99 replies to this topic

[popcultureboy]

It's...............ok. It's marred by an unnecessarily complicated set (pillars and staircases move in and out a lot, all somewhat clumsy and extraneous) and a hollow Che. Marti Pellow is miscast. He gives a very blank performance, sings it ok, but doesn't seem to be bothering with the accent much. Some numbers are need to be simplified (the mirrors in "Rainbow High" should be taken out, for a start) while others could do with having a bit more oomph.

The women save the day. Sarah McNicholas is quite lovely as the mistress and I thought Madalena Alberto was sensational as Eva. I can absolutely see why her voice is a divisive one, but I loved it.

[Titan]

Good to hear, I really like this production (more so than the West End revival) but wondered on the new cast.  Might give it a try

[popcultureboy]

The staging of the Elena Roger revival would have been soooooooooooooooooo much easier to tour though! When I saw it on Broadway, I remember marvelling at how cleverly they'd done it. I was therefore surprised the tour was so fancy.

[djp]

popcultureboy, on 17 May 2013 - 11:02 AM, said:

It's...............ok. It's marred by an unnecessarily complicated set (pillars and staircases move in and out a lot, all somewhat clumsy and extraneous) and a hollow Che. Marti Pellow is miscast. He gives a very blank performance, sings it ok, but doesn't seem to be bothering with the accent much. Some numbers are need to be simplified (the mirrors in "Rainbow High" should be taken out, for a start) while others could do with having a bit more oomph.

The women save the day. Sarah McNicholas is quite lovely as the mistress and I thought Madalena Alberto was sensational as Eva. I can absolutely see why her voice is a divisive one, but I loved it.

Quite liked the scenary. Looked quiet classy/Presidential/imaginative?. Provided something to watch in duller moments.  Thought the ensemble was very strong, if almost uniformly young looking. Great to see  a proper musical out there thats  using some of the young talent though. General Peron was strong enough for an Argentine General. . Magaldi (Nick Gibney) was strong.  and got a very good reception. The Mistress,  Sarah McNicholas, was really excellent and also got a very strong response  - someone to follow . Great look for Eponine,  or an interesting Cosette.......

The accent thing was odd, . accents  appeared with some  characters, and never with others. The music volume, particularly early on, was too loud, which meant that even when the 2 main leads hit all their notes,  the last ones tended to get lost, and it didn't help establish the characters. Strings would be nice. Something looked very wrong with Don't Cry For Me when, after the song, the cast all started clapping as Evita's public, and the audience sat there making not a noise as they were confused whether the scene had ended or not. They can't have intended that  the biggest song in the  show  got no applause can they??  Rethink needed?

Agree Marti Pellow.  Slightly better - but Russell Crowe's vocal range,  and  Nick Jonas's acting came to mind. Got better for a couple  of songs in act two, which had some oomph. Lacked edge and never quite looked  like public enemy number one, or a revolutionary  leader. Kept things going along though, and served his purpose - he's pulling in his fans, they  like him, and judging by the response he got, there may be 10-20% of people at least there to see him.  

Evita was interesting. You can see why she gets the role - thought Don't Cry For Me was good,  and after she was diagnosed as dying and added emotional content,  her songs were very good indeed. The treatment of some of the earlier songs got some strange looks as they were hit into orbit . Depends what you want/like - some will love vocal fireworks - I preferred the versions of those where the lyrics and music provide the  emotions,  rather than  hearing the  emotional build up end in a vocal explosion. Not sure that the idea of Evita as someone  who stands out and someone who comes from the  people works. I thought Evita started out looking remarkably like Piaf had in Leicester  - which makes sense given the  role similarities,  and Madalena playing her recently,  but Piaf worked because Frances Ruffele  has enormous stage presence, and the early scenes were directed to allow her to show that, and it wasn't helped here by Evita getting lost in her taller ensemble. Not sure either she comes over  as a woman of the  people strongly  or convincingly enough at the  start - there's not much to use, but Madge managed that  better. That may all change though as the  tour progresses,  if they think of things to add,  and take out some of the more OTT bits. The audience seemed impressed,  and Evita was suitably ovationified -  though some were heard saying they expected something different.

I thought it was well worth a visit, but Che is not the obvious best casting choice,  and Evita is currently a bit of yes, and no, and yes.

[Showstopper]

So how many stars would you give this ?

[Dawnstar]

djp, on 19 May 2013 - 01:44 AM, said:

Thought the ensemble was very strong, if almost uniformly young looking. Great to see  a proper musical out there thats  using some of the young talent though.

I was sitting there yesterday thinking thank goodness the male ensemble didn't look as young as in the last cast!

djp, on 19 May 2013 - 01:44 AM, said:

The Mistress,  Sarah McNicholas, was really excellent and also got a very strong response  - someone to follow . Great look for Eponine,  or an interesting Cosette.......

I'm pleased she's got the lead this time, I saw her on as the understudy on the last tour & thought she was good then.

djp, on 19 May 2013 - 01:44 AM, said:

The music volume, particularly early on, was too loud,

Goodness, yes! The volume seems to have been notched up since last time. Parts of the opening few minutes were painful to the ear & I felt the floor vibrating a few times!

djp, on 19 May 2013 - 01:44 AM, said:

Agree Marti Pellow.  Slightly better - but Russell Crowe's vocal range, and Nick Jonas's acting came to mind. Got better for a couple  of songs in act two, which had some oomph. Lacked edge and never quite looked like public enemy number one, or a revolutionary leader.

I saw very few signs of any discernable acting, he just seemed to be looking saturnine throughout. I think he might have smiled once! His vocals were okay but sounded like he was at the limit a few times. I also found some of his vowel sounds to be very ugly e.g. "She's not coming back to yaow". I also think the stubble is a mistake as his beard looks to be greyer than his hair so it makes him look even more too old for the role than he is already.

djp, on 19 May 2013 - 01:44 AM, said:

Not sure either she comes over as a woman of the  people strongly or convincingly enough at the start - there's not much to use, but Madge managed that  better. That may all change though as the tour progresses, if they think of things to add, and take out some of the more OTT bits.

I felt Madalena was slightly over-acting at the start & trying to act a bit too girlishly. I imagine that's the sort of thing that will probably settle down with performance time.

[Montmartre]

At the Saturday matinée the audience at the end (stalls) all stood up in unison. Great ovation.

I agree - sound far too loud.
Mistress - what a pure beautiful voice. Shame it is such a small part in this show.
Magaldi - excellent voice. I could picture him as a Marius in Les Mis.
Evita - loved Elena Roger in this, but Madalena was very good.
Peron - hmmm - mixed opinions.
Orchestra - great.

The staging worked for me.

[perrier]

I loved the production and loved Madalena's work... She's really unique... Have no words to describe what I felt while the show thanks to her good acting! I'm sure she'll get more leading roles from now on!

[EmmyA]

I haven't seen the show for myself yet but here are some reviews from 'The Stage' and 'musicaltheatrereview.com'. These reviewers obviously liked what they saw and heard

http://www.thestage....php/38558/evita

http://musicaltheatr...a/#.UZvZN7XviSo

[handymanlondon]

Madalena portray wells the role of Eva.