#1
Posted: 7/18/05 at 4:56pm
The following review contains immature subject matter. Reader discretion is advised.
Yesterday's theatrical engagement at the Civic Theatre in San Diego began with a movie. A rather poor movie, starring the real Eva Peron with English subtitles which confused me because I would simply assume that everyone in Argentina speaks Spanish so the need for English subtitles baffles me, unless it's a curtesy for tourists. Anyway, the screen vanishes to reveal a surprisingly bare stage. Even Eva's coffin with the prop dummy inside was not as lavishly decorated with tassels, drapes and flowers than it was in the projections above. Weather or not this was an artistic choice or a crude overlook it was still a rather breathtaking production. The costumes, sets, and especially the lighting were all very grand and almost magical.
This, having been my first time ever seeing EVITA on stage I cherish the performance given by our leading lady Kathy Voytko. She makes for an amazing Eva. Having to start out as sixteen and age to thirty-three seems like an impossible task for any actress to pull off, but Voytko did it with ease. Her voice is pure, yet menacing. I found her most thrilling when singing in her upper register. Few people have ever really embodied a character for me, but yesterday Kathy was Evita. There was no doubt in my mind. Which made her performance of "Eva's Final Broadcast" rather emotional. Yet, she was still able to convince us that Eva could have been a nice person even though she was a scheming, conniving, backstabbing slut hungry for power and greed.
There are no adjectives that I can think of to describe Bradley Dean as Che. Think Emcee in cabaret, but tone it down a few notches and you can have an idea of what this man does on stage. He's everywhere and everyone and he manages to always get the last little giggle from the audience in a production filled with dark themes and shady characters. His voice is from... I dunno... somewhere cool. and his range is surprising. Low to high, high to low, he can handle it and he did so effortlessly. Not to mention the fact that he's kinda cute. Which brings us to the HUNK REPORT!
*** HUNK REPORT!!! ***
Bradley Dean, Philip Hernandez and Gabriel Burrafato are all rather hunky. Add into the equation that they have beautiful voices and we have spontaneous you-know-what's from audience members. I however was looking at those hunky chorus boys, which include but are not limited to: Tony Falcon, Eric Sean Fogal, Jeremy Leiner, Matthew Kilgore and Andrew Ragone. All of whom could be porn stars if they wanted too.
*** END OF HUNK REPORT!!! ***
Philip Hernandez gave a rather unique performance and I'm glad for it. Peron has never been a character that I particularly like, but yesterday I found myself rather glued to his every word. He has some heavy lines to deliver especially in "Dice are Rolling" and for whatever reason the meaning of those lines never hit me until yesterday afternoon. Bravo.
Gabriel Burrafato as Magaldi is surprising hot, which was rather unorthodox given that my only previous acquaintance with the role is the movie and in the movie he is definitely not... well... hot. He has a fantastic voice and I was sad to see him go in "Goodnight and Thank You" but we get a reprise of "On This Night of a Thousand Stars" so that was nice.
Kate Manning as the Mistress was gut-wrenching. I don't think I ever fully understood the meaning of that song until I saw it staged. It was rather heartbreaking actually. And I would pay another twenty-five dollars to see her as Eva.
Overall, the production was marvelous. Highly entertaining, with a lot of things to think about and a lot of questions still unanswered. Like, why was the dress she wore in "Waltz for Eva and Che" so damn ugly? I'm trying not to focus on the negative, I really did enjoy the production there were just a few things that irked me is all.
I must have a paragraph devoted to the souvenir brochure because wow. It's jam packed with tons of information about the real Eva. Her life, her rise to power and a lot on what happened after her death. Including the escapades her corps endured. There are plenty of real historical photos mixed in with GORGEOUS production photos. All the pictures seem to come with their stage lighting colors intact. None of them seem to have been altered or brightened for photograph. The lighting is exactly the way it was on stage and it looks beautiful.
If for no other reason, see the show for Kathy and Bradley. And so you can get your mitts on the brochure, cuz' you can't have mine!
PS - I have a general EVITA question about the song "The Lady's Got Potential" how come it was recorded on the concept album and used in the movie, but seems to have never been used on stage? Has there ever been an explanation?
