Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Evita, stopped by Seattle’s Paramount Theatre in 2014, as part of its 1st National Tour. Headed by Kinky Boots‘ and Wicked‘s Caroline Bowman and Jesus Christ Superstar‘s Josh Young, the Michael Grandage vision of the hit musical fulfilled me seeing the show for the first time on stage.
Alas, because I am only able to get to the Saturday matinee, I wasn’t able to see how Caroline Bowman played the role, as apparently she was usually off during Saturday matinees. Good thing, her alternate, Desi Oakley gave a memorable performance, as with the entire cast.
This Spring, Ms. Bowman will once again play the iconic Argentinian First Lady, this time in a new production produced by the Vancouver Opera playing at the Queen Elizabeth Theater from Saturday, April 30th to Sunday, May 8th
Set in the politically turbulent 1930s and 1940s, Evita follows Eva’s remarkable journey from small-town slums to the tango clubs of Buenos Aires, through a career in B movies, and to the presidential palace on the arm of her new husband, General Juan Perón. Fearlessly aggressive in defending the rights of workers and the poor, Eva attracted the wrath of the aristocracy and the universal love of the people. Her legend lives on, decades after her death in 1952 at age 33, even as her role in Argentina’s history is revealed with increasing clarity as time goes on.
Boasting a stellar cast that includes Les Miserables‘ Ramin Karmiloo and Phantom of the Opera‘s John Cudia, the Vancouver Opera’s presentation of Evita is definitely one to see, but alas, it seems I won’t be able to again as my current role as daddy 🙂 surely takes up a lot of my schedule and is so tricky to shuffle stuff around. I am hoping that I will be able to and will do my best to attend but in any case, I am posting this to encourage Vancouver’s theatre-goers to support the musical and the cast, so we can continue to be presented with high calibre Broadway performers.
the real /darryl 