Hal Prince Hopes to Bring EVITA to Broadway Following 2017-2018 International Tour

In addition to the previously announced run of EVITA in Australia, the production has also announced plans for an international tour. Director Hal Prince has also confirmed that he aims to bring the show to Broadway following its run abroad.

The tour will first stop in Johannesburg, from 14 October through 26 November before moving on to a winter engagement from 1 December 1 through 7 January 2018, in Cape Town, as announced on BroadwayWorld in May. The tour will also visit Tokyo's Theatre Orb, the original site of Prince's current Broadway outing, PRINCE OF BROADWAY, before landing at Sydney Opera House for an extended run beginning in October 2018.

Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, Australian theatre producer John Frost and leading UK theatre producer David Ian announced yesterday that one of the most celebrated classical musicals, EVITA, will return to Australia, playing at the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House in September 2018. In his announcement, Ian said:

I am absolutely thrilled to be presenting the original West End and Broadway version of this truly iconic musical in Australia with Opera Australia and John Frost.‎ Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice and Hal Prince are legends of musical theatre; it gets no better than this.

After sell-out productions including SOUTH PACIFIC, THE KING AND I and most recently the 60th anniversary production of MY FAIR LADY, John Frost and Opera Australia will again re-create one of the greatest works of music theatre, the original West End and Broadway production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's EVITA, directed by Hal Prince. A legendary Broadway director, Prince has won 21 Tony Awards, more than any person in history. Prince will be joined by fellow original West End creative team members including choreographer Larry Fuller and designer Timothy O'Brien.

This production is the first time a Rice and Lloyd Webber musical will play at the Sydney Opera House. Lyndon Terracini and John Frost released a joint statement to mark the event:

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to recreate the renowned original production of EVITA 40 years after it opened in the West End, following the wonderful success of MY FAIR LADY. To have the original creative team of Hal Prince, Larry Fuller and Timothy O'Brien overseeing the production is a dream come true.

The Australian premiere has been secured exclusively for Sydney by the Government's tourism and major events agency Destination NSW and will be a major drawcard for visitors to NSW. Tourism Minister Adam Marshall said:

We are committed to securing premiere musical productions like EVITA which will attract visitors to NSW. More than 17 000 overnight visitors are expected to travel to Sydney to see EVITA, generating an estimated $14 million in overnight visitor expenditure.

EVITA is iconic, with more than 20 major awards to its credit including the Olivier and Tony Awards for Best Musical, a Golden Globe and an Oscar for the film version starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas. Featuring some of Rice and Lloyd Webber's best loved songs including, "Don't Cry For Me Argentina", "On This Night of a Thousand Stars", "You Must Love Me" and "Another Suitcase in Another Hall", EVITA charts the story of Eva Peron, wife of former Argentine dictator Juan Peron, from her humble beginnings through to the extraordinary wealth, power and status which ultimately led her to be heralded as the 'spiritual leader of the nation'.

This musical captured the attention of the public when it was first staged in 1978 and in its 40th year and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 70th year, Opera Australia and John Frost are thrilled to bring this "modern masterpiece" (New York Post) to Australia in all its original glory. EVITA is produced by special arrangement with The Really Useful Group.