Evita

[vabbian]

Saw this today. 2.5/5

Lackluster first half, slightly better second half. I believe I had the Eva understudy. Overall the production felt uninspired and cheap.

Shout out to Phoenix Theatre who upgraded my ticket to stalls! This is the 4th time I've been upgraded at this theatre, love it.

1star for Don't cry for me Argentina.
1star for Che in a tank top in the second half.
0.5stars for that fabulous platinum blonde wig you go girl.!

[BGLowe]

Aug 3, 2017 16:58:57 GMT vabbian said:

Saw this today. 2.5/5

Lackluster first half, slightly better second half. I believe I had the Eva understudy. Overall the production felt uninspired and cheap.

Shout out to Phoenix Theatre who upgraded my ticket to stalls! This is the 4th time I've been upgraded at this theatre, love it.

1star for Don't cry for me Argentina.
1star for Che in a tank top in the second half.
0.5stars for that fabulous platinum blonde wig you go girl.!

Also there this afternoon. It was the Eva understudy and unfortunately I was not a fan of her tone of voice. Very shrieky. Better second half but the first half was poor. Che was also lacklustre - his tone didn't suit me although he was better when he was belting. Poor production and I love Evita. I agree that 2.5/5 is suitable!

[theatre-turtle]

What's the best offer for this?

[Rory]

I see Sean Mathias and Peter Bowles were at the press night. I hope Kenwright gives The Exorcist full welly when / if it follows this production of Evita.

[daniel]

Oh dear...

[d'James]

Won't let me read it. Oh well, doesn't exactly sound glowing.

[sayers500]

Aug 3, 2017 22:20:48 GMT daniel said:

Oh dear...

To be fair, this is the only bad review in a barage of glowing ones and the comments on the social media posts of this review seem to wildly disagree. It seems that we that hated it are in a minority.

[wickedgrin]

5 stars from Mark Shenton of course.....

[theatremadness]

Aug 3, 2017 22:20:48 GMT daniel said:

Oh dear...

It's a bit of a ridiculous review in my opinion, which is shared by some who have commented on this article on their facebook page. It's completely fair enough if you didn't enjoy it and yes Bill Kenwright will always get flack for his shows, but some of the comments were absolutely ridiculous. Discussion about equality and diversity in theatre is always great and should never be discouraged but his use of the all-white-cast and all-male-creative team arguments, whilst incredibly valid, seem rather shoe-horned into the beginning of his review, as if he's trying to score points. I don't feel like he cares for a second about those issues, more like using them as a way to take as many digs at the production as possible which, in my view, seems pretty insulting to those he's seeming to be arguing for. If he really cared that much, why didn't he use his platform to say something when this was cast over half a year ago? It's the same then as it was now.

Fair is fair, but you have to wonder whether he was watching the same show. When I attended (and by other audience accounts) Emma certainly didn't strain to hit any of the notes and it couldn't have been further from a "soulless and searching performance". Of course you can only go from the performance you see at the time, but if he was actually reviewing on Press Night on Wed, she didn't struggle.

Anyhow, it's also received 3* in the Telegraph, Standard and Time Out, 4* in the Independent, What's On Stage and BroadwayWorld UK and the (unsurprising) 5* from Mark Shenton on LondonTheatre so I think it's fair to say that it shouldn't be solely 'judged' on that review - not that yourself and anyone else was!

[Being Alive]

Oddly, I agree with everything the Stage says. I really didn't enjoy this. I like the score, but felt Hatton really struggled in the upper register. Mistress was by far the best thing. Clumsy Kenwright staging. Of all the tours I've seen this year, this is the one I felt least warranted a West End transfer.

[d'James]

Aug 3, 2017 22:56:21 GMT Being Alive said:

Oddly, I agree with everything the Stage says. I really didn't enjoy this. I like the score, but felt Hatton really struggled in the upper register. Mistress was by far the best thing. Clumsy Kenwright staging. Of all the tours I've seen this year, this is the one I felt least warranted a West End transfer.

She definitely struggled with the high notes in Rainbow High when I saw it.

[BurlyBeaR]

Well I like the production and I've booked again for the last week in Manchester.

As for the Mistress, I know it's become some sort of Evita tradition to say how marvellous she is, and to give her a huge round of applause at the end, but the woman sings one pretty unchallenging song (uninspiringly, in this case) and is banished to the chorus for the rest of the show. Give me a suitcase and even I could pull that off!

Emma Hatton on the other hand carries the entire piece and was note perfect when I saw it.

[richey]

Aug 4, 2017 6:58:59 GMT BurlyBeaR said:

Well I like the production and I've booked again for the last week in Manchester.

As for the Mistress, I know it's become some sort of Evita tradition to say how marvellous she is, and to give her a huge round of applause at the end, but the woman sings one pretty unchallenging song (uninspiringly, in this case) and is banished to the chorus for the rest of the show. Give me a suitcase and even I could pull that off!

