the show that were sung offstage that are normally sung onstage and I don't know who to blame for this, but most of the time when offstage singing was taking place it sounded soft and it did not blend with the people who were singing onstage, thus creating a very unpleasant sound.
Narrating the show, Lance Galgon has a lovely voice as Che. Galgon was skillful throughout the show, but there are times where it felt as if he were trying to do a little bit too much with his voice and it came out pitchy every now and then. Other than that, I really enjoyed his portrayal of Che and he was a nice counter to Yael Reich's Eva. Although Galgon is quite talented, I did not appreciate Fererra went about portraying the character. Che is supposed to be a Greek Chorus of sorts, who is narrating and commenting on the action. However, Ferrera chose to have Che be completely a part of the action and this didn't work for many reasons. There were points where he made comments directly to Eva and he even stood on the balcony with her during "Don't Cry For Me Argentina." Most productions utilize Che as different characters in certain scenes and he might make a remark directly to Eva. However, here he was Che the entire time. What were once comments being made to the audience were now spoken directly to Eva. Is he there? Why would Eva Peron and her security allow this man to keep harassing throughout her entire life? Although not a word was changed in the script to accommodate for this choice, it was detrimental to the character, as it brought about confusion and had a dark cloud surrounding Galgon's excellent performance.
I have always said that Evita tends to live or die based on who is playing the title role. Luckily, Reich is phenomenal. She portrays the coldness of Eva quite well and every aspect of her performance is very believable. She wowed the audience with her powerhouse singing voice and watching her go from the immature 15 year old Eva to authoritative and glamorous first lady of Argentina was remarkable. Reich commanded the stage and does extremely well in portraying this enormous role. If Riech was not successful in the role, the entire show would have been very boring to sit through, but Reich is more than up to the task of taking on the role, which has a very Shakespearean type character arc. We see her rise and we see her fall.
Gary Barton also does a nice job playing the role of Juan Peron and works well alongside Reich. Also doing beautifully are Matthew Malecki Martinez as Eva's first lover, Augustin Magaldi and Madeline Ellingson as Peron's mistress, whose rendition of "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" is gorgeous and heartbreaking.
Quite honestly, I am shocked that this production was included as a part of the Broadway in El Paso season. The caliber of the previous productions that have come to the Plaza this season were mountains higher than this one was. I truly struggled with this review because as I mentioned, the cast was quite good and they really saved this production. I was able to enjoy the show well enough because of them and the fact that it is one of my favorite musicals of all time. If the production surrounding them did anything, it reminded me how much I love Evita and made the already stunning written material look even better because of the production that it was given. I am so glad that this show came as a part of my subscription for the Broadway in El Paso season, because if I had paid the regular $70 for this performance, I would have been really upset, especially since I have paid less for productions of much higher quality. This production of Evita is entertaining, but if you come into this expecting first class production values or outstanding direction and design such as I did, you will be disappointed. I've seen better productions at local theaters here in El Paso. To end this review, I want to stress that each and every member of the cast was more than incredible and I suspect that we will see many of them go on to do bigger and better things. They truly saved this entire production.
For more information on Plan-B Entertainment's national tour of EVITA, please visit http://www.playbill.com/production/evita-touring
At the time I saw the show, the cast of the national tour of Evita consisted of:
Eva- YAEL REICH
Che- LANCE GALGON
Juan Peron- GARY BARTON
Magaldi- MATTHEW MALECKI MARTINEZ
Mistress- MADELINE ELLINGSON
Eva's Family- CYNTHIA CALDWELL, KATIE HART, KATHARINE HAGUE, NIC OLSEN, TALEEN SHIRKIAN
Eva's Lovers- TY KOELLER, MATTHEW MALECKI MARTINEZ, JOHN McGAVIN, NIC OLSEN, THOMAS REASONER
Tango Dancers- VERONICA GUTTIERREZ, MARCUS HENSON, ALA TIATIA
Generals- TY KOELLER, JOHN McGAVIN, NIC OLSEN, ALA TIATIA
People of Argentina-CYNTHIA CALDWELL, MADELINE ELLINGSON, VERONICA GUTIERREZ, KATIE HART, KATHARINE HAGUE, MARCUS HENSON, CARMEN JACKSON, JOHNATHAN JACOB, TY KOELLER, MATTHEW MALECKI MARTINEZ, JOHN McGAVIN, NIC OLSEN, DYLAN PASS, THOMAS REASONER, JACQUELINE ROSENTHAL, TALEEN SHRIKIAN, ALA TIATIA
Performance Reviewed: March 9, 2019 (7:30 P.M.)
