Immersive EVITA

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 10:04am

Well, it looks like for once Che won't be a totally annoying character.

And I'm thrilled that Topanga is still finding work

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 10:18am

Can I take my shirt off whenever they say "descamisados"?

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 10:24am

A friend of mine just told me that her colleague went to Serenbe's immersive Secret Garden and LOVED it. This could be interesting.

[newintown]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 10:32am

I suppose "immersive" is one of those words that'll stick around long after everyone tires of it - wait, I'm already tired of it. As if no one ever did an environmental or site-specific production of anything... It's like the John Doyle gimmick some thought was revolutionary, although there have been productions with actor/musicians for hundreds of years.

I suppose some need to feel "cutting-edge" about something at any given time, in spite of the fact that "there's nothing new under the sun."

Updated On: 7/9/15 at 10:32 AM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 10:33am

"Can I take my shirt off whenever they say "descamisados"?"

EL OH EL!!

Audience participation EVITA! Sing-Along EVITA! There are so many opportunities. Come dressed as your favorite character! The drag queens would have a ball with this!

 

[Brick]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 11:06am

Like the earlier comparison to Doyle's approach to musical revivals, I'm all for any idea, gimmick or otherwise, if the production is great. (Best example: that new OKLAHOMA.) There ain't only one way to do theatre and there are certainly hundreds of terrible productions staged traditional ways.

On this EVITA, I wonder why it's so heavily sexed-up? I wonder what that adds. I would fear it to add a layer of misogyny, with her sleeping her way through life. But then, so much shirtless Che?

[RaiseYouUp]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 11:16am

I live maybe an hour from serenbe playhouse but have never seen a production of theirs. Maybe this will be my first. I love Evita and this looks very interesting. 

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 11:23am

Those photos look like a shoot from a trashy romance novel.

[Fantod]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 11:35am

Immersive productions of shows that weren't written as immersive are dumb. And immersive shows that were written as immersive are dumb too. Just let us sit down and watch a frickin show.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 11:37am

"I suppose "immersive" is one of those words that'll stick around long after everyone tires of it - wait, I'm already tired of it. As if no one ever did an environmental or site-specific production of anything... It's like the John Doyle gimmick some thought was revolutionary, although there have been productions with actor/musicians for hundreds of years.
I suppose some need to feel "cutting-edge" about something at any given time, in spite of the fact that "there's nothing new under the sun.""

 

WORD.  Few things trigger my gag reflex faster than the words "immersive theatre" and "innovative production".  

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 1:09pm

Was the Topanga comment supposed to be funny? Danielle Fishel is currently on the sitcom Girl Meets World, and no one in this production of Evita looks like her.

I am a little offended by the heavy use of spray tan in those promo pics to try to make them look Hispanic.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 1:15pm

Isn't Charlie Brady mixed race?

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 1:21pm

I wasn't talking about anyone specificially. I don't know anything about that actor. I just meant in the final photo in the gallery, there is a lot of orange happening.

Also, Chase Peacock, who is playing Magaldi, is white.

[newintown]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 1:36pm

Argentines are mostly European (like Americans), I believe, descended from Italian, French, German, and Spanish colonists, with some Arab, Russian, and Japanese, etc. as well. The current demographics state that 97% of the population is of European or partial European descent. Argentina also boasts the largest Jewish population in South America.

Applying racial demands for casting Argentine characters in theatre is as silly as demanding that Cleopatra (who was Greek) be cast to resemble a Nubian, merely because Egypt is located on the continent of Africa.

 

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 1:46pm

I just meant in the final photo in the gallery, there is a lot of orange happening.

This picture?

 

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 2:23pm

I...normally would be the first to make fun.

But those shirtless pics are making weak.  

And just to be fair in our objectification, she's got great t*ts!

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 3:05pm

Been done. It was called HERE LIES LOVE.

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 3:15pm

Goodness this pictures make a girl blush. I wish it really were immersive!

But truly, we Brits have you Yanks pegged when it comes to immersive theatre; I think what most productions in the US mean when they advertise environmental is 'atmospheric and close to the action' which is of course nothing new.  Some of the productions in the UK (You Me Bum Bum Train; Secret Cinema) though really do go the immersive extra mile.

The only musicals Ive seen in the states that I thought delivered on the 'immersive' promise were HERE LIES LOVE and that CARRIE at La Mirada in California, which both find ingenious ways to actually move the audience around the playing space with the actors and the story.

But I wouldn't mind being thrown into the jail cell with that Che. Goodness.

 

[Michael Kras]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 6:07pm

Immersive theatre WILL be what revitalizes our theatre culture. Unquestionably.

[BonnieBanks]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 6:18pm

Gimmicks don't work for Evita. It's one of those shows that completely relies on the Star performer. If Eva is terrible, then the show is terrible. It matters not if you do the production in an environmental accurate location, the show will still be ghastly if Eva is not of Star Quality.

That being said, I wish this production the best as Randi Garza looks like a ferocious and terrifying (in a good way) Evita in that one photo.

Best of luck!

Updated On: 7/9/15 at 06:18 PM

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 10:46pm

What does "immersive" mean anyway?  Is that a fancy word for "outside", or literally that the audience is somehow immersed in the action?

[BonnieBanks]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 10:55pm

Each audience member gets to make out with Evita during  the "Good Night and Thank You" number. I'm pretty sure that's what they mean by immersive. 

[Michael Kras]

Posted: 7/9/15 at 11:25pm

Think about it. Nothing makes theatre any different from a movie or TV show except for the potential to include the audience in this live, human experience. I truly believe it's how theatre will be considered vital again. Why watch a traditionally staged play when I can get the same kind of experience on Netflix for less hassle and way less money?

It's not a gimmick. It's the only thing theatre has going for it.

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 7/10/15 at 12:37am

"It's the only thing theatre has going for it."

I do not agree.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/10/15 at 9:59am

Why watch a traditionally staged play when I can get the same kind of experience on Netflix for less hassle and way less money?

For the same reason people have been going to theatre subsequent to the invention of moving pictures and television.  Because it's not the same kind of experience and never has been.  Have you ever been to a show staged in a proscenium theatre?  Why did you go?  That's your answer.