Emma Hatton on the other hand carries the entire piece and was note perfect when I saw it.

I'm with you on this one Burly. Surprised at all the negativity as I thought it was excellent when I saw it in Salford

[SageStageMgr]

Are Another Suitcase in Another Hall and Don't Cry For Me Argentina still conducted at a snails pace?

[SageStageMgr]

Aug 3, 2017 22:57:51 GMT d'James said:

Aug 3, 2017 22:56:21 GMT Being Alive said:

Oddly, I agree with everything the Stage says. I really didn't enjoy this. I like the score, but felt Hatton really struggled in the upper register. Mistress was by far the best thing. Clumsy Kenwright staging. Of all the tours I've seen this year, this is the one I felt least warranted a West End transfer.

She definitely struggled with the high notes in Rainbow High when I saw it.

Interesting, this song was pre-recorded with a click track in all previous versions of this production. The costume changes made live singing very difficult. Perhaps she had an off day when she recorded it?

[Deleted]

Well. Opening night brought the stars out. Louise Redknapp (not your best look Lou love), Peter Bowles, Glo Hunniford and Lyn Paul looking sensational. I hope she didn't beg, steal or borrow that outfit.

It's Only Your Lover Returning

And, well, just because. He dressed up and everything.

[d'James]

Those bleedin' sunflowers still lurking!!!!

[martin1965]

Aug 4, 2017 6:58:59 GMT BurlyBeaR said:

Well I like the production and I've booked again for the last week in Manchester.

As for the Mistress, I know it's become some sort of Evita tradition to say how marvellous she is, and to give her a huge round of applause at the end, but the woman sings one pretty unchallenging song (uninspiringly, in this case) and is banished to the chorus for the rest of the show. Give me a suitcase and even I could pull that off!

Emma Hatton on the other hand carries the entire piece and was note perfect when I saw it.

I saw this in Wolverhampton in May and really liked it Emma Hatton was amazing and i dont recognise some of these reviews!

[ali973]

I'm glad this is getting scathing reviews. To be honest I've had it up till here with sh*tty productions touring the country, and worse off, coming to the West End and clogging theatres.

re: all-white cast comment. Cry me buckets of white tears. Yes, an all white cast is a problem in 2017. More effort is needed in making hiring and casting more inclusive. Notice how people have a specific problem with the critic flagging an all-white cast and not as much as all-male creative team. Both are problematic.

I'm sorry, but those comments on The Stage Facebook page praising this production are by a bunch of people who see crap shows that make it obscure towns in England that hardly set the golden standards in musical theatre.

Ahem. Following my vile rant, I fully plan to see this train wreck. Any discounts or day seats?

[BurlyBeaR]

Aug 4, 2017 10:56:20 GMT ali973 said:

I'm sorry, but those comments on The Stage Facebook page praising this production are by a bunch of people who see crap shows that make it obscure towns in England that hardly set the golden standards in musical theatre.

The west end has more than it's fair share of 'crap shows' many of which run and run. We all know the ones I'm talking about. Hardly the gold standard either, hmmmm? 

[ali973]

^ Agreed. WE generates its own nonsense, but at least its kept a lot of 4th tier tours out of London as well.

I dunno..maybe I was aggressive, but I think the standard has become so low in the last five years or so.

[richey]

Aug 4, 2017 11:49:23 GMT ali973 said:

^ Agreed. WE generates its own nonsense, but at least its kept a lot of 4th tier tours out of London as well.

I dunno..maybe I was aggressive, but I think the standard has become so low in the last five years or so.

Well if the West End can't sustain the new shows like the ones that have passed through the Phoenix in the last few years what are the other options?

[SageStageMgr]

I don't want to put words into Ali's mouth, but I feel the general standard of new productions lately has been extremely poor, and constantly having not-great touring productions take residence in town is a sign that the general quality and creatively is lacking on an industrial level.

[richey]

Aug 4, 2017 10:56:20 GMT ali973 said:

Following my vile rant, I fully plan to see this train wreck. Any discounts or day seats?

Train wreck is rather harsh. This production, to me, is better than the recent Adelphi revival. And as I recall it was getting a generally good response til it came to the West End

[ali973]

Not an easy question, and I don't have the perfect answer. But I think there are lessons to be learned from a the shows that recently went into the Phoenix.

I think it's a question of good material, quality of the show and targeting. What's evident is that most of the shows that end up in London are still targeted towards an aging population. The Girls and Guys and Dolls hardly scream young, fresh and exciting. London has way too many shows serving a more mature audience (50+), which is fine, because that will always be a very dedicated theatre going crowd. But shows that can cater to a younger payer audience (25-50s) have the ability to bring in a demographic that is underrepresented in London theatre, and can be reached in more inventive and less expensive ways like social media. There will always be the classics that draw in a mixed crowd like Les Miz, Evita or Phantom, but the younger shows that are successful, like Kinky Boots, Dreamgirls, Book of Mormon and soon Hamilton, are all shows with a younger cast targeting younger audiences.