Detailing the lives of one of the most famous first ladies of Argentina (and the world), Evita tells the story of Eva (nicknamed "Evita") Duarte de Peron (played by Yael Reich)'s rise to fame from the time she was fifteen years old until her untimely death of ovarian cancer at age 33. Narrated by a man named Che (played by Lance Galgon. Some productions, including the original, choose to portray this character as Che Guevara, himself. This one does not) who detests the ways of the Perons. We see Eva sleep her way to the top, eventually finding her way to marrying Juan Peron, and becoming the powerful first lady of Argentina.
The touring production of Evita has two things going for it- The merit of the written material and the quality of the performers onstage. This was an extremely mediocre production of an amazing show that was saved by the actors. Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber have written an incredibly intelligent musical that is perfectly complex, with a fascinating plot and a killer score. The production certainly justified why I think the piece is so well written. When the lights came up at intermission, the first thing I said is that the two men who wrote this show did a really good job with it. The material was able to withstand this production.
Andy Fererra's direction was generally flawed. The first few numbers in the show are staged in an acceptable manner, but it only went downhill as the show went on. The first number that I truly had an issue with was "The Art of the Possible," which is song that is supposed to depict Juan Peron's rise to power and fame. I did not get that from the staging of the number. Ensemble members were sitting around the table as if they were in a meeting but we don't know what they are meeting about. There was also some random walking around, followed by Peron fighting two men and being left alone on the table. Another scene that I did not find to be staged well was the inauguration of Juan Peron at the Casa Rosada, where Eva Peron sings "Don't Cry For Me Argentina." Juan Peron starts the scene on the floor with the townspeople behind him waving their flags in an odd use of slow motion, looking up at the unoccupied balcony. When it is time for Evita to make her grand entrance on to the Casa Rosada, there was a black out and Juan Peron, Che, and a few other people went up to the balcony where Evita gave her speech. At the end of the song, there was a blackout. The townsfolk ran offstage and when the lights came up we were supposed to be inside the Casa Rosada. Everyone who was on the balcony when she sang the song stayed there. Che assumed the lines that normally belonged to a general. When it was time for Evita to return to the balcony, everyone then left the balcony, the townsfolk ran back onstage with their backs to her, looking up on the again empty balcony, and she finished the scene on the floor, facing us. Once again, why the citizens of Buenos Aires were waving their flags so slowly and over dramatically, I'll never know.
A popular choice for Fererra was having the citizens walk around in circles onstage, when there was nothing else to do. Fererra also did not seem to be able to transition smoothly from song to song. There would just be blackouts and everyone would exit and reassemble for the next scene. It was very abrupt and it happened so often that the show almost felt as if it was being done in vignettes. I have spoken to multiple people about this production and it seems that the general consensus is that many of the scenes were oddly placed onstage, repetitive, and that many poor choices were made throughout the production.
There were a few things about the direction that I liked. For example, I liked how the funeral of Eva Peron was staged. The musical number "And the Money Kept Rolling In" was well done, as was "A New Argentina." Fererra and Cheryl Baxter-Ratliff's choreography was mostly enjoyable, although it wasn't super in your face as the choreography in other productions of this show are. When the production is at its calmer moments is when it is at its best. For example, the gentler numbers such as "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" and "Santa Evita," were some of the show's strongest moments and I was able to appreciate the meaning behind each of the scenes. I will say about the ensemble, is that I truly believed that every one of them though Eva Peron was actually a real life saint or a Goddess. The way that they were utilized in the second half of the second act, in addition to the opening number really pushed that plot element.
The scenic design (by Bruce Brockman) consisted of a plain balcony like structure, with the projection screen above it and two smaller screens on each side of the stage. Frankly, the projections were bizarre. I don't like to put down the work of any one who works on the technical side of theatre, but this was almost on a different level. As soon as the show started, it looked like it was made using Microsoft PowerPoint. I liked the concept of having photos appear during the show to help further the historical context of the show, but it was distracting and one of my friends who I spoke to about this production noted that it looked like they were all taken from Google Images, using the copy and paste feature. If the scene was in a hallway, they would display a picture of a hallway and if they were at horse races, they would show pictures of horses and so on. One of the more ridiculous projections was the use of cloud graphics whenever there was a ballad. It happened a few times during the show and it didn't make sense, even once.
Throughout the entire show, the music sounded very artificial. During the performance, I was convinced that the music that the actors were singing along to was prerecorded. I don't mean that it sounded too good to be live, I mean that it sounded legitimately fake. It sounded electronic at times and it really didn't sound as if there was actually a live orchestra in the pit. Most of the time, I can tell the difference between a live band and canned music, and this sounded like the latter. One of my friends who was sitting in the mezzanine (I was in the orchestra) said that they saw a few people in the pit, but certainly not a full orchestra. She noted that one of them may have been a disc jockey. On a separate music note, there were a few portions of the show that were sung offstage that are normally sung onstage and I don't know who to blame for this, but most of the time when offstage singing was taking place it sounded soft and it did not blend with the people who were singing onstage, thus creating a very unpleasant sound.
Narrating the show, Lance Galgon has a lovely voice as Che. Galgon was skillful throughout the show, but there are times where it felt as if he were trying to do a little bit too much with his voice and it came out pitchy every now and then. Other than that, I really enjoyed his portrayal of Che and he was a nice counter to Yael Reich's Eva. Although Galgon is quite talented, I did not appreciate Fererra went about portraying the character. Che is supposed to be a Greek Chorus of sorts, who is narrating and commenting on the action. However, Ferrera chose to have Che be completely a part of the action and this didn't work for many reasons. There were points where he made comments directly to Eva and he even stood on the balcony with her during "Don't Cry For Me Argentina." Most productions utilize Che as different characters in certain scenes and he might make a remark directly to Eva. However, here he was Che the entire time. What were once comments being made to the audience were now spoken directly to Eva. Is he there? Why would Eva Peron and her security allow this man to keep harassing throughout her entire life? Although not a word was changed in the script to accommodate for this choice, it was detrimental to the character, as it brought about confusion and had a dark cloud surrounding Galgon's excellent performance.
I have always said that Evita tends to live or die based on who is playing the title role. Luckily, Reich is phenomenal. She portrays the coldness of Eva quite well and every aspect of her performance is very believable. She wowed the audience with her powerhouse singing voice and watching her go from the immature 15 year old Eva to authoritative and glamorous first lady of Argentina was remarkable. Reich commanded the stage and does extremely well in portraying this enormous role. If Riech was not successful in the role, the entire show would have been very boring to sit through, but Reich is more than up to the task of taking on the role, which has a very Shakespearean type character arc. We see her rise and we see her fall.
Gary Barton also does a nice job playing the role of Juan Peron and works well alongside Reich. Also doing beautifully are Matthew Malecki Martinez as Eva's first lover, Augustin Magaldi and Madeline Ellingson as Peron's mistress, whose rendition of "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" is gorgeous and heartbreaking.
Quite honestly, I am shocked that this production was included as a part of the Broadway in El Paso season. The caliber of the previous productions that have come to the Plaza this season were mountains higher than this one was. I truly struggled with this review because as I mentioned, the cast was quite good and they really saved this production. I was able to enjoy the show well enough because of them and the fact that it is one of my favorite musicals of all time. If the production surrounding them did anything, it reminded me how much I love Evita and made the already stunning written material look even better because of the production that it was given. I am so glad that this show came as a part of my subscription for the Broadway in El Paso season, because if I had paid the regular $70 for this performance, I would have been really upset, especially since I have paid less for productions of much higher quality. This production of Evita is entertaining, but if you come into this expecting first class production values or outstanding direction and design such as I did, you will be disappointed. I've seen better productions at local theaters here in El Paso. To end this review, I want to stress that each and every member of the cast was more than incredible and I suspect that we will see many of them go on to do bigger and better things. They truly saved this entire production.
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At the time I saw the show, the cast of the national tour of Evita consisted of:
Eva- YAEL REICH
Che- LANCE GALGON
Juan Peron- GARY BARTON
Magaldi- MATTHEW MALECKI MARTINEZ
Mistress- MADELINE ELLINGSON
Eva's Family- CYNTHIA CALDWELL, KATIE HART, KATHARINE HAGUE, NIC OLSEN, TALEEN SHIRKIAN
Eva's Lovers- TY KOELLER, MATTHEW MALECKI MARTINEZ, JOHN McGAVIN, NIC OLSEN, THOMAS REASONER
Tango Dancers- VERONICA GUTTIERREZ, MARCUS HENSON, ALA TIATIA
Generals- TY KOELLER, JOHN McGAVIN, NIC OLSEN, ALA TIATIA
People of Argentina-CYNTHIA CALDWELL, MADELINE ELLINGSON, VERONICA GUTIERREZ, KATIE HART, KATHARINE HAGUE, MARCUS HENSON, CARMEN JACKSON, JOHNATHAN JACOB, TY KOELLER, MATTHEW MALECKI MARTINEZ, JOHN McGAVIN, NIC OLSEN, DYLAN PASS, THOMAS REASONER, JACQUELINE ROSENTHAL, TALEEN SHRIKIAN, ALA TIATIA
Performance Reviewed: March 9, 2019 (7:30 P.M.)
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