Evita: Truly Emotionally Intense Show

It's an old, old story; girl from nowhere hits the big city, hoping to find fame and fortune, and maybe even true love.  This kind of story doesn't always end well.  But Eva Duarte Peron of Argentina elbowed her way into her own fairytale and made it come true.

Her extraordinary true story, immortalised in the Lloyd Webber/Rice musical biography EVITA, opened last night with the Abbey Musical Society's production at the Centennial Drive auditorium, as rain fell outside and tears fell on stage inside during the unfolding drama.

The show's engine-room team - Scott Andrew (Director), Barry Jones (Musical Director) and Megan Shaw (Choreographer) - has turned out a well-paced and intensely emotional production featuring several Palmerston North performers who would be right at home on any professional stage.

Joanne Sale, as a slightly more adult Evita, is almost never offstage, and handles her demanding vocal numbers, dance routines and constant costume changes with ease, crowned with a stunning Don't Cry For Me Argentina in the second act.

The large cast is effortlessly in and out of costume and choreographed movement, each routine fitting neatly into the development of the storyline.  Sale is backed up by Ben Jones as her presidential husband Juan Peron; Madison Horman, as his dumped mistress, sings her one song with sweet assurance - and Bradford Meurk is an outstanding Che Guevara, the narrator and linking presence.

One quibble; on opening night the sound mix at times made for some disturbing mic'd shrillness; this can and will be put to rights.