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   Review: Evita at Lowry Theatre Salford
Evita – Lowry Theatre, Salford
Music: Andrew Lloyd-Webber Lyrics: Tim Rice Director: Bob Thomson & Bill Kenwright Reviewer: John Roberts The Public Reviews Rating: ★★★☆☆ It is arguably Lloyd-Webber & Tim Rice’s best collaboration, with wonderful music and some of musical theatre’s most haunting lyrics, but this production which has been touring the country for almost a year is now is looking and feeling as week and as fragile as the dying days of Eva Peron herself. Evita is the story of Maria Eva Duarte de Peron, the wife of President Juan Peron, who rose from poverty to become the most famous Argentine woman in History. Having had huge political influence, her input and charity work earn’t her nothing but scorn and hatred from the military and middle-classes but nothing but adoration and love from the workers and descamisados. Evita is the story of her rise to fame and how she came to shape a country. It must be said that visually this production designed by Matthew Wright is exquisite, from the marble pillars that move around to convey different locations, the wrought cast iron staircases and balconies to the Gold gilded picture frames that adorn the proscenium arch, and the stunning costumes that are so precise really does make Evita the best looking show in town…unfortunately for this production the set and costumes was Evita’s strongest suit. Abigail Jaye as the heroine Evita looks every bit the strong minded power driven first lady, however despite a strong voice there was very little in her performance in the way of acting the role. Mark Heenehan as Peron was strong in stature with an overly menacing glare in his eyes, but his deep bass/baritone voice seemed to struggle at times with the music. Mark Powell was a charming Che, the guerrilla activist leader, but his silky smooth voice and charismatic way seemed at odds from one of the most notorious characters in 20th Century History. Abigail Matthews gave one of the most convincing portrayals of the evening as Peron’s Mistress and her rendition of Another Suitcase in Another hall was nothing short of beautiful. Credit must also be given to the young girl singing solo during Santa Evita, this is a terrifying experience for even the seasoned pros but to do it at 7 years old in front of 2000 people takes real courage and I for one have the strongest admiration for her. Thomson & Kenwright’s direction is a little uneven with the first half seemingly lacking in real energy and indeed creativity, however this is blown away by a much tighter and creatively excellent second act, Rainbow High being one of the shows strongest numbers. Bill Deamer’s choreography is fit for purpose and his Argentine Tango infused showstoppers are a joy to behold. My major concern with the production though is with the orchestra, I understand that touring a full orchestra is an expensive commodity and that certain cuts and choices have to be made, but having a synthesised keyboard replace the subtleties of the string section of the score is a little bemusing, not only did this flatten the overall product but also felt we were listening to an 80’s syntho-pop version of the music. As said above there are some real redeeming qualities to this production of Evita, but it certainly lacks the Charm of the early 90’s production starring Marti Webb and doesn’t quite reach the bite and energy of Grandage’s recent West End Production. Eva Peron may have seduced a nation but this production of Evita never seduced me…which is a crying shame!
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