Director:
Musical Director:
Choreographer(s):
Opened:
Closed:
Venue:
Music By:
Lyrics By:
Book By:
Synopsis
Evita is the highly successful musical by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice, it is the story of Argentina’s most controversial First Lady, Eva Perón who tragically died very young at the age of 33. The outpouring of grief and sorrow by the Argentinian people at the news of her death was huge, and can be equated to the peoples’ response at the death of Diana. Her awe-inspiring funeral, attended by seven million devoted followers, is the opening to the musical. The narrator throughout the show is Che Guavara, who many think was Cuban but he was actually Argentinian although he interacts with Evita in the show in real life Che and Eva never actually met. He takes the story back by over a decade, to when Eva was a young girl and then guides the audience through her early days in Buenos Aires, her rise to fame and how a B-movie actress became the object of such controversial devotion. There is no dialogue throughout the show the story is told very cleverly by song.
Review
Thalian Theatre Company “Evita” 9.11.24
Director: Maureen Davies MD: Margaret Johnson
Choreographer: Emma Gilby
Venue – Thalian Hall
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.
Scott Welch
NODA Representative – NODA East District 9
NODA owns the intellectual Property Rights to the content of all show reports written by NODA Councillors, Reps and Assistant Reps
| Eva Peron | Tammy Wall |
| Juan Peron | Alex Horrox-White |
| Che Guevara | Darren Barsby |
| Agustin Magaldi | Clive Dancey |
| Peron’s Mistress | Chloe Deamer |
| Children | Isabelle George |
| Lorelei France | |
| Ensemble | |
| Alison Downes | Mandy Sayers |
| Annette Leishman | Martin Lester |
| Ben Archer | Mary Goodfellow |
| Bex White | Maryann Scott |
| Chloe Deamer | Nick Baker |
| Claire Westlake | Peter Johnson |
| Clive Dancey | Peter Sayers |
| Emma Gilby | Richard Griffiths |
| Laura Brendish | Sera Lowe |
| Lorna Sexton | Sophie Taylor |
| Louise Bateman | Susan Read |
| Mark Loosley | Vin Clemmens |
| Director | Maureen Davies |
| Musical Director | Margaret Johnson |
| Choreography | Emma Gilby |
| Production Support | Avril Robinson |
| Costumes | Louise Bateman |
| With thanks to Harlequin Costumes and Costume Workshop | |
| Eva’s Dresser | Ruth Johnson |
| Set Design and Build | Tim Spink |
| Martin Lester | |
| Lighting | Clifton Hoyle |
| With thanks to Nick Mogg | |
| Back Projections | Andy Barker |
| Will Mitchell | |
| Sound | Andy Barker |
| Stage Manager | Tim Haines |
| Back Stage | Wendy Haines |
| Archie Davies | |
| Props | Vanessa Baker |
| Nick Baker | |
| Programme | Martin Lester |
| Treasurer | Angela Monaghan |
| Multimedia | Louise Bateman |
| Conductor | Margaret Johnson |
| Keyboard 1 | Karen Stocker |
| Keyboard 2 | Simon Tabert |
| Acoustic Guitar | Kester Tunstall |
| Bass Guitar | John Kerslake |
| Trumpet | Katie Arnold |
| Trombone | Matt Quick |
| Drums / Percussion | Les Arnold |
