EVITA TOUR WASTE YOUR TIME AND YOUR MONEY...AMAZING SHOW!!! — Page 2

I saw the show in Baltimore. It was the first time I saw Evita on stage thus I cannot compare with other productions except the movie.

I don't quite like the show itself. The music is not my cup of tea. The characters are not sympathetic. I like "I am surprisingly good to you". Except that, I was hardly impressed.

To me, the best work of ALW is still Jesus Christ Superstar.

your welcome Steve.

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so..what r u trying to say ...that there were black people in the 1950's and now they went elsewhere???

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I believe this is a regional production. The tour is a different entity.

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This is the poster they gave me to put in my window for the upcoming productions at the RiverCenter for the Performing Arts.




Apparently, our Eva will be performed by Kathleen Battle. Surprising choice, but I'm sure she's up to the challenge.


Strangely, just three months later, Kathy Griffin will be doing stand-up at the same theater.



She's looking much better these days.

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Yeah, I really enjoy living where I do. Our Broadway series is still growing, but it's fun to walk to a show and laugh at all the people fighting over parking. I got to do that seeing Millie just a couple of months ago. What I don't know about is Kathy Griffin playing the mainstage. Sure, she was on the tee-vee, but I don't see anyone coming out to see her other than gay men. This is Columbus, Georgia. We don't have enough gay men to successfully sustain one bar. I doubt we can fill the mainstage theater for even one performance.

*Hey - all you gay guys within a 100 mile radius - come buy tickets to this show to make sure we can keep getting these things booked here!*

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the production at NJPAC is the National Tour w/ Sarah Litzsinger.

I am SOOOO glad Sarah is back doing something. She has SUCH talent and is so under-utilized. I saw her in ttB and L5Y and absolutely loved her. Totally classy performer. Can someone see if she has any plans after this tour?

anyone else saw it?

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i loved the dancing scenes...i didn't think there was going to be dancing scenes...it was good...because when they had a bunch of slow songs...suddenly they would do a great dance # with fast music!!! i think ALW did a great job. When i saw "Cats" and "Sunset Blvd." and "Phantom" i went ALW sux!!! but then "Bombay Dreams" was amazing, and so was "The Woman in White" and now "Evita" i am his new fan! i am seeing "Joseph" next Thurs...i can't wait.

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Yes, they are using Hal Prince's original staging.

My original review from 12/28 post:

After hearing so much about the lead replacements in the Evita tour, I was looking forward to this productions run in Washington, DC. Having seen the original Broadway production, I knew going in that this would be a hard act to follow.

The positives: Keith Byron Kirk as Che. Wonderfully sung and acted. He was the strongest of the 3 leads.

Sarah Litzsinger. Her vocals were very strong, yet her portrayal of Eva was very one dimensional. For some reason, this seemed like the wrong role for her. Her Eva never soared. I will say though, her annunciation was perfect!!! Although I know the show inside out, I understood every word she sang. Her speech after "Don't Cry for me Argentina" was quite effectively spoken instead of screamed (like others I have seen in the role).

Philip Hernandez was a fine Peron.

Heidi Dean as Peron's mistress had a beautiful voice. Andrew Ragone was also good as Magaldi.

The ensemble was very tight with the exception of being slightly off from the orchestra during the opening Requiem. Military dancers, spot on.

Regarding the orchestra, enough of the synthesizers all ready!! The orchestrations sounded both cheap and outdated.

I know that Kathy Voytko got ripped to shreads on this board regarding her vocals/performance. After seeing this show last night, its no wonder that any woman playing Eva has a voice at all after tackling this role. The constant high belt must do a number on those vocal chords.

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Updated On: 12/29/05 at 03:27 PM

I just saw the closing performance in DC. I have been a fan of Evita since I was around 13. I devoured every book on Eva Peron that I could find around that time. Thus, I was pretty excited that it was being performed professionally in my town.

I found Sarah to be an excellent Eva vocally. Her acting choices were pretty one dimensional as others have mentioned, but despite that, she captured Eva's ambition.

Not too impressed with Hernandez's Peron. I haven't seen another, on stage, so its hard for me to compare, but his acting was quite bland. However, he was a nice contrast to Eva.

The Mistress, as others have said, had an excellent voice, and made good use of her limited stage time.

Last but not least is Che. I saw the movie when I was a young teen and although I am very partial to all things Spanish, I found Banderas' accent a little too much and distracting. It could not really be justified either, as being "in character" because the Argentine accent is quite different from that of the Andalucian region of Spain. I digress though. All this to say, it was nice to have a Che that everyone could understand. He showed heart and passion. Interesting casting choice too- it worked.

Finally, I would like to quibble about the audience. I was surrounded by middle aged couples. Now, I don't really expect everyone to know the story of Eva Peron and the Peron regime, but I do expect a certain amount of theatre etiquette. Several husbands around me narrated the entire show for their wives, who were apparently lost. It was not even at a whisper, but almost full voice. A few death stares later, they quieted down a bit, some of them at least. Still I was annoyed. The show is not that hard to follow. The video screens, I think, assist with that- whether you like them or not. I didn't, but that is just me.

My friend attended the show, and has limited theater experience and has never read about Eva or even watched the recent Hollywood movie. She remarked that she wished she knew a little about Eva going in, but said she got the main gist. If only the people around me had a frickin clue.

All in all an enjoyable evening. Not a fan of Lloyd Webber in general, but I do love this work.

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Updated On: 1/2/06 at 10:36 PM

It's great that you enjoyed the show. It sounds like they've put together a really good touring company. But I'm very confused about the subject line. Why did you write "EVITA TOUR WASTE YOUR TIME AND YOUR MONEY...AMAZING SHOW!!!" Obviously it didn't waste your time or money. I remain perplexed in L.A.