07/20/2025
'Evita' Will Be Adored By
Thousands at The Muny
by Pat Lindsey
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Evita" is a timeless biographical masterpiece. I've seen it several times, but I've never seen it like I just saw it at The Muny. What happens on that marvelous Muny stage is nothing short of miraculous. The sets are often larger than life, much like Evita herself. The crowd scenes are phenomenal. The costumes are perfect for the time period. The choreography is world class.
Katerina McCrimmon seems to have immersed her entire being into the role of Eva (Evita). Depending on what the situation demands, she can sing with tremendous power or show her softer side with a lovely, sweet tone. She convinces the audience that she is Evita, the poor girl from the slums of Buenos Aires who "works" her way up to First Lady. Katerina McCrimmon is the star of this show.
The show begins and ends with Evita's death. Che, played by Omar Lopez-Cepero, is the narrator who represents a wisecracking Everyman. He sings many of the songs with Eva and the Company. His strong, raspy voice stands out in my memory in "Buenos Aires" and "The Money Keeps Rolling In," to mention only two of his many outstanding songs.
In between the two death scenes is a flashback span of 18 years. Ambitious Eva Duarte is a 15 year-old aspiring actress. She soon learns that men can help her get to where she wants to go and maybe even farther than she had imagined. She sleeps with a lot of them, including a popular singer/tango dancer (Daniel Torres), who she immediately dumps when she meets a military officer named Juan Peron (Paulo Szot). In song, Eva convinces him, "I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You," and literally pushes his mistress (Sabrina Santana) out the door. As the mistress leaves, she sings, "Another Suitcase in Another Hall."
Eva Duarte is now Evita Peron and she helps propel her husband to be the 29th president of Argentina and she, of course, is the First Lady. Evita is as greedy as she is ambitious, but she is also a good actress. She makes "her people" believe that she really cares about them by sharing the wealth with them through a lottery scheme. Meanwhile, she and her husband are bankrupting Argentina of its gold reserves and lucrative beef business.
Evita's reign as First Lady of Argentina is short-lived. By age 33, she gained the love of the lower class, but lost her health. Cancer has overtaken her frail body and the poorest people in the country mourn her death. The crowd scenes that Director Josh Rhodes is able to create with The Muny stage and audience are unlike any that could be seen in any other theater.
Dancing is an important element of this show. There are uniformed military numbers, modern dances by the entire company, and jaw-dropping tangos. The tango dancers are Junior Cervila, Tango Choreographer, and Noella Guerrero, US Argentine Tango Stage Champion. A few of the most well-known songs are, "Don't Cry For Me Argentina," "A New Argentina," and "High Flying Adored."
Whether you like or detest Eva Peron, you will adore "Evita." This show has everything an uber-creative team has to offer wrapped up in an abundance of Muny magic. See it before it leaves us on July 24. For more info, call 314-534-1111.
