Rating (out of four stars): ★★
Production-wise, “Evita” is a challenging show to tackle. The epic story follows much of the life of Argentinean actress and first lady Eva Perón, who became an icon in Argentina during her involvement in the country’s government.
The entirety of the musical was sung, which inherently makes for its own host of requirements — many of which Phoenix Theatre faltered on during Saturday’s opening weekend show.
Perhaps the biggest concern was that the first act was incredibly difficult to follow, with unclear plot points made even murkier by lack of crisp diction by some singers, including Evita herself, played by Alyssa Chiarello.
While the set designs were beautiful — Phoenix Theatre’s typically are — they also contributed to the issue by not fully evoking the setting. It can be difficult to provide a really intricate sense of place when you have to rotate through different sets for almost every musical scene (and there are a lot of them), but more specific details could have been provided to evoke 1940s and ’50s Argentina. Most of the sets were generic bedrooms or dressing rooms that really could be anywhere in the world.
What’s hardest about all of the above concerns is that the story of Eva Perón is simply not a widely known tale. While Perón isn’t an unfamiliar figure, not everyone knows who she is, and those who do may not know her full story. And the last thing viewers should be having to spend brainpower on while watching a show like this is trying to work past difficult-to-understand lyrics and ambiguous settings just to figure out exactly what events are unfolding.
The book and lyrics for “Evita” were written by Tim Rice, and they make the mistakes of assuming the audience’s full understanding and being indirect or unclear. But that’s why so much impetus remains on the director, actors and set designer to bring out the story’s real meaning. That’s the real area where Phoenix Theatre struggled.
That isn’t to say the show doesn’t have its enjoyable moments or isn’t fun to watch as a whole. The lack of clarity mainly dulled the show’s shine, holding it back from breaking through into being something truly special. Michael Sample, who played Che — basically the narrator of the story — stood out in his vocal clarity and strength and compelling performance on the stage. The dance choreography by Nicole L. Olson was varied and dynamic.
Any production with the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber is a challenge to put on, simply because the nature of his work speaks to sweeping, epic productions. “Evita” at Phoenix Theatre took on that challenge and unfortunately fell short. However, those parts that were done well spoke to the troupe’s ability to face these challenges again in the future and, hopefully, pull out something very special.
Contact the columnist at mbilker@asu.edu.
