Evita revival wows West End critics
Story by Jack Foley
CRITICS have given Michael Grandage’s much-anticipated revival of Evita at the Adelphi Theatre a resounding thumbs up.
The show – a revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s hit 1978 musical – opened on June 21, 2006, and produced a standing ovation from the critics.
Argentine actress Elena Roger stars in the title role alongside Philip Quast as Juan Peron and Matt Rawle as narrator Che Guevara.
Leading the praise was Daily Express critic Sheridan Morley who was full of praise for Elena Roger’s “dazzling British debut”.
He went on to describe the show as “a brilliant rediscovery of a show we thought we knew, but whose dark heart we had overlooked.”
He points out that the new staging has produced a darker version of the story than Rice’s original – although he does credit Rice with coming up with the concept in the first place.
Praise also was given to an “impressive” Philip Quast as Juan Peron, although he concluded that “the evening belongs to Roger, who is mesmerising from the beginning”.
The Daily Mail’s Quentin Letts, meanwhile, wrote: “Tiny though she be, with the bone structure of this fragile gamebird, Argentine Senorita Roger is big, big news… This is a first-rate Evita.”
The Evening Standard’s Nicholas de Jongh, meanwhile, opined: “I am a touch ashamed to admit I have fallen head over heels for Evita again, with Michael Grandage’s dynamic production offering a charismatic title role performance, ripe for superlatives, by unknown Argentinian Elena Roge.
“Her performance, which conveys in song and dance the exuberance of a sexual adventuress and the ardour of the presidential saviour she wished to become, brought first nighters to their feet. For me, though, it only takes those famous songs to bowl me over.”
Similarly impressed was the Daily Telegraph which described the show as an “outstanding revival” that boasts “A shocking great star performance from the diminutive, authentically Argentinian Elena Roger”.
The only note of caution was sounded by the Guardian, which pointed out that while “watching Michael Grandage’s perfectly decent revival, one becomes aware of the dramatic insubstantiality of the show”. But he was impressed with Christopher Oram’s design, “which sumptuously recreates the wrought-iron balconies and architectural grandeur of Buenos Aries”.