Evita

A review by Patrick Shannon, III

(It is interesting that her funeral foresaw some of the most recent ones we have seen as with Princes Diana of Wales, former President Ronald Regan, and Pope John Paul II.  The song from the play is very apt - Oh What a Circus.  The only thing is that the bodies of these people did not go missing as hers did; and were not preserved to the perfection hers is.  After being found in Italy, Eva Peron's body was returned to Argentina.  She is buried in the Duarte family crypt.)

Evita has been filmed with Madonna.  The Eva Peron of the film is a bit more gentle than the one of the stage.

This was one of the best and most polished productions I have seen so far at the Jefferson Performing Arts Society http://www.jpas.org/ with a few problems.  The musical was directed by William McCrary with a fine sense of placement of the performers.  He made good use the three moveable set pieces; and his pacing of the show kept the story moving for the various scenes depicting Eva Peron's career and life.

Ron Bermingham was the Conductor of the Jefferson Performing Arts Society Broadway Pit Band of fifteen musicians.  There were a few dissonant notes from the brass section in the beginning, but they soon got into the harmony of the composers music, which does occasionally seem to imitate some of our more contemporary composers in the respect of being dissonant.  So maybe those odd notes were written in the score.  I haven't heard the entire score of this show in so long I can't be certain.  However, I have always been amazed at what Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber seems to be able to do with three notes. Conductor Ron Birmingham gave the score a fine reading whatever was written therein.

Brandi Cotogno was Eva Peron.  Both her fine acting abilities and her vocal range gave the role a wonderful and very professionally enjoyable smooth rendering.  Her interpretation was a bit more in the style of lyrical opera.

Roy Bumgarner was Che, and a very handsome Che he was in this production.  His performance was up to the high caliber of the lead singer, Brandi Cotogno's Evita.  I did have a problem with his stage mannerism of stalking around the playing area with a sort of hunch-shouldered look with his ever present cigar hanging from his lips which all too often brought to mind the Groucho Marx of the famous film brothers.  He could have found another way to use his body language to express whatever this meant - masculine anger perhaps or Communistic anger for Eva Peron's indulgences?  I would just like to have seen him stand up straight at least once for an extended time during the show.

Vatican Lokey was Juan Peron.  His performance was right on key.  He was a very effective Dictator type, showing arrogance and a manipulative character as needed.  His singing was as excellent as his acting.

Roland "Butch" Caire, Jr. was Magaldi, and as usual this most talented of local performers (and director) gave us a fine evening which was a showcase for his beautiful voice and his good acting.  He was most appropriate as the young Eva Peron's seducer, her user, and her first "director."

Meredith Lee was Juan Peron's mistress and she played the role of the eventually scorned slut with abandon and a pouting charm.

There were three large Ensembles of fourteen Children, fifteen Men, and thirteen Women all of which added considerably to the final finished product of this very polished and shining production.

Michelle Pietri was the Choreographer and the Assistant Director. The Assistant Choreographer was Frannie Roseberg.

Camille Assaf was the Costume Designer and she hit the nail on the head using many 1940s/50s style ingredients in her very effective conceptions.  The entire show's costumes were very well designed.

Wigs and make-up were done by Don and Linda Guillot in keeping with the style of the period.

Karen Miller was the Set Designer.  The minimalist approach to this musical is used with much panache. Karen Miller's balcony on wheels with stairs to left and right was well done and soundly built.  Her other two moveable set pieces of white arches, also on rollers, were effective and used to change the mood of many scenes.

The very effective Lighting Designer was Scratch Buckley.  However, the people at Jefferson Performing Arts Society must get over their addiction to using stage smoke even though it does very well as a means of dimming stage lights, it also seemed to cause a very bad reaction in the eyes and lungs of the audience, not to mention filling the theater with an awful smell.  Also, please make sure the many wonderful volunteers DO NOT TRY TO MOVE A PIECE OF SCENERY while the scene is playing out.  Allowing the audience to see a stage hand poke his head or his torso out from behind the wings to move a set piece is very distracting and unprofessional.  Talk about stopping the action in its tracks!

The very balanced Sound Design was by Stewart Becnel; and the very workable and good looking set was added to by the work of Scenic Artist Micelle Levine.

Even with the few flaws mentioned, this production was brought to a very high standard of excellence by the large well trained cast of dancers and singers, and the professional performances of the major players.  I would like to single out the two dancers who performed a pas de deux/tango during certain scenes of the show.  They are not singled out in the program; but Maestro Dennis Assaf kindly gave me the names.  Alonzo Moore and Michelle Pietre, the choreographer, were beyond comparison and truly wonderful to see.  So kudos to this male dancer and his female partner.  You almost stole the show.