Academy performers excel in ‘Evita’

TOM TITUS

The Academy of Performing Arts at Huntington Beach High School has

demonstrated some formidable talent in the past, but the program has

outdone itself with its outstanding production of “Evita.”

This backhanded tribute to Argentina’s first lady of the late

1940s and early ‘50s, Eva Peron, by the celebrated duo of Tim Rice

and Andrew Lloyd Webber is not the easiest of musicals to produce,

but director Tim Nelson and his company have mounted a production

that soars to professional-quality excellence.

Blessed with a particularly proficient graduating class this year,

Nelson has taken six of his seniors and given them a running start

toward the big time with one of the musical theater’s most

challenging projects. The response is often electrifying.

You don’t produce a show like “Evita” without an enormously gifted

candidate for the title role, and in Nicole Gerardi, the Academy has

a talent to rival Patti LuPone, Madonna and any other actress who’s

ever taken on this larger-than-life character. Gerardi blends a

magnificent singing voice with a prodigious dramatic talent to create

a full-blooded characterization of this determined woman who slept

her way to the top of Argentina’s political ladder, only to succumb

to cancer at the age of 33.

What do you do when you have a killer male leading role and two

actors -- twin brothers -- both qualified to interpret it? If you’re

Tim Nelson, you cast them both, and this “Evita” has two Ches -- Alex

and Matthew Bartosch, alternating at first, then both performing at

once as Eva’s sarcastic antagonist. This works particularly well in

the Eva-Che “waltz” in the second act when Gerardi is penned in

between both adversaries, lashing out at each in turn.

A.J. Gutierrez excels in the role of Juan Peron, a brutal military

leader who becomes more sensitive and introspective once he’s

achieved power. His aching concern for his increasingly ill wife late

in the show is especially well portrayed.

Courtney Davis has just one scene, as Peron’s mistress and Eva’s

immediate predecessor, but she makes the most of it with her poignant

solo, “Another Suitcase in Another Hall.” Josh Allton impresses as

Eva’s first benefactor, a rather cheesy nightclub singer, while Lana

Brewster and Evan Strand shine wordlessly as a tango-dancing couple

injecting atmosphere into the production.

“Evita” is backed by some hugely talented ensemble work,

splendidly choreographed by Diane Makas-Weber, particularly in the

segments involving the military dancers in intricate movements. These

performers are abetted by a contingent of pit singers richly

conveying the Rice-Webber score.

The Academy orchestra, under the baton of Gregg Gilboe, is

constantly engaged, underscoring the historical drama with a vibrant

melodic presence. When all elements of the show are working in unison

-- as in the superlative closing number of the first act, “A New

Argentina” -- this school auditorium could well be a Broadway

theater.

The entire Academy for the Performing Arts organization can take

pride in its “Evita,” one of the most thoroughly realized works of

musical theater you’ll see all year. And keep watching for the name

Nicole Gerardi in the future. This young lady is going places.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.