‘EVITA’
★★★½
When: Through Feb. 26. 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 p.m. Sundays, 6 p.m. Feb. 19, 8 p.m. Feb. 23.
Where: Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 E. Atherton St., Long Beach.
Tickets: $22-$120.
Length: 2 hrs., 10 mins.
Suitability: All ages.
Information: 562-856-1999, ext. 4; musical.org
★★★½
When: Through Feb. 26. 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 p.m. Sundays, 6 p.m. Feb. 19, 8 p.m. Feb. 23.
Where: Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 E. Atherton St., Long Beach.
Tickets: $22-$120.
Length: 2 hrs., 10 mins.
Suitability: All ages.
Information: 562-856-1999, ext. 4; musical.org
In its more than 60 years, Musical Theatre West has only once staged the hit 1978 musical “Evita,” so it was high time for the Long Beach company to revisit the now-classic show, one of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s most durable and reliable
This lavish production, directed by Larry Carpenter, plays up the show’s “You Are There,” newsreel-style feel while enhancing its grand opera format: in tracing the creation of a national heroine and political myth, “Evita” is entirely sung, not spoken, with an ear-pleasing score and often witty lyrics.
Starting with her humble origins, Evita’s life story is narrated by Che (Richard Bermudez). As in reality, the title character evolves from comely brunette teen Eva Duarte to stunning goddess Evita Perón: With a platinum blonde coiffure, blindingly white gowns and glistening diamond jewelry, Argentina’s first lady is worshipped by tens of thousands of her compatriots.
Skyrocketing to the top within the political structure of military dictatorship is army colonel Juan Perón (Davis Gaines), his rise paralleling Eva’s. In MTW’s staging, the game of musical chairs typically used to show Perón’s ride to the top is replaced by dance moves, as screen images of army officers are stained with red blood spatter as each rival is killed.
The show’s approach is to both deify and denigrate its subject. The people love Eva and Che rips her. Carpenter, music director David Lamoureux and choreographer Hector Guerrero generate dramatic excitement and realism through a huge cast with a 30-person ensemble, which creates credible crowd scenes. MTW’s entire cast — leads, supporting players, ensemble — delivers exceptional vocals.
Olivo’s portrayal is less grandly theatrical, more that of telling one person’s life story, the actor aging convincingly from age 15 to age 33, from fresh young firecracker to sputtering, burned-out Roman candle.
The hitch in her portrayal is that Evita is less ruthless, power-hungry and blindly ambitious than how the character is typically depicted. Olivo soft-pedals Evita’s drive and downplays her duplicity, which makes the humility we see appear honest and genuine, not feigned.
In Olivo’s hands, the creation of the myth that grew up around Evita seems more like the way a self-assured movie star would approach a new role, in this case, as Argentina’s first lady. Her Evita plays that role with flair, style and, to use her own words, unquestionable “star quality.”
Not specifically based on Che Guevara, Richard Bermudez’s Che is a waggish yet mild-mannered gadfly, a cynical, harshly critical observer of the Perón regime.
Gaines delivers a charismatic star turn in a role that normally takes a back seat to Evita and Che. His proud, noble Perón is a man of the world, and his rich, deep, stirring baritone vocals enrich even the role’s sometimes mundane musical material, giving sumptuous musical voice to Evita’s champion-in-chief.
Zachary Ford’s Agustín Magaldi, young Eva’s first major conquest, works the girl-heavy nightclub crowds, playing to the adulation of his swooning audiences. Yet as slick an entertainer, Magaldi is oblivious to Eva’s wiles.
As Perón’s Mistress, rudely displaced by Evita, Ashley Marie exquisitely vocalizes “Another Suitcase in Another Hall,” the show’s prettiest song, a showcase for the young woman’s vulnerability.
Like Lloyd Webber and Rice’s first major show, “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Evita” features a range of musical styles. The score is basically rock, yet features touches of classical and choral music as well as the kind of Latin rhythms found in Argentine music, all given supple, potent voice by pit conductor Lamoureux and his orchestra.
Karen St. Pierre’s meticulously crafted costumes provide a huge boost, adding color and authenticity. The sets, by Musical and Theater Company, primarily rely on a handful of large upstage screens, used by video designer Jonathan Infante to project black-and-white and color archival still photos and film footage of the real Eva Perón, including projections of sepia-tone postcard photos and full-color images of Eva Perón’s face on Argentine bank notes.
It’s an effective way to handle the story’s constantly shifting locales while injecting real-world images that remind us that however Lloyd Webber and Rice interpreted the facts of her life, Evita’s story is true.
Freelance writer Eric Marchese has covered the arts in Southern California since the 1980s. Email him at emarchesewriter@gmail.com.
‘Evita’
Rating: 3.5 stars.
When: Through Feb. 26. 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 p.m. Sundays, 6 p.m. Feb. 19, 8 p.m. Feb. 23.
Where: Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 E. Atherton St., Long Beach.
Tickets: $22-$120.
Length: 2 hrs., 10 mins.
Suitability: All ages.
Information: 562-856-1999, ext. 4; musical.org
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