Yesterday's theatrical engagement at the Civic Theatre in San Diego began with a movie. A rather poor movie, starring the real Eva Peron with English subtitles which confused me because I would simply assume that everyone in Argentina speaks Spanish so the need for English subtitles baffles me, unless it's a curtesy for tourists. Anyway, the screen vanishes to reveal a surprisingly bare stage. Even Eva's coffin with the prop dummy inside was not as lavishly decorated with tassels, drapes and flowers than it was in the projections above. Weather or not this was an artistic choice or a crude overlook it was still a rather breathtaking production. The costumes, sets, and especially the lighting were all very grand and almost magical.
This, having been my first time ever seeing EVITA on stage I cherish the performance given by our leading lady Kathy Voytko. She makes for an amazing Eva. Having to start out as sixteen and age to thirty-three seems like an impossible task for any actress to pull off, but Voytko did it with ease. Her voice is pure, yet menacing. I found her most thrilling when singing in her upper register. Few people have ever really embodied a character for me, but yesterday Kathy was Evita. There was no doubt in my mind. Which made her performance of "Eva's Final Broadcast" rather emotional. Yet, she was still able to convince us that Eva could have been a nice person even though she was a scheming, conniving, backstabbing slut hungry for power and greed.
There are no adjectives that I can think of to describe Bradley Dean as Che. Think Emcee in cabaret, but tone it down a few notches and you can have an idea of what this man does on stage. He's everywhere and everyone and he manages to always get the last little giggle from the audience in a production filled with dark themes and shady characters. His voice is from... I dunno... somewhere cool. and his range is surprising. Low to high, high to low, he can handle it and he did so effortlessly. Not to mention the fact that he's kinda cute. Which brings us to the HUNK REPORT!
*** HUNK REPORT!!! ***
Bradley Dean, Philip Hernandez and Gabriel Burrafato are all rather hunky. Add into the equation that they have beautiful voices and we have spontaneous you-know-what's from audience members. I however was looking at those hunky chorus boys, which include but are not limited to: Tony Falcon, Eric Sean Fogal, Jeremy Leiner, Matthew Kilgore and Andrew Ragone. All of whom could be porn stars if they wanted too.
*** END OF HUNK REPORT!!! ***
Philip Hernandez gave a rather unique performance and I'm glad for it. Peron has never been a character that I particularly like, but yesterday I found myself rather glued to his every word. He has some heavy lines to deliver especially in "Dice are Rolling" and for whatever reason the meaning of those lines never hit me until yesterday afternoon. Bravo.
Gabriel Burrafato as Magaldi is surprising hot, which was rather unorthodox given that my only previous acquaintance with the role is the movie and in the movie he is definitely not... well... hot. He has a fantastic voice and I was sad to see him go in "Goodnight and Thank You" but we get a reprise of "On This Night of a Thousand Stars" so that was nice.
Kate Manning as the Mistress was gut-wrenching. I don't think I ever fully understood the meaning of that song until I saw it staged. It was rather heartbreaking actually. And I would pay another twenty-five dollars to see her as Eva.
Overall, the production was marvelous. Highly entertaining, with a lot of things to think about and a lot of questions still unanswered. Like, why was the dress she wore in "Waltz for Eva and Che" so damn ugly? I'm trying not to focus on the negative, I really did enjoy the production there were just a few things that irked me is all.
I must have a paragraph devoted to the souvenir brochure because wow. It's jam packed with tons of information about the real Eva. Her life, her rise to power and a lot on what happened after her death. Including the escapades her corps endured. There are plenty of real historical photos mixed in with GORGEOUS production photos. All the pictures seem to come with their stage lighting colors intact. None of them seem to have been altered or brightened for photograph. The lighting is exactly the way it was on stage and it looks beautiful.
If for no other reason, see the show for Kathy and Bradley. And so you can get your mitts on the brochure, cuz' you can't have mine!
PS - I have a general EVITA question about the song "The Lady's Got Potential" how come it was recorded on the concept album and used in the movie, but seems to have never been used on stage? Has there ever been an explanation?
Updated On: 9/26/05 at 04:56 PM
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