Jamie Lloyd-helmed EVITA revival to play the London Palladium in 2025- Page 35

[uncageg]

Posted: 9/8/25 at 10:36pm

I use the word tape all the time. Said to a co-worker the other night that I was taping a series and he was like, "what?". It's just another word used to say you are recording something or putting it in your library. I knew exactly what Boris meant. It's how I saw it.  

Wasn't too crazy about the production itself, but she is singing her butt off.  JMO

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 9/8/25 at 10:39pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "CarlosAlberto said: "BorisTomashevsky said: "Alright well I suppose I understand that the link had to be removed but I’ll repeat again, now that I’ve seen the production (on tape at least)

You’re seen the production ON TAPE?!?!?! Is this 1982?!? Did someone send it to you on VHS or Betamax?!?!

WTF?’!?!"

Oops. Sorry. Tape is an industry term for video."

Okay that makes sense, I apologize, I didn’t mean to be rude to you. The term just caught me off guard. 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 9/8/25 at 11:02pm

Why are you apologizing? Nothing has been filmed on tape in decades.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 9/8/25 at 11:28pm

"Right now the general consensus is 2027" and "even if it never gets that Broadway transfer" is a great way for that investor to say "I don't know what's going on."

This is why NDAs need to be implemented and enforced. Investors are not the mouthpieces of a production.

 

[RainbowMerman]

Posted: 9/8/25 at 11:55pm

Who cares?  It’s not like he’s doing any harm. If anything, they love the speculation and need the chatter 

[binau]

Posted: 9/9/25 at 2:55am

Re: Peron act one being ‘shirtless’ is he actually shirtless or is this misinformation? I thought his sleeves were exposed I don’t remember seeing bare chest (unfortunately :p). 

[ggersten]

Posted: 9/9/25 at 5:00pm

Here is the Message Board Rule that moderators appear to be enforcing on this thread:

"For your own protection - no bootleg appeals (or posts linking to or embedding such content!) For the posting of links to websites with copyrighted material, you may post an excerpt if available, please include a web link as well if one exists."

In any event, the video has been "deleted by the uploader" 

Updated On: 9/9/25 at 05:00 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 9/9/25 at 5:15pm

I agree that her vocal placement while super healthy and it sounds decent but it’s lacking the power that is usually associated with the role. But that also might be the costuming. She isn’t giving regal or anything. I could see why Webber might be miffed because I do think Lloyd’s style  isn’t the best for telling a story. 

[Seb28]

Posted: 9/9/25 at 6:22pm

RippedMan said: "She isn’t giving regal or anything. I could see why Webber might be miffed because I do think Lloyd’s style isn’t the best for telling a story."

I think the problem is that the director Jamie Lloyd (aside from not understanding the material and texts) lacks any form of class and maturity. The things that he thinks are “cool” are embarrassing to most adults. The constant street-style, taunting attitude of the whole ensemble, Eva, Che and Peron feels pathetic and childish. Like a community-centre performance of the gangs of West Side Story. The gestures, the trying to look cool, the aggression, the taking off their shirts multiple times, Eva literally beating up Che in the second act (Eva would never do this at this point in her character-arc), it feels like it’s directed by a 12-year old street-brat. And the characters feel like low-life, empty shells, without having actual adult interaction with eachother. It is indeed more "brat" than "regal". It's not sexy or cool at all.

Previous versions are much more mature, exciting and the fights between the characters there take place on a completely different, higher and more intelligent level which is much more thrilling. It’s all about the sophisticated political games and the differences in class and defying that. A depraved game on the highest levels. A psychological thriller that's exciting, mature and directed in a way that makes it clear for the audience what the stakes are and what is actually taking place.

The only moments where this production remotely becomes alive is during dcfma and high, flying adored. After that it collapses like a house of cards again. Those were the only 2 scenes where some of the needed maturity came into play. The only 2 scenes that radiated any form of intelligence and class. The only 2 scenes where the setting and context supported the actors and the story.

