EVITA Reviews- Page 7
EVITA Reviews
EVITA Reviews #150
Posted: 4/6/12 at 2:22am
By shadow i meant that when i left that show and only i only thought about Audra. I only remembered natashia when i was going through the B-roll
Although it would be the opposite senario it is like Sherri Renne Scott in Little Mermaid that no matter how gr8 anyone else was it was sherri's show and the rest of the cast looked like ameraturs which
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
EVITA Reviews #152
Posted: 4/6/12 at 2:35am
remembered natashia when i was going through the B-roll
Although it would be the opposite senario it is like Sherri Renne Scott in Little Mermaid that no matter how gr8 anyone else was it was sherri's show and the rest of the cast looked like ameraturs which
im alos sure sherry ren scott thinks ur gr8, becoz shes not an ameratur lol
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
EVITA Reviews #153
Posted: 4/6/12 at 2:46am
Gee, this thread is called 'Evita Reviews' and yet it's turned into a Tony prognostication thread instead.
Anyway, Ricky Martin is above the title; he's the one who's selling the tickets. The Tonys will keep him eligible for Leading Actor in a Musical. They won't be bumping him down.
Although for the record, in the original 'Evita,' both Mandy Patinkin and Bob Gunton were both up for Featured Actor.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/9/11
EVITA Reviews #154
Posted: 4/6/12 at 5:33am
Whew! I'm exhausted at this point.
Several pages back, Ed Mottershead was asking about Tracie Bennett. Ed, in case you were referring my post, I did not mean to imply that Elena Roger would lose the Best Actress in a Musical Tony to Tracie Bennett (as Bennett is in what is considered a Play), but rather that Roger had the misfortune of opening three days after the powerhouse performance by Bennett, which I think, only underscored her shortcomings in the role.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/9/11
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
EVITA Reviews #158
Posted: 4/6/12 at 7:29amArgh...what is with the influx of middle school posters!!??
EVITA Reviews #159
Posted: 4/6/12 at 7:37am.....getting back to those "Evita" reviews.....
EVITA Reviews #160
Posted: 4/6/12 at 8:12am
I saw DeCicco, not Roger, so I can't speak to that, but Brantley hit the nail on the head. He articulated, almost exactly, everything I felt about this production.
EVITA Reviews #161
Posted: 4/6/12 at 8:53amJust saw a TV commercial, which managed enough pull quotes to make it seem like a hit, if you don't look too closely.
EVITA Reviews #162
Posted: 4/6/12 at 9:06am
They won't have any problem selling the sh!t out of it, but I don't see it running and running and running.
Mediocre shows that are high-energy and paced excitingly -- WICKED, JERSEY BOYS, MAMMA MIA! -- those can run despite their shortcomings. This EVITA is both mediocre and plodding.
Then again, that model doesn't account for PHANTOM.
EVITA Reviews #163
Posted: 4/6/12 at 9:10amPHANTOM has astonishing production values and brilliant stage pictures and a lush romantic score that you don't have to speak English to get the gist of. That's the reason for its appeal.
EVITA Reviews #164
Posted: 4/6/12 at 9:18am
I think that logic explains maybe its first 15 years of success, but I don't think any of it holds up today -- well, except for the speaking English part. It is fantastically directed, though.
Then again, the last time I saw PHANTOM was in a high school, so perhaps I'm still reeling at how a terrible production really exposes the flaws in the material.
EVITA Reviews #165
Posted: 4/6/12 at 9:26am
And to its credit, PHANTOM is beautifully maintained; over the years whenever I've gone back and seen it I've always been really pleasantly surprised to see that the cast always feels fresh, the dancing is sharp, the direction is clean. That's saying a lot for a show that's been running as long as it has. And honestly, in terms of opulence, it just belongs to another era in Broadway producing; I can't imagine any producer today spending (or being able to afford) what Hal Prince put into PHANTOM and is still visible today. The costuming alone makes the recent production of FOLLIES look like something produced at the Carnation Players in comparison.
EVITA Reviews #166
Posted: 4/6/12 at 9:47am
I'm glad that some reviewers are finally recognizing that Evita is a case of a terrific production (Prince's) fooling people into thinking the amateurish material is any good.
Listen closely to the lyrics - Tim Rice's work never says anything surprising, interesting, or remotely enlightening about Eva Peron, anyone in her life, Argentina, politics, or the power of celebrity. The show is bland children's theatre, like the entire Lloyd Webber/Rice oeuvre.
EVITA Reviews #167
Posted: 4/6/12 at 9:50am
Not meaning to imply that the lyrics are exceptional by any standards, but I've noticed a lot of people -- professional critics and posters alike -- criticizing them specifically and have always felt that, between the lyrics and music, Rice's work is stronger than Webber's here. I never realized that was a minority opinion.
Then again, I'm a pretty big fan of Parker's film, so what do I know?
EVITA Reviews #168
Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:04amAre these reviews on the whole worse than the ones for the original Bway production? I seem to recall that of the majors, only Clive Barnes in the Post really liked it (though I think most praised Prince's staging).
EVITA Reviews #169
Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:05amThe original reviews were pretty bad; I think these are actually on the whole probably more positive.
EVITA Reviews #170
Posted: 4/6/12 at 10:11am
Yeah the original 1979 reviews hated the show and any praise was pretty much reserved for Hal Prince.
Regardless of how audiences take to this production, all I can say is, if Broadway doesn't like/want Elena Roger, both London and Buenos Aires are more than happy to welcome her back with open arms. 
A question: did Patti and Mandy show up for opening night? Someone here posted they were attending (which surprised me as I thought they'd want to avoid it), but I haven't (yet) seen any pictures or reports of them there.
Updated On: 4/6/12 at 10:11 AM
EVITA Reviews #171
Posted: 4/6/12 at 11:00am
Tim Rice's work never says anything surprising, interesting, or remotely enlightening about Eva Peron, anyone in her life, Argentina, politics, or the power of celebrity.
That's not entirely true. I knew scant about Eva Peron or the Peronist regime before hearing the score. I got the gist of Eva's rise to power and the political machinations that fueled Peron's grip on the nation.
Of course when I turned to the history books it was more fleshed out and I easily made the connections between reality and themes Rice/Webber were touching upon in their musicalization of Eva Peron's story.
EVITA Reviews #172
Posted: 4/6/12 at 11:15am
I think we're talking about two entirely different things - the musical may have spurred you to find out more about Eva, but you would get a lot more information and insight about her, Peron, and Argentina from a few Wikipedia paragraphs than the entire long show.
Rice's work is nothing more than a skeleton outline of events, filled in with banal, childlike rhymes.
EVITA Reviews #173
Posted: 4/6/12 at 11:16amDo any of you know how long Ricky Martin is contracted to be in the production for? I wonder if this show will continue to sell as well as it is now after Ricky leaves
EVITA Reviews #174
Posted: 4/6/12 at 11:17amSomewhere, Patti LuPone is smiling after reading these reviews.
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