Is Evita as bad as the production I just saw?

[iwakura43]

I just came back from a national touring production of Evita (State Theatre of New Jersey), and, my god, it was atrocious. In particular, the two leads (Eva and Che) simply could not sing. Che, for instance, had a high, breathy voice horribly inappropriate for a character who should be a badass–like, oh, Che Guevara. Eva could neither sing nor act–I nearly missed the big number Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina, completely. This makes my judgment of the songwriting suspect: it’s very hard to tell if I like any of the songs or not if the singers are awful. Only “And the Money Kept Rolling In” had any sort of impact, despite Che’s breathiness.

Is the production itself fatally flawed? I’m not much of an Andrew Lloyd Weber fan, except for a couple of numbers in Phantom, and I’ve heard the Evita movie was actually pretty good. Has anyone scene it staged well?

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

Well, here’s your Che.

To his surprise he was offered several scholarships and ended up choosing to attend the University of Miami on a full scholarship for his voice. At UM’s Frost School of Music, he studied all aspects of music and performance but concentrated on Opera and graduated with a Classical voice degree. He is so grateful for his education and skills as a musician that he recieved from studying classically and blends these skills with his innate pop instincts to create a unique commercial sound. As he progressed through graduation, he realized that Opera was not his passion and that something else was calling, so he turned to the theatre. He always loved acting and was fascinated by how many different styles of music where within the Musical Theatre repertoire. He always prided himself in being extremely versatile and able to sing an Aria followed by a pop rock song followed by a Country song, etc. He loves stretching his artistic spectrum. For the last 3 years he has worked as a lead vocalist around the US in major theatre’s and Cruise Ships, singing everything under sun and has played several leading roles in Musicals such as Tony in WEST SIDE STORY, Danny Zuko in GREASE and recently Che in EVITA, to name a few! Upon finishing his run as Che regionally, he returned to NY where he began, like many singer/actors, to audition for that next job. He subsequently landed a big one and was cast in the leading role of CHE on the National Tour of the Broadway show EVITA.

And, he’s a tenor. So lookie here:

Che: Originally conceived in fatigues, we will be portraying Che as an “everyman” and will be changing costumes throughout the show to portray a variety of characters and blend in with the action. Che is high energy and passionate. Singing for this role requires a high tenor with a pop style. Movement for Che can be more athletic than dance.

So he’s a tenor with a pop style, and is authentically Hispanic. It’s a lock.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

And here’s your Evita:

The show will continue into July, when she will be auditioning for another traveling musical, or, perhaps, a cruise ship production.

You paid fifty bucks for a cruise ship production. You poor baby.

Don’t judge Evita by a cruise ship production of it.

[Spice_Weasel]

I am an absolute huge fan of the movie and the soundtrack, so I would argue that you saw a bad production of it. I have never seen it on a stage, so I couldn’t hypothesize as to whether it lent itself more easily to film or theater. But I wouldn’t give up on the story or the music because the movie is brilliant.

[iwakura43]

It really did seem like a cruise ship production, from the choreography to the singing styles. I suppose I’ll need to watch the movie version, at the very least. And thanks heavens it was only $15 (student ticket) not 50 or more.