Aside from those 2 scenes, it’s just a trashy concert on stairs that harms the material. Peron and Eva are being portrayed as 2 little brats from the street. With no difference in class between them. No actual relationship. No intelligence. Just aggressive, conceited little children without any form of gravity. Combined with the rest of the terrible direction, caused by Lloyd not understanding anything about the scenes or the lyrics, makes it an incoherent, lame and inadequate whole.

Even though some songs are sung really well, such as “Another suitcase”, “A New Argentina” and “Rainbow High”, it doesn’t work and the audiences have no clue what the story is about. Audiences don't understand that Eva is dead at the beginning, because she is dancing around like a pop star, chilling with the people, they don’t understand who Magaldi is, what he is doing, what his relationship with Eva is, what the context is, (nobody laughed at “Your act hasn’t changed much. Neither has yours” because the audience didn’t even have a clue that there was an act, they just saw someone on the stairs) in “Good night and thank you” we don’t have any idea who these men are and if Eva was actually involved with any of them, we don’t know who Peron is, he is presented as the hot guy from the baseball club in the backstreet of the high school. We don’t know what she wants from him, we don’t know his position, his goals and we don’t see them interacting with eachother, just standing on opposite sides of the stage, blurting out lines and fist gestures. We don't see her and his character arcs. We don't know what the stakes are. We don’t know what her relationship with Che is or what her opinion of him is or why she is angry at him, and if he’s actually there in most scenes or not. We don’t know what Eva actually achieved with Peron because in act 2 she is still in the leather bra, still proving the prejudices the people had about her, there is no character-arc or growth whatsoever. And because she, the story and their relationship never grew, we don’t care about her. There basically is nothing instead of a trashy concert and trying to look cool while beating people up. She is just as unkind and aggressive in "Surprisingly good for you" as she is in "Waltz for Eva and Che".

It's really a shame because the talent and potential is there, they just need a director.

If I were Andrew Lloyd Webber I wouldn't accept it either. Major changes need to be made to the production before it can go to Broadway. Before it becomes professional. 

Updated On: 9/9/25 at 06:22 PM

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 9/9/25 at 6:42pm

RippedMan said: "I agree that her vocal placement while super healthy and it sounds decent but it’s lacking the power that is usually associated with the role. But that also might be the costuming. She isn’t giving regal or anything. I could see why Webber might be miffed because I do think Lloyd’s style isn’t the best for telling a story."

I think that's part of the point.  Lloyd is overlaying the idea of Evita as a pop star and charting her rise in that fashion, with additional layers of what her public persona is as opposed to her private persona.  In a way it's not dissimilar to what Webber/Rice did with JCS.  The costuming is pretty reminiscent of recent pop stars like Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter and I'd be very surprised if there wasn't some sort of inspiration drawn from them and their outfits in their concerts.  But overall I think this is an Eva that's a bit scrappier in the first half and more clearly calculating in the second half (though I think this is also where Bella and Rachel differ--Rachel in particular seemed like she was ready to fight for what she wanted while Bella felt more like she felt entitled to it and was doing what she needed to do to achieve it).

[Seb28]

Posted: 9/9/25 at 7:03pm

chrishuyen said: "the idea of Evita as a pop star and charting her rise in that fashion, with additional layers of what her public persona is as opposed to her private persona."

The point of the story is that she changes from hooker/showbizz-star to cosplaying a supportive spouse to defy the prejudices people had about her.

Her public persona becomes the latter. It's about the change of her public persona, not about the difference between her new public persona and her private persona (dominatrix, which she always is).

 



 

Updated On: 9/9/25 at 07:03 PM

[thirtythirtyninety]

Posted: 9/9/25 at 10:21pm

Aargh, I wish I had watched it all the way through while it was still there! Oh well

[joevitus]

Posted: 9/10/25 at 12:30am

When someone says of a sell-out show that has all of the West End and Broadway talking that "The things that he thinks are “cool” are embarrassing to most adults," I have to wonder what sort of working definiton of "adults" is being employed here. Are most audiences under 17? Descretionary income must be astonishingly good in the UK.

[binau]

Posted: 9/10/25 at 1:32am

Yes it’s like reading a take of someone on a different planet. I don’t have the energy anymore to read or respond to it. 

