To glowing reviews, the London revival of Evita opened at the Adelphi Theatre on June 21 after beginning previews on June 2. In today's New York Post, columnist Michael Riedel reports that Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group is eyeing theatres in New York for a Fall 2007 bow. It's expected that with Equity approval, the show's star Elena Roger would head over with the show as well.
Starring Elena Roger as Eva Peron, Philip Quast as Juan Peron, and Matt Rawle as Che, and
with Lorna Want as the Mistress and Gary Milner as Magaldi, Evita is helmed by Donmar Warehouse artistic director Michael Grandage, choreographed by Tony Award-winner Rob Ashford (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Doctor Doolittle) and features Christopher Oram as the main designer; the three last collaborated on the smash revival
of Guys and Dolls that
is playing at the Picadilly Theatre. The revival is
produced by Lloyd
Webber's Very Useful Group.
Evita,
which began life as a 1975 concept album, takes a cynical but
multifaceted view of the ascent of Eva Peron, Argentina's one-time first lady. The show, which features music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and lyrics by Tim Rice, originally opened at London's Prince Edward Theatre in 1978 with Elaine Paige as
Eva and David Essex as Che. In New York, it ran 1,567 performances at
the Broadway Theatre, and won the 1980 Tony Award for Best Musical, as
well as six others.