Evita Australia: Full Cast announced

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I saw it many months ago; my memories are a little hazy. I hadn't seen the show live before, but knew it from albums and the film. Overall I liked the production, although it wasn't life-changingly amazing.



The opening scene used, I believe, brief footage from a real film starring the real Eva.



It took me a little while to warm up to the ensemble. Their very first appearance involved displaying ostentatious grief (or at least it read as such to reserved Australian eyes!) at the news of Eva's death in the opening scene. So they went from 0 to 100 emotionally with barely any establishing context. I suppose it fits with the cold/analytical approach of the whole show, that we watch their grief dispassionately. We're placed into Che's mindset even before he appears to say "Oh what a circus, oh what a show."



I thought the ensemble was great when they had the chance to have fun, as in 'Peron's Latest Flame / Dangerous Jade', not coincidentally my favourite number even prior to seeing the show live. Most of the men got to spend the number strutting around in pastel military uniforms, caps and sunglasses. The rest played the aristocrat contingent, in (IIRC) black and white costumes.

The aristocrats returned later in the show for 'The Actress hasn't Learned the Lines...', singing "Thus all fairy stories end..." etc. When Eva then starts singing "The actress hasn't learned the lines you'd like to hear...", somebody (Che maybe? I can't recall) went up to the frozen-in-place aristocrats group and gradually removed their finery / changed their costumes so that by the end of the scene, they looked like the working class, as Eva finished with "...she'll simply take control as you disappear". An interesting touch, which also let the scene segue seamlessly into Che's "Little has changed for us peasants down here on the ground" section.



I saw the alternate Eva, Jemma Rix. She generally did well. I would have liked her to be a bit nastier. For example, in the 'Buenos Aires' number she was all about the bright lights, big city, whereas I wanted more "someday I will rule this city" steeliness. 'You Must Love Me' was interpolated from the film. It felt a little unnecessary, but I may be biased against it.



Paulo Szot was good as Peron. No particular opportunity to show off his operatic voice, but he acted the part well. He didn't try to 'act menacing', but that aspect of the character came through clearly anyway. At the end of 'The Art of the Possible', after all his opponents had been eliminated, he gave a hearty laugh and puffed on a cigar while the lights faded to black. During 'Rainbow Tour' (if memory serves), while singing his comments about the absent Eva's European tour, he sat with two young-looking women from the ensemble sitting on his knees, in schoolgirl-like costumes. It looked relatively benign at first, if strange. But late in the song, he grabbed one of them and kissed her. Along with the previous "...adolescent phase" lyric, it was another reference to Peron's rumoured, or actual, preference for underage girls. During an early scene in Eva and Peron's marriage, they had a shared bedroom and bed; but by the 'Dice Are Rolling' reprise they were in separate adjoining bedrooms. Peron did still seem genuinely stricken by Eva's declining health though.



Kurt Kansley mostly did well as Che, although I think his diction could have been clearer at times, especially during the 'And The Money Kept Rolling In', which has some challengingly fast-paced lyrics. I did wonder if I would have got the point about Eva and Peron's siphoning of charity money if I hadn't already known the song.



The ending was rather abrupt. "Eva's body disappeared for 17 years", then slow fade to black as the cast stood frozen in place. Even with my knowledge of the albums, I was left thinking "Is...that the end?", and there was a slight delay in the applause as the rest of the audience wondered the same thing.