Immersive EVITA

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

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

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?

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

"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".

Isn't Charlie Brady mixed race?

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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

I do not agree.