Evita = Madonna, Denise or Jenna???

Speculation is already running rampant about who’ll take the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s planned revival of his and Tim Rice’s 1978 musical Evita (See The Goss, 29 Jul 2005). Amongst the big names being bandied about of late are Denise Van Outen, who was last seen in the West End in Lloyd Webber’s Tell Me on a Sunday, and Jenna Russell, who’s currently co-starring opposite Ewan McGregor in Guys and Dolls, also directed by Michael Grandage. Meanwhile, according to some media reports, Madonna – who starred in Alan Parker’s 1996 screen version - is keen to reprise her performance as the Argentine actress who charmed and scratched her way up to share the power and the bed of her country's leader General Juan Peron. Originally touted for a 2003 opening, despite a summer 2002 Big Debate in which Whatsonstage.com theatregoers named Evita as the musical they would most like to see revived, the revival was put on hold because Lloyd Webber felt the theatre climate was then too biased towards feelgood shows rather than those with serious political themes (See The Goss, 4 Nov 2002). It’s now expected to open in June 2006 in a production directed by Grandage, designed by Christopher Oram and choreographed by Rob Ashford – the same creative team behind Guys and Dolls. Casting begins this month.

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