Review Roundup: EVITA Opens at Shakespeare Theatre Company

Shakespeare Theatre Company's 23/24 season has opened with EVITA, which is playing now through October 15.

Directed by Sammi Cannold and based on her New York City Center concert version of the play, this Evita takes a uniquely humanizing approach to the memory of Argentina's most infamous First Lady. 

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Tony Award-winning rock opera follows the adored and reviled Eva Perón's meteoric rise to First Lady of Argentina before her death at 33. 

Shereen Pimentel leads the cast in the role of Eva Perón and is joined by Caesar Samayoa as Perón, Omar Lopez-Cepero as Che, and more.

Read the reviews below!

The production previously played at A.R.T. earlier this summer, and you can read those reviews here.

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Mary Lincer, BroadwayWorld: The two hour show packs 17 years of her life into a constantly moving, theatrical matrix including social, political, and women's fashion history which can often be quite affecting because Pimentel's acting finds simple moments of true emotion amid the bustle and action. She's the real deal. Director Sammi Cannold and Music Director Mona Seyed-Bolorforosh wrangle Evita impeccably and always with flair and clarity. The show's many moving parts must be flawlessly synchronized: these ladies can synch.

Peter Marks, The Washington Post: This Eva is the pragmatic product of privation. Her vulnerability is taken advantage of by rapacious men and her humility extinguished by power. She is a ravenous urchin schooled in cruelty, her wildest dreams realized through guts, guile, grit and a gift for survival. A measure of the production’s canniness is the suggestion, more emphatically than in prior instances, of a real marriage between Eva and President Juan Perón. He is portrayed with palpable passion by Caesar Samayoa, to whom Pimentel’s mortally ill Eva sings a wrenching “You Must Love Me,” the ballad the songwriters added for Madonna in the unfortunate 1996 movie version.

Charlotte Selton, MD Theatre Guide: Cannold deserves credit for taking some risks with her direction of “Evita.” Even if not all stick the landing, in a show as often produced as this one, some novelty is appreciated. “Evita” remains a crowd-pleaser, especially with Maltby and Solomonoff’s choreography amplifying Webber’s booming score. Even with room for improvement, audiences should still find plenty to enjoy.

David Greenham, The Arts Fuse: Whatever its faults, the original Broadway production is the only Evita I’ve seen that succeeded in getting at this sense of fierce satire. The love/hate tension between Eva and Che was palpable and delicious — and garnered Tony Awards for its stars. This ART co-production gets so many of Evita‘s elements right; now all it needs is its combative soul.

D.R. Lewis, The DC Line: Stories of politics and those who peddle power will always hold a special place in the hearts of Washington audiences and Evita, one of several co-productions slated for this season, is a strong start for Shakespeare Theatre Company. With Cannold’s fresh take, which serves more to reframe than reconceive the material, audiences have all the more reason to grapple with the persistent question of whether musicals like Evita (and Broadway’s current Imelda Marcos disco musical, Here Lies Love) work to glorify the legacies of complicated figures, or serve as cautionary tales of political ascension. Regardless of which side one may land, perhaps by interrogating the populists of the past, we can better understand those who wish to harness that same power today. Don’t worry, Eva. We won’t cry for them, either.

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