Photo Flash: New Line Theatre's EVITA

Money, sex, power, fame - who knew they had a dark side?

At the center of the story stands a wildly popular, charismatic political figure, beloved by followers and despised by opponents, a celebrity, a demagogue, the leader of a movement. Nope, we're not talking about Barack Obama or Sarah Palin or even Glenn Beck. Or are we? In Rice and Lloyd Webber's masterwork of rock opera, it's Argentina in the 1940s. It only feels like America in 2010.

New Line closes its 19th season with the brilliant political potboiler, the rock opera EVITA. And with this production, New Line will offer audiences a more intimate, more rock and roll EVITA, based more on the original 1976 concept album than on the massive 1979 Broadway production. No violins and no giant chorus this time, just sex, power, and rock and roll. The original Broadway show focused on the story's spectacle, but seen through the lens of 2010, New Line's EVITA centers on the manipulations and the petty games and grudges that make politics a contact sport, but also the unconventional love story between Eva Perón and the working people of Argentina.

Evita tells the story of Eva Perón, from her roots in a small town through her meteoric rise to international fame/infamy as the first lady of Argentina. Today, it's hard not to see her rise in parallel to our current political superstars like Beck, Palin, and Obama. Though Eva was a real historical figure, Tim Rice fashions her turbulent life into a rowdy, visceral, Shakespearean thriller of intrigue, betrayal, greed, power, and obsessive love. With Evita, lyricist Tim Rice honed his smartass, acerbic bite, but also went deeper than before into the emotional life of his characters. And composer Andrew Lloyd Webber recreated the energy of his Jesus Christ Superstar music but went beyond it to wrote the most mature score of his career, still rooted firmly in rock and roll. Like Tommy and Jesus Christ Superstar before it, Evita is real rock opera.

For more info about the show, visit http://www.newlinetheatre.com/evitapage.html

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