Evita
The Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton – 2002
Synopsis
ACT ONE
It is 26th July 1952. A young Argentine student, Che, is among the audience in a Buenos Aires cinema when the film is stopped by an announcement that Eva Peron, “the spiritual leader of the nation, has entered immortality”.
Eva’s funeral is majestic, a combination of the magnificent excesses of the Vatican and of Hollywood (“Requiem for Evita”). Huge crowds, much pageantry, wailing and lamentation. Che is the only non-participant (“Oh! What a Circus”). Throughout the opera the role of Che is that of commentator and observer.
Flashback to 1934. A night club in Junin, Eva’s home town (“On This Night of a Thousand Stars”). Eva Duarte is just 15. She asks the singer appearing in the club, Agustin Magaldi, with whom she has had a brief affair, to take her to the big city – Buenos Aires. He is reluctant (“Eva, beware of the city”) but she gets her way (“Buenos Aires”).
Once in Buenos Aires, Eva quickly disposes of Magaldi and works her way through a string of men, each of whom helps her one rung more up the ladder of fame and fortune (“Goodnight and Thank You”). She becomes a successful model, broadcaster and film actress.
1943. Colonel Juan Peron is one of several military leaders close to the presidency of Argentina which in recent years has proved a far from secure job for its tenant. (“The Art of the Possible”).
At a charity concert (featuring Eva’s old friend Magaldi) held to raise money for the victims of an Argentine earthquake, Eva and Peron meet. They both realise that each has something the other wants (“I’d be Surprisingly Good for you”. From on now Eva hitches her ambitions to political stars. She evicts Peron’s mistress from his flat (“Another Suitcase in Another HAll”) and moves into Peron’s life to such an extent that she excites the extreme wrath of two factions who were to remain her enemy until her death – the Army and the Aristocracy (“Peron’s Latest Flame”).
As the political situation becomes even more uncertain it is Eva rather than Peron who is more determined that he should try for the highest prize in Argentina – the presidency, supported by the workers whose backing she and Peron have long cultivated. (“A New Argentina”)
ACT TWO
Eva’s ambition is fulfilled and from the balcony of the Casa Rosada on the day of Peron’s inauguration as president (4th June 1946), the vast crowd give Evita, now Peron’s wife, an even greater reception than that accorded to Peron – thanks to her emotional and brilliant speech and to her striking appearance (“Don’t Cry for me Argentina”. Che notes and experiences some of the violence that was never far away from Peron.
Che asks Eva about herself and her success but does not meet with a great response (“High Flying Adored”). Eva’s main concern is her forthcoming tour of Europe (“Rainbow High”) which begins in a blaze of glory in Spain but meets with later setbacks in Italy and France. She never gets to England at all (“Rainbow Tour”).
On her return home, Eva resolves to concentrate solely on Argentine affairs, undeterred by continual criticism from the society of Buenos Aires (“The Actress Hasn’t Learned the Lines You’d Like to Hear”). Che points out that the regime has to date done little or nothing to improve the lot of those Eva claims to represent – the working classes.
Eva launches the Eva Peron Foundation (“And The Money Kept Rolling In and Out”), which is a huge concern of shambolic accountancy and of little practical benefit to the nation’s economy but which helps to elevate her to near goddess status in the eyes of some of those who benefited from the Fund – including children (“Santa Evita”). Che’s disenchantment with Eva is now total. He sneers at those who adore her and for the last time tries to question her about her motivation and the darker side of the Peron administration (“Waltz for Eva and Che”). Eva’s response is that of the pragmatist, ‘There is evil ever around, fundamental.’ She has realised that she is ill.
Anti-Eva feeling among the military reaches new heights and Che lists several of the major failures and abuses of the Peron administration. He draws attention to her illness (“She is a Diamond”). Peron and Eva discuss the worsening situation – he is losing his grip on the government, she is losing her strength. Eva refuses to give in to her illness and resolves to become vice-president (“Dice are Rolling”). But the opposition to her from the army is too great; more importantly her body lets her down. She knows that she is dying and makes a broadcast to the nation, rejecting the post of vice-president, a position she knows she could never have won (“Eva’s Final Broadcast”).
In her last hours, images, people and events of her life flow through Eva’s mind, while the nation’s grief knows no bounds – to the mass of the people she has become a saint, nothing less. As her life draws to a close she wonders whether she would have been happier as an obscure ordinary person. Maybe then her life would have been longer… (“Lament”) .Che looks back on her short life at the same time, but hints at different conclusions.
But even in death she is denied obscurity. The moment she dies the embalmers move in to preserve her fragile body to be ‘displayed forever’ although this never happened. The story of the escapades of the corpse of Eva Peron during the quarter century after her death is almost as bizarre as the story of her life.
Cast List
Eva Peron – Sarah Davis
Juan Peron – Terry Gormley
Che Guevara – Nigel Parkinson
Magaldi – Spencer Cartwright
The Mistress – Lindsay Flavell
Eva’s Family:
Mother – Sharon Hopkins
Brother – Martin Milnes
Sister – Emma Davies
Sister – Tracey Powell
Eva’s Lovers:
David Gregory
Chad Horton
Andrew Bird
Duncan McManus
John White
Peter Worrall
Eva’s Secretary – Chris Sandhu
Officers:
Chirs Ingley
Geoff Bird
Graham Quinn
Tony Daniels
Two Girls:
Melanie Glazzard
Rebecca Thorne
Tango Dancers:
Melanie Glazzard
Sean Selby
The Company: (Girls)
Diane Bending
Janet Bingham
Zoe Bunn
Jane Chadbourn
Shelia Clift
Emma Davis
Vivien Davis
Sally Deeley
Tessa Douglas
Elizabeth Finney
Melanie Glazzard
Julia Gough
Lucy Hadley
Katharine Hall
Rachael Hall
Linda Higgs
Jennie Hill
Sylvia Hill
Sharon Hopkins
Abigail Kelly
Jacqueline Lacey
Claire Longmore
Tracey Powell
Chris Sandhu
Annette Shakespeare
Rachel Shakespeare
Alison Smalling
Rebecca Thorne
Lisa Tibbetts
Sharon Timmins
Kathryn Trigg
Helen Watts
Sarah Watts
Paulra Willett
The Company (Boys):
Billy Babu
Andrew Bird
Geoff Bird
Tony Daniels
David Gregory
Chad Horton
Richard Howell
Chris Ingley
David Matty
Duncan McManus
Martin Milnes
Graham Quinn
Sean Selby
Jonathan Shilton
John White
Peter Worrall
The Children:
Stuart Bacon
Charlotte DeAbreau
Tom DeAbreau
Joshua Dowen
Katie Fletcher
Megan Lacey
Ben Moore
Gary Powell
Sean Powell
Katie Price
Christie Saunders
Matthew Smalling
Lydia Stringer
Production Team
Director & Choreographer – Mike Capri
Producer – Steve Bracey
Musical Director – Jonathan Hill