NEWS

(Sydney Schertz Photo)

An exciting musical show, “Evita,” played to sold-out audiences over the last two weekends at the Duke Family Performance Hall on the Davidson College campus. To accommodate an overflow popular demand, Davidson Community Players added one last performance at 7 o’clock last Sunday evening. The production was unique!

“Evita’s” director, Steve Kaliski amassed some amazing professional voices to support first-time and local talent from communities beyond Davidson and the Lake Norman region to perform leading and supportive roles. The production was enhanced by an outstanding corps of Ensemble dancers and singers.

The play is based on historic events. “Evita’s” two animated musical acts were performed entirely in song featuring a pair of powerful voices making their debut on a Davidson stage.

Evita’s storyline is musically narrated by a fictitious Argentine character called Che, portrayed by Neifert Enrique. He weaves actual scenes from the brief adventurous life of Eva Duarte Perón in a musical show composed by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber that premiered on Broadway in 1979, a year following its original opening in London.

Although Che is a term commonly used in Argentina referring to someone like a Pal or Buddy, in the musical “Evita,” Che is a storyteller, the voice of the people—including los descalzados (the barefooted) and political leaders alike. “Evita’s” Che is a judge of history in his terms, the pseudo-narrator of a tumultuous chapter from a country at the southernmost tip of the Latin American continent. And Enrique played it well.

The question is, do we believe everything Che sings about of his version of facts contained in the tunes?

(Sydney Schertz Photo)

Continually onstage, from the opening number, “Requiem for Evita,” to the closing tune, “Lament,” at the end of Act Two, Enrique intoned Che’s narration of an historic slice of history. Bravo! It was well done!

(Sydney Schertz Photo)

Melissa Lozada played the role of Eva Duarte, a woman born out of wedlock in an obscure Argentine little town, who rises to become the country’s idolized First Lady of the Land, the cherished wife of President Juan Perón. Perón was performed with distinction by Ron Turner Diaz.

Lozada’s voice was magnificent—clear and powerful—portraying her rise from a young peasant girl who bleaches her hair and moves to the city to initiate a dubious lifestyle and then as an actress to eventually become known as Evita. She is the ambitious, generous, influential First Lady of Argentina regarded as a saint and martyr by the adoring descamizado populus who mourn her untimely death at the age of thirty-three, shown as the show opens. Lozada was lovely!

The opening scene of the second act said it all. Poised and dressed in gorgeous grandeur addressing her people from an advancing balcony of the Casa Rosada, Lozada’s voice as Evita touched the hearts of her adoring descamizados and those of the audience as well, delivering the emotional tones of a familiar musical plea, “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina.”

Memories of President Juan Perón’s turbulent regime are familiar to me. Children of refugee families escaping the consequences of Perón’s military coup who fled to Mexico when I was growing up became some of my classmates. And one of our neighbors was an exiled Argentine diplomat maintaining an unassuming life in the building where I lived.

(Sydney Schertz Photo)

Unlike most musicals in which the Ensemble usually serves to enhance the production’s storyline, “Evita’s” vast Ensemble performed essential scenes to illustrate historic incidents. Breaking into separate small groups, actors danced, marched, and acted the roles of Aristocrats, Military, Officers, and Lovers.

“Evita’s” choreography by Tod A. Kubo was outstanding! Ensemble dancers set the pace that never let up, keeping the show vividly active for more than two hours even while soloists crooned the twenty-five songs of the show.

Remarkable costumes designed by Sarah Deutsch accurately reflected the early mid-century style of the Perónista era, and constantly changing projections designed by Caleb Sigmon delivered the music in visual context.

The clever set beyond a background scrim included a ten-piece orchestra under the direction of Matthew Primm that allowed ample space on the forward bare stage where the energetic singing Ensemble dancers performed accompaniment to the musical score. Evita and Che delivered one of my favorite scenes toward the end of Act Two—a moving tender dance to “Eva’s Final Broadcast.”

The production quality of a show like “Evita” undoubtedly enhanced the image of the over sixty-year-old Davidson Community Players.

"Evita" was a winner! Bravo, Davidson Community Players! You deserve a standing ovation.