A New Evita

[Editor’s note: A press conference was held following the March 12 performance of Evita. The following story is derived from the transcript of that event.]

Of all the productions hitting Broadway during this very busy spring, few have attracted the intense attention of Evita, now at the Marquis Theatre, directed by Tony Award winner Michael Grandage, and starring Olivier Award winner Elena Roger in the title role, alongside international heartthrob Ricky Martin as the show’s “everyman” narrator and Tony Award winner Michael Cerveris as Argentinian dictator Juan Peron.

The production, the first Broadway revival of the 1979 Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice tuner, is based on the one Grandage first presented in London in 2006 with Roger as the star. “I was certainly clear, when I was asked by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice to come up with a new production a few years ago, that we wanted to somehow present it for a new audience, in a new century, and give them something they had never seen before,” says Grandage.

“And we were also aware there’s a whole generation of people who had never seen this show before. One has to present something in a new time for these people,” he adds. “A great deal has happened since that first production, most notably the fact that we have access now to Argentina — which was a country that we didn’t know as much about back in the 1970s, and we wanted to somehow put that fact onto the stage through the casting, as well as the sets, costumes, and lighting.”

In addition, the show sounds different than it did during its first incarnation. “Andrew is the first to admit that he had no real access to the sounds of that part of the world back then,” says Grandage. “His knowledge has grown hugely in the intervening 30 years and he wanted to get that into the orchestration.”

This production also features another special element, the choreography of Tony Award winner Rob Ashford. “That’s something Andrew and I talked about from the very beginning, that we wanted to bring dance into it, so that’s why Rob has been integral in this production,” says Grandage. “We have in Elena somebody who can dance then we have somebody else — Ricky Martin — who can dance.”

It wasn’t just Roger’s terpsichorean skills, or the fact that she came from Argentina, that landed her the role, says Grandage. “We met a lot of people the first time around and then Elena came in and it was a completely different understanding of the role, an energy she had, and every single thing she brought to the role wasn’t like anything we’ve seen before.”

Roger was a complete unknown when she first tackled the part, but since then, she’s also starred in the London productions of Piaf, for which she won the Olivier Award, and Passion. “Now I’m older and more mature, so I am thinking about the character of Eva in a little bit different way than I used to,” she says. “But I do all my roles by being very focused and serious. I always try to do my best, and do all the research, and then I give it my heart and my love.”

Evita marks Martin’s first foray on the Great White Way since he played Marius in 1989 in the original Broadway production of Les Miserables. “Marius spoke for the people, and I guess my character here does the same thing,” he says. “To speak on behalf of the people is something that has followed me throughout my career. It’s just been fascinating.”

As Martin admits, much has changed in both his life and career since his first time on Broadway. “I’m in another place mentally, physically, spiritually today, and it’s been a very beautiful journey,” he says. “I’m here to learn. I’m here to grow.”

Cerveris, who has been an almost steady presence on Broadway for almost 20 years, is equally excited to be in Evita. “It’s been thrilling because I had seen the original production years ago, never kind of thinking at the time that I would end up on Broadway, much less in Evita,” he says. “I suppose I have approached this show the way I have approached Sondheim and the other things I’ve done before. First, I go to the music to mine everything I can from it and the text, and then I try to bring everything I can to it.”