Theatre review: Evita

Regent's Park Open Air Theatre says they only cancel 5% of performances due to bad weather; I must be particularly unlucky then because I'm averaging 33% over the last two years. So this is my second attempt at Jamie Lloyd's take on Evita; regular readers will both know I regularly grumble about not much liking the work of The Rev. Dr Baron Dame Sir Andrew Lloyd Lord Webber BA (Hons) MEng, QC, MD, P.I, FSB, while consistently finding reasons to go and see it anyway. In this case, it's the fact that the Open Air will be trying to recreate the success of 2016's revelatory Jesus Christ Superstar, and getting Lloyd for it is something of a minor coup for the venue. Evita is ALW and Tim Rice's take on the controversial figure Eva Perón (Samantha Pauly,) First Lady of Argentina during the 1940s and seen as the power behind the throne for her populist husband Juan Perón (Ektor Rivera.)

The musical is, like its subject, known for its glamour, but Lloyd is clearly determined to uncover a grungier side to it, as evidenced by Soutra Gilmour's metal set, dominated by the title in rusty letters.

Pauly's Evita meanwhile looks more like she's come straight from the Wimbledon ladies' final than an ambassador's reception in a white tennis dress, dragging herself painfully up the steps to her own funeral in the opening moments. If the show itself is ambiguous about whether Eva was saint or sinner, Lloyd's production comes firmly down in the latter camp, taking its cue from Trent Saunders' narrator Che, a downright furious figure at what he sees as a PR job that's taken Eva's promises to the poor at face value, and left out the fact that she benefited more than anyone in the end. A politician lying their way to power for personal gain - given ALW's political affiliations I'm not sure how the millionaire supervillain will feel about his music being used to portray that as a bad thing but there we are.

If Eva's journey to power is a brutal one it's also an entertaining one, starting with her using cheesy singer Augustín Magaldi (Adam Pearce) as her ticket to Buenos Aires. (The point where a woman sarcastically throws her knickers at Magaldi was where the theatre finally gave up during the downpour last time I attempted to see this, but the show carried on this time so the two don't seem to have been connected.) While Eva's rise leaves behind a lot of broken hearts, Juan's rise through the military leaves behind dead bodies, and there's a running theme of popping balloons marking both.

In fact the juxtaposition of images of celebration with the dark underbelly of the regime is the key to Lloyd's production - its use of confetti might actually beat the Southwark Playhouse As You Like It, and streamers, smoke and fire break into spectacle regularly. But when the dissident Che is finally captured by the Peróns, his torture takes the form of being tarred and feathered in paint and confetti, all in the colours of the Argentine flag. The three leads all give strong perfromances, although they're in danger of being upstaged by Frances Mayli McCann as the Mistress, with her showstopping "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" eliciting a kind of sympathy that isn't reserved for the leading lady.

But more than just the principals, the production is great at showing off the ensemble - Gilmour's huge staircase of a stage is a strong showcase for the angry energy in Fabian Aloise's choreography. And in a story where the public at large are such an impotant element - whether the Peróns were their saviours or manipulators - they're ever-present, showing the consequences of the protagonists' personal dramas.

Anyway never mind all that, let's focus on how the first two sentences in the "Final Resting Place" section of Eva Perón's Wikipedia page are COMPLETELY NORMAL.

Evita by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber is booking until the 21st of September at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.

Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Marc Brenner.