“Evita” by Kristian Thomas Company
Duchess Theatre Long Eaton

Everyone should know the story of “Evita”, the musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics and book by Tim Rice. It concentrates on the life of Argentine political leader Eva Perón, the second wife of Argentine president Juan Perón. The story follows Evita's early life, rise to power, charity work, and eventual death.

We start with Eva's body lying in state and you can really get a feel of the grief, not least through the music.

Time rolls back and we are introduced to the raven haired actress whose bedroom door is more like a turnstile who then sets her eyes on Juan Peron and what Eva wants, Eva gets, at any cost.

The cast sang "you let down your people Evita" in one of the songs. This show let down no one as we all fell under Eva Peron's magical spell as we all became her loyal followers for two and a half hours.

Helen Perry as Eva is a perfect piece of casting. Picture a young Celine Dion playing this part and you get an image of Helen as Eva. Helen's pop/operatic voice is again perfect for this role. She is a triple threat being able to act, sing and dance, and she carries all of the costumes for Eva with class and oozes just the right amount of sex for the part. I could not see anyone else playing Eva to the quality that Helen does.

Tom Simpson, who I last saw as Ren in "Footloose", looked totally different with facial hair, required for the part of Che Guevera, but that voice is still the same. he has a great voice for rock opera and quite a range. He not only acts physically but also through his facial expressions and captures the comfortably smug "told you so" look with ease. As the narrator of the musical as well, you draw comparisons with Judas in "Jesus Christ Superstar", and as that was seen through the eyes of Judas, this story is also seen through the eyes of Che.

Chris Grantham plays Juan Peron, and I think that this may be the first time that I have seen Chris. His portrayal of Juan illuminates the weaknesses of Peron and the way that Eva wraps him around her little finger, highlighting even more the power that Eva had, not only over him but the people of Argentina.

Beth Denham has a small but important role as Juan's Mistress who is evicted from Juan's home by Eva. Beth's version of one of several under rated songs in this musical, "Another Suitcase" is just sublime.

Richard Comfort plays Magaldi, the night club singer, who also falls under the "chorus girl" Eva's spell. Here is another man who has a really powerful, but controlled voice. I've heard Tom Jones sing "Night Of A Hundred Stars" and that end note sounds just like the way Mr Jones delivers it.

As I said this rock opera, for me has several under rated songs and the flirty "I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You" simply sizzles when Eva sings this to Juan. You can feel that chemistry exploding from the stage. Another is the rhythmically exciting "Buenos Aires".

The powerhouse "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" is not the easiest of songs for any actor to sing, but Helen got the pace and the emotion spot on.

Directed by Alysha Gomes, who also directed "Footloose", which I also loved for KTCo. I loved the way that parts of the action was performed in slow motion, bringing a cinematic feel to the stage show. She has kept all the class of the musical as well as the pace.

Knowing that Kristian Cunningham choreographed this show, from the get go, left me with a comfortable feeling that the dance sections in this musical would be of the finest, I was not disappointed. Just looking at the way these dancers move show that an incredible amount of hard work has gone into these sections, and I know that Kristian is a perfectionist in all that he does, and my high expectations for this area were well and truly met, not least in the tango and the "Buenos Aires" section.

With this being a rock opera, the story is told through the lyrics and just one thing slightly blotted the ointment here, and that was that the music from the four piece band was just a tad too loud, meaning that some of the story in the lyrics were swamped. I have no real worries about this though as this was opening night and when there is a full house in, the sound at the control desk can sound different to previous sound checks. This did in no way detract from my enjoyment of this piece of theatre.

Tom Bond worked his usual magic as Musical Director.

An amazing lighting design by Stephen Greatorex, which from the very first opening scenes to the last left us all spellbound.

A large ensemble of very talented Youth and Adult actors filled the stage and created that wonderfully powerful and angelic choir sound.

One interesting thing about Lloyd-Webber musicals is that he occasionally borrows chords from his other musicals and you can plainly hear that he has recycled sections from "Joseph" as well as "Superstar" for sections of songs in this one.

As I expected the crowd were on their feet in a Mexican wave of a standing ovation at the end, and truly well deserved as well because this is one of the best local productions of this show I have seen. This too is only to be expected though knowing what a store of talent Kristian Thomas Company attract.

In the words of one of Che's songs "Oh What A Show!" Simply stunning.

“Evita” is at the Duchess Theatre until Saturday 27 April, but you may just find that tickets are sold out, so check for any cancellations before you pop down to the theatre to save any disappointment.