At my Bar Mitzvah, the band wore bicentennial bow ties. My mom had asked who I wanted to play music, and I said I didn't care, as long as they could play "Love Will Keep Us Together". Well, this bow-tied trio had apparently learned it just for me, and they wondered why I wasn't dancing to it. The fact that the song was unrecognizable when played as a polka may have something to do with it. The fact that I would have to dance to it with a girl may have also played in my decision to bide my time on the sidelines.
Evita There was, however, one musical revelation that came out of my Bar Mitvah, and it wasn't me singing my haftorah in front of all the guests. Instead, it happened after I had opened all the cards with cash (right into the banks, and no arguments Mister) or U.S. Savings Bonds (for that far away some day). That's when I discovered one lost envelope from a friend. Inside was a gift certificate for Record City, and I promptly hightailed it down there with my sister. I needed her along, as she had already guided me well through the 70s, from The Partridge Family to "Fiddler on the Roof". And, so, on this day, she led me to a two disc set of the just released "Evita", a concept record that told the story of Eva Peron's rise from country hick to first lady of Argentina. In between, of course, she sleeps around, wears fabulous gowns, and befriends Mussolini.
When my sister and I began walking through the house singing about World War II and fascism, I think my parents were just relieved that we were no longer singing so much about Christianity, and had retired our "Jesus Christ Superstar" record.
Even after I saw the eventual Tony winning stage version six times, and then sent my parents to collect autographs at Evitafest at the Century mall, when I had to be in school, never clued them in that their son just might be gay.
Gay or not, I like to think I would still have the same affinity for this Andrew Lloyd Weber/Tim Rice musical. First brought to the New York stage by Harold Prince, starring Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, following on the heels of success in London, "Evita" went on to win seven Tonys, including Best Musical, Score, Book, and Director.
The first Chicago tour played at the Shubert forever. One time, I even went with he girl who would end up being my prom date.
Again, why did no one get the whole show tune gay thing? Anyway, "Evita" has returned yet again, without the big names, but with the even more widely known, but less satisfying 1996 Alan Parker movie behind us.
Original choreographer Larry Fuller is the director of this touring production, under the supervision of Hal Prince, but most of the familiar elements are still there. The rotating balcony of the Casa Rosada for the big "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" Act II opener, and the tightly spaced military and their choreographed marching, still pleasing even with smaller numbers, are both accounted for, but I missed the flaming torches of the rousing Act I finale, "A New Argentina". Maybe fire insurance was too high for a touring production.The leads are reliable if unremarkable. Patti LuPone is missed, but Kathy Voytko makes an appropriately ruthless Eva Peron, hitting all her high notes, even if some of the richness of her voice is lost. In the punchline laden role of Che, Bradley Dean is her nemesis, who acts as narrator and foil to Eva's ambitions. Dean brings high energy to the role, and, depending on your preferences, evokes comparisons to Mandy Patinkins voice and delivery.
If this production, lacking big names, proves anything, it's that Prince's fluid staging and Fuller's choreography are the real stars of this show.
"Evita" continues at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, through Friday, November 28. Tickets range in price from $18 to $72.50.
It seems hard to believe that it was only 6 years ago that a young Matthew Shepherd was beaten and tied to a fence and left to die in Laramie Wyoming. Since then this play has been done in many theaters across the United States and it finally was brought to Bradley University in Peoria, IL.
The set was minimal. There were four screens hanging in the background with beautiful clouds and a blue sky projected on to them, below that was a wooden post fence that stretched the length of the stage and several wooden chairs scattered across the stage. You could hear the howling of the Wyoming wind as the lights dimmed.
The Laramie Project, done in three acts was a compilation of interviews, first hand testimony and documentary, beautifully performed by an ensemble of ten. My hat goes off the following performers: Tiffany Albers-Lopez, Adam Del Conte, Tracy Domeracki, Bjorn DuPaty, Misty Emmons, David Alex Miller, Jason Elliot Pikscher, Matt Rafferrty, Lindsay Saunders and Khatt Taylor. Each one of these fine performers went from character to character by simply changing a piece of clothing or a hat, and the complete character change was astonishing. No big costume changes, no big set changes, this was pure theater.
The actors also interacted with video imaging of news footage and slides of Laramie landmarks, complete with a candlelight vigil and ending with a news clip from a local television station on gay bashing in our own community. I certainly hope that the people that were able to see "The Laramie Project" at The Hartmann Center for the Performing Arts at Bradley University in Peoria saw that hate crimes can even happen in your own back yard, and now more than ever, is the time to stop it before it starts.
