BWW Reviews: EVITA Sings Out at Oyster Mill Playhouse

Many shows are open to fairly wide interpretation, but harm a hair of EVITA's head, and there's no doubt that you'll incur the wrath of audiences who want Tim Rice's and Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic musical to remain pristine and iconic. Everyone who's seen it (please ignore the waste of celluloid that is the Madonna musical film; it's not the stage production in the least) can recall exact images in their heads and love those images. You don't change what works perfectly already, and in the case of EVITA, what a director needs most is to find the voices and the appearances. At Oyster Mill Playhouse, Stephanie Via has been lucky enough to find the right cast, and the results are certainly happy.

EVITA is a show that's easily too large for the Oyster Mill stage, and everything on that stage has been pushed back and out to accommodate the production. It's still a bit too large, but it manages not to spill out and over. The balcony of the Casa Rosada isn't quite as high or removed as one feels it should be, since Evita and Peron can shake hands with the cheering throng from it, but that is one of the limitations of the Oyster Mill stage, while "Rainbow High" feels highly contained, and not merely in the size of the on-stage dressing room. It would be preferable for Oyster Mill to program for its strengths rather than forcing larger shows; it's ideal for many of the shows that other theatres don't always get to do because of the immediacy and intimacy of its size. Nonetheless, the things that can be controlled - cast and choreography, as well as music, are well chosen here.

It can be hard to find a good Che Guevara, but director Via has found one of the best this reviewer has seen in Miguel Gonzalez, a Point Park graduate with performing credits to his name well before coming to Central Pennsylvania. He's a sturdier Che than some, without quite the slender visual appearance expected from decades of seeing the ubiquitous Che posters, but the second he opens his mouth, he's noteworthy indeed, from some of the best diction around to a solid, melodious voice. Lindsay Bretz-Morgan is well worthwhile as Eva Peron; if more is not said, it is merely because one expects a solid performance from Bretz-Morgan, and she performs exactly as anticipated. She's a professional, and she shines vividly throughout the production. (When David Garrick said that "dying is easy; it's comedy that's hard" on his deathbed, he was not considering watching Eva Peron expiring on stage. Bretz-Morgan manages to avoid milking the moment and brings it authenticity.)

Josh Lebo's Juan Peron is also a solid performance, bringing a real acting sensibility to the part. He's especially effective in the moments when Peron the politician, in the second act, switches over to Peron the devoted husband. Lorel Holt deserves serious kudos as well, playing Peron's mistress in the first act; it's she who sings the well-known "Another Suitcase in Another Hall," and her voice is amazingly similar to Lorna Want's in the 2006 West End production.

Samantha Weaver's costume design for the show is spot-on, including a perfect, voluminously skirted, red dress for Eva's tango with Peron in the first act, and the iconic white dress for the balcony of the Casa Rosada when Eva sings "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina."

This is a surprisingly polished production, including in the orchestra pit, which is really part of the set design; the musicians play at the bar/tango parlor where Che reigns as the barkeeper. Lindy Mack and company have a yeoman's task in this show, which like much of Webber's work is virtually entirely sung-through, and they handle it well.

EVITA fans should be pleased with the production, and should make efforts to catch it if they haven't done so already. It's at Oyster Mill through October 12. For tickets and information call 717-737-6768, or visit www.oystermill.com.

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