Tony Award-Winner Lena Hall to Lead EVITA From Starring Buffalo

Casting has been announced and tickets are now on sale for Starring Buffalo's EVITA, April 3-4 at Shea's 710 Theater. Tony Award-Winner Lena Hall (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Kinky Boots) will play Eva, joining the previously announced Robi Hager (Spring Awakening, Bye Bye Birdie) as Che, Nicholas Rodriguez (Tarzan, The Sound of Music) as Juan Peron, Darryl Semira (Mamma Mia, Bombay Dreams) as Magaldi and Leah Berst (MusicalFare's Bright Star) as The Mistress. The ensemble features many of Buffalo's best, including Karen Grace Harty, Matthew Iwanski - Jackson, Katy Miner, Ben Michael Moran, Matthew Rivera, Raphael Santos and Alexandria Watts, as well as nearly 100 other Western New York singers, dancers, and musicians.

The soaring epic musical by seven-time Tony Award winner Andrew Lloyd Webber (The Phantom of the Opera, Cats) and three-time Academy Award winner Tim Rice (The Lion King, Jesus Christ Superstar) charts Eva Peron's rise to become the most powerful woman in Latin America, and features some of musical theater's finest songs, including the smash hit "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina". Starring Buffalo artistic director Drew Fornarola will direct, with music direction by Daniel Bassin, and choreography by Jeanne Fornarola and Tom Ralabate. The production stage manager is Susan Forbes.

As part of Starring Buffalo's educational mission, students from Gowanda, West Seneca West and Burgard Vocational high schools, the Academy of Theater Arts, and the University at Buffalo's Zodiaque Dance Company have been chosen to participate in EVITA.

For additional information and tickets please visit StarringBuffalo.org or Sheas.org.

Lena Hall is a Tony Award-winner and Grammy Award nominee who received widespread critical acclaim for her feature film debut as the title role in Becks. Following her Tony-winning Broadway run in Hedwig And The Angry Inch, Hall toured North America with Josh Groban, and portrayed the dual starring roles of both Hedwig and Yitzhak in Hedwig in Los Angeles and San Francisco. She originated the role of Nicola in the Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots, and has been seen on HBO's Girls, Amazon Prime's Good Girls Revolt, and heard voicing the fan-favorite Countess Coloratura on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Hall starred opposite Marisa Tomei in Lincoln Center Theatre's How To Transcend A Happy Marriage. Her four solo musical revues all played sold out shows at the Legendary Café Carlyle and 54 Below and received rave reviews. Hall's 2018 passion project, Obsessed, pays tribute to her greatest musical inspirations with 12 EP releases, 54 music videos, and a live concert tour. She can next be seen on TNT's highly anticipated Snowpiercer opposite Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs, premiering May 31st. www.lenahall.com

STARRING BUFFALO shows offer Buffalo audiences unrivaled access to Broadway's greatest theater artists, and provides Western New York students the chance to learn from, work alongside, and be inspired by the stars in both master classes and performances. The organization launched in 2018 with THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME starring Ben Fankhauser (Newsies, Spring Awakening) and Dan'yelle Williamson (Memphis, The Lion King), and presented LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS starring Matt Doyle (Company, The Book of Mormon) and Lindsay Nicole Chambers (Hairspray, Legally Blonde) at their new home, Shea's 710 Theater, earlier this year. www.starringbuffalo.org