Made at Curve Production of EVITA - Stage Review
%20-%20Marc%20Brenner.jpg)
Martha Kirby (Eva Perón )
Evita at The Curve Theatre, Leicester
Photograph by Marc Brenner
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This Made at Curve production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita is directed by the Curve’s Artistic Director, Nikolai Foster and is simply too good to miss; runs until 13 January 2024.
Che (Tyrone Huntley) is the narrator. Huntley is an extremely talented performer who delivers the whole of the narration in song.
Back in time and the story tracks the young teenager, Evita, then Eva Duarte, played by Martha Kirby who possesses a strong vocal range and whose wardrobe is sleek and elegant, as is her hair, so much to admire about Kirby in the lead role.
Eva shrugs off the stigma attached to her impoverished beginnings. The story centres on her motivation to fufill dreams of becoming an actress. She begins by running away from her village for a new life in Buenos Aires with her singer boyfriend, Magaldi (Dan Partridge).
Eva secures acting roles, she and Magaldi are history and as the story goes she's somewhat promiscuous at this time. She embraces the growing attention that comes her way and when she achieves more renowed success as a radio actress her public profile is raised. Eva is photographed and followed everywhere, though she is not liked by everyone. Multimedia techniques are used to project large scale close ups of live camera filming that allows an intimate portrayal of Kirby in character.
Life takes a twist however, when Eva meets Colonel Juan Perón (Gary Milner) and Milner is ideally cast for the role. Eva has her eye on her man and sends his mistress packing. Player, Chumisa Dornford-May, having trained in Musical Theatre, is pitch perfect when she sings Another Suitcase in Another Hall with such heart, as it is her character that has lost to Eva and who is left wondering what is next, in life, for her.
The line in the repeated feature song Don't Cry for me Argentina suggests that Eva couldn't stay all her life down at heel and that was enough to drive her, despite, it seems, hurting people on her way up.
Subsequently, the soldier (Perón) and the actress Eva (Evita) marry and she is supportive in her husband's election candidacy as promised. Perón takes up the presidency, while 'Evita' proves to be more popular with the people than he. Socially they benefitted under their governance, Eva constantly visible and hard working, tirelessly rallying for support, though dissidents who asked questions or delved too deep were silenced so there was a dark side to their union.
Eva dies young and at her peak from a terminal illness which she chose to hide for as long as was possible. A powerful women in Latin America, Argentina was a country devasted by her loss. The somberity of the closing scene is spellbinding as the stage light softens to a golden glow.
%20and%20Gary%20Milner%20(Juan%20Per%C3%B3n)%20-%20Photography%20by%20Marc%20Brenner.jpg)
Gary Milner (Juan Perón) and Martha Kirby (Eva Perón )
Evita at The Curve Theatre, Leicester
Photograph by Marc Brenner
%20and%20the%20cast%20of%20Evita%20-%20Photography%20by%20Marc%20Brenner%20(1).jpg)
Tyrone Huntley (Che) and the cast of Evita
at The Curve Theatre, Leicester
Photograph by Marc Brenner
Production is dedicated to the memory of The Curve Theatre's casting director, Kay Magson 13 January, 1962 - 7 September 2023-
Review by theatre critic Debra Hall who attended press night at The Curve Theatre, Leicester, on 01 December 2023 7.00 pm
Curve Theatre
FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR EVITA
Curve Theatre printed programme
Lloyd-Webber, A. Instagram (2023)
Comments
Post a Comment
POST your comment here: