Bravo Evita
photo: Richard Termine
By Skip Sheffield
When Caroline Bowman sang a teaser from the musical “Evita”
April 8 for a season preview at Kravis
Center, I thought maybe I need
to see this show again.
Am I glad I did. This is a beautifully realized production
of the Tim Rice-Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, running just through April 13 in West Palm Beach.
Caroline Bowman plays the lead role of Eva Peron, second wife of
Argentine president Juan Peron.
Eva, known more endearingly as Evita, became an almost
mythical character in her short life, and her reputation has only grown since
her death from cancer at age 33 on July 26, 1952.
“Evita” began as a concept album in 1976 and was expanded to
a stage musical in England
in 1978 and year later on Broadway, where in won the Tony Award for Best
Musical of 1979.
There have been numerous national tours and regional productions
of “Evita” in the years since. It had been about ten years since I last saw the
show, so the Kravis on Broadway tour gave me a chance to give it a fresh look.
Carline Bowman is an all-American girl; a product of Penn State
University. She has a
strong, high-ranging soprano singing voice and she is a great dancer. Moreover
she has a natural magnetism befitting the role of alluring, ambitious Eva
Peron, who used her seductive charms to work her way up Argentina’s
social ladder all the way to the top.
The role was most famously undertaken by Madonna in the 1996
film version.
I think Caroline Bowman is a much better all-around
performer, and she has a most impressive musical partner in Josh Young as Che,
a revolutionary character and social critic loosely based on Che Guevara, who
also serves as narrator. Young’s high tenor voice is sublime. Playing the role of
right-wing General Juan Peron is Sean MacLaughlin, whose enthrallment with his
second wife Eva eventually became a liability for him with the military and
the upper classes.
“Evita” begins solemnly on the day of Eva’s death with a Catholic-sounding
“Requiem.” The mood is sharply contrasted with Che’s following rendition of “Oh, What a
Circus.”
The song Bowman sang at the preview was the theme song “Buenos Aires,” which
captures all the Latin-flavored tango and pasos dobles appeal of this show.
The overall sound and balance between orchestra and singers
is among the best I have ever heard at Kravis Center.
Each singer is audible individually, which is a huge advantage. The staging is
quite grand, especially for the most famous song, “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.”
“Evita” will no doubt visit our area again, but for now this
is as good as it gets.
Tickets start at $25. Call 800-572-8471 or go to www.kravis.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment