There is a moment during the performance of Evita – the sweepingly ambiguous musical about Argentine political phenom Eva Perón – that still catches Broadway star Caroline Bowman off guard.
The character, Eva, swept up in the midst of her meteoric rise to power and fame, stands on a balcony overlooking a chanting crowd and begins to sing those indelible five words: “Don’t cry for me, Argentina.”
Like Madonna, and Patti LuPone before her, Bowman throws herself into the song, knowing these moments often come along only once, or in this case twice, in a career.
“I get pretty emotional every time I sing it,” Bowman admits. “It’s pretty special. Especially when I’m in the gown….” she trails off, wistfully. “It’s such an iconic moment. I want to do it justice, but it’s also just magical.”
That Bowman can even get starstruck by a song is surprising. The sought-after mezzo-soprano has already starred as Eva in the Broadway revival of Evita, as well as in Broadway productions of Wicked and Kinky Boots, in addition to national tours of Spamalot, Fame: The Musical and Grease, where she played Rizzo. (“Eat your heart out.”)
For the Vancouver Opera production, running April 30-May 8 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Bowman will be flanked by an all-new cohort of musical theatre stars, such as tenor John Cudia (the first and only singer to have performed as both the Phantom and Jean Valjean on Broadway) in the role of Eva’s husband, “Perón”, and Iranian-Canadian actor Ramin Karimloo (heralded himself for his portrayals of Valjean and the Phantom) taking on the role of the revolutionary everyman, “Che”.
When Vancouver Opera (VO) offered Bowman the chance to reprise her role as Eva, Bowman says she realized she had more Evita to give. Not only is the role a profound ask of any singer and actor but, Bowman says, there’s something about the passionate, driven underdog that Bowman sees in herself.
“She was just blindly ambitious and I think I’ve lived my life sort of seeing what I want in my life and just going after it,” says the singer, speaking with Westender by phone in Vancouver, shortly after her arrival from New York. “I would love to be more like her,” she adds with a laugh. “Just in the sense of not letting anything knock me down and barreling through. I try to relate to her, and then the way I relate to her is going to translate into my version of Eva Perón.”
Despite, or perhaps due to her untimely death and subsequent ascent to sanctified populist, Eva remains a polarizing protagonist. Charismatic lover of the people by day, cog in a ruthless political dictatorship by night, Eva went from impoverished child, to Buenos Aires B-lister to candidate for the vice presidency at a blistering pace.
As history unfolds and more truths are unearthed, there are few who have written about Eva without interjecting their own opinions about her legacy. And the musical itself is as confounding is its subject: a 1970s Andrew Lloyd Webber “rock opera” set in politically turbulent 1930s/40s Argentina? The political subject matter was, at the time, groundbreaking, but the lyrics – Academy Award-winner Tim Rice at arguably his most inscrutable – don’t do much to advance the cause (“I came from the people, they need to adore me / So Christian Dior me…” being one of many head-scratchers).
Bowman hints, however, that VO director Kelly Robinson has some plans to play up the contrasting viewpoints of Eva and Che.
And mixed critical sentiment hasn’t stopped Evita from being globally beloved, always anticipated, and currently on pace to break sales records as the VO’s fastest-selling show ever.
“Maybe it’s just timing,” Tom Wright, director of artistic planning at Vancouver Opera, speculates. “The last time Evita was seen in Vancouver […] was a long time ago, and it would have been an Arts Club production. Before that there was probably a Broadway Across Canada tour, so it’s been a little while.”
One might question why an opera company is closing out its season with a musical in the first place, but its something Wright feels the VO is uniquely positioned to do.
“I like to think that the work we’ve been doing in exposing music and theatre to our audiences is maybe taking hold a little bit,” he explains, referring to recent productions of West Side Story and Sweeney Todd. “Maybe people are beginning to realize, ‘Oh yeah, the opera company can produce these and they can produce it unlike any other company.’”
Wright couldn’t help but bring up the lavish costumes that accompany Evita. Meanwhile, Bowman was already raving about the power of the opera chorus joining her on stage, which the VO is backing up with an opera-sized, 25-piece orchestra, including strings.
“It’s what’s required when you’re performing at the Queen Elizabeth,” Wright explains, with a laugh.
As Vancouver Opera moves away from its traditional year-round, four-opera format to a condensed festival program next season, though, the success of Evita is a bittersweet end to a season that saw the genre being buzzed about locally thanks to the daring polygamist opera Dark Sisters, and audience favourite Madama Butterfly.
“What better way to say thank you to Vancouver than if we sell this show out,” says Wright, appreciatively. “We can put up a big ad in the paper or on our website saying, ‘Thank you, Evita sold out. Come back and see us during Festival 2017.’”
• Evita runs April 30-May 8 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre (650 Hamilton). Tickets at VancouverOpera.ca