[bear88]

Posted: 9/10/25 at 1:43am

I was impressed with the thing that I wasn’t supposed to see and is no longer available. Which is fine. At least I got an idea of what all the fuss has been about in case it never is performed again. 

[aburnedhill]

Posted: 9/10/25 at 3:15am

I saw the thing we weren't supposed to see as well. It seemed like it was a feast for the eyes. Absolutely moving when it needed to be as well. ALW would be a fool to bungle this transfer. He would be keeping something really special from happening. 

[gladly-cheesecake45]

Posted: 9/10/25 at 6:12pm

I also revisited the thing that wasn’t supposed to be seen and was glad to be reminded of why I was so impressed with this production; so many little details and general concepts that engage with the themes of celebrity/image and bring out the violence and allure of fascism, all of which, personally, makes it so thrilling and successful. I understand why it’s not for everyone, no revival ever is!, but honestly, I think it has quite a lot of good spectacle combined with minimalism that’s more in line with Prince’s original staging than it’s been given credit for (it may have had more costume changes, but its set was primarily one balcony and projections, with chairs/tables/doors/beds as needed).

This show has a very cynical book and lyrics, which make hagiographical stagings a mystery to me (I remember being surprised by how much they softened Eva’s personality in the film, removing everything from her “despicable class” line to her Vice Presidential subplot). It’s also fairly ahistorical — the timeline has huge gaps and leaps, plenty of details of the Perón regime are ignored, there’s an omnipresent narrator who is sometimes Che Guevara; I mean…they’re speaking almost solely in English! — so I don’t think it was ever the show to treat as an accurate account that must be taken seriously, and leaves some room for fictionalizing (my mind goes to Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette or Tony McNamara’s The Great). Maybe it’s a willingness (frankly an eagerness!) on my part to see Eva portrayed differently, or an openness to (very) flawed female characters (this is coming from someone who rooted for Shiv Roy lol), but I was such a fan of her direction here. She’s not particularly kind or scrupulous, but I think that demonstrates less reproach and more of an interest in her "true" or "private" persona. She is a woman who wants to win and be acknowledged as a winner, who has allies and causes but is first and foremost on her own side. This especially shines during Lament, when, given the chance to reflect and show remorse for her ambitious ways, she instead finds a way to win from beyond the grave, letting the ensemble re-dress her in her wig and gown from the balcony. She chooses “to lose with a halo,” to be remembered as a tragic but beloved figure, for her iconography and cult of personality, elegant and unreachable from the pedestal they built for her.

I like it especially from a meta standpoint, because this manufactured image is how she’s usually presented: she’s passionate and driven, she’s regal and preternaturally charismatic, she’s adjacent to but not really involved in her husband’s and her foundation’s misdeeds, she’s appropriately mournful to be leaving her people as she dies. To hear people complain that in this production she’s too brazen and unlikable, that she isn’t dressed up enough and isn’t being given the grandeur and respect she deserves, that the blocking doesn’t look exactly like every version before (another triumphant A New Argentina where the ensemble carry picket signs, another Rainbow High where she puts on gloves and a fancy hat, another Rainbow Tour with newspaper-waving choreography, et cetera), feels so fitting in this light: we’re conditioned to see her not so much as a person or a character but as an icon whose image “must be preserved,” down to the rote but favorable staging of the musical around her, which Lloyd’s Eva suggests was her intention all along. I completely understand why it’s polarizing — I’ve read posts on here that list everything I liked about the show as things they found it to be lacking — but gosh, I was a fan :)

[SteveSanders]

Posted: 9/21/25 at 6:19am

Interesting opinion piece in The Guardian, ostensibly a screed against the minimalist design of the iPhone, but detours into lengthy criticism of the same in Evita.  Not a combo I was expecting to read about.

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 9/21/25 at 9:07pm

It's going to transfer.   It's not an if but a when.  

[joevitus]

Posted: 9/21/25 at 9:50pm

SteveSanders said: "Interesting opinion piece in The Guardian, ostensibly a screed against the minimalist design of the iPhone, but detours into lengthy criticism of the same in Evita. Not a combo I was expecting to read about."

Really enjoyed that article. Thank you.