Evita Comes to the Opera House in Manchester

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Evita makes a stop along its UK tour route at the Opera House tonight until Sunday, July 5th starring West End actress Louise Dearman in the role of Evita Peron, Seamus Cullen, a finalist from the hit BBC TV programme "Any Dream Will Do" as Che Guevara, and Mark Heenehan as Juan Peron.

The story of Evita, told entirely through song and dance, follows the life of Argentina's infamous Eva Peron. It begins in 1934 and follows Eva as a young girl from her small hometown to Buenos Aires where she uses her female wiles to climb the ladder of success, first as a model, then an actress, and finally as the wife of General Juan Peron. When Peron is elected president, Eva becomes the most powerful woman in South America.

Originally conceived as a concept album, Evita was destined from the beginning for the stage. It opened in the West End in 1978 and was so successful that a year later when it opened on Broadway, it was nearly sold out before it began. Patti Lupone who just won her second Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical, won her first for her role as Eva Peron in 1980. In her acceptance speech, she described her role as Mama Rose in Gypsy as "the performance of her life", but her role as Eva Peron was a career defining role and "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from Evita became her signature song. In 1996 a film version starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas was nominated for five Academy Awards winning only one for Best Original Song "You Must Love Me" which was composed especially for the movie.

..........and the winner is

The Tony Award Ceremony was spectacular. It always is, but this year they really outdid themselves. My dear friend, Whoopi Goldberg, was a wonderful host and a good sport. As for the awards themselves, there really were no big surprises. The musical with the most nominations won for best musical, the play with the most nominations won for best play, the musical revival with the most nominations won for best musical revival, and the revival of a play with the most nominations won for best revival of a play. Patti Lupone won for Best Actress in a Musical, duh. In the Heights nominated for 13 Tonys won 4 including Best Musical. August: Osage County won 5 of the 7 categories it was nominated for including Best Play. South Pacific took 7 of 11 nominations including Best Revival of a Musical. And the British production of Boeing, Boeing won 2 of the 6 categories it was nominated for including Best Revival of a Play.

These winning plays win more than just the Tonys. They win larger audiences. Larger audiences mean longer runs. Longer runs mean bigger ticket sales. It's a win win situation. The after-parties were barely over before winners started reporting boosts in ticket sales. With all the wonderful choices on Broadway, this year has been a particularly weak year for ticket sales. I read that 18 of the 37 shows currently on Broadway play to houses that sell 70% or fewer seats for each performance. So sad when you think about all the blood, sweat and tears it takes to get a show on the Great White Way. The Tony Awards really help because they whet the appetite of audiences. For me, after seeing numbers from all 11 musicals, I want to see them all. I've said it before and I'll say it again, "so many shows, so little time and money".

The Tonys Are Coming, The Tonys Are Coming

Did I mention the Tonys are coming? Are you as excited as I am? The Tonys is the most spectacular award show of them all. It outshines the Oscars, Emmys (American's television awards) and Grammys in my opinion. The reason being, it showcases the musicals up for best musical with well chosen bits from each of the nominees. But this year there is more. This year the 62nd annual Tony Awards will showcase 13 shows. All of the 11 eligible musicals will perform this coming Sunday night in the gala hosted by my "good friend" Whoopi Goldberg. The extravaganza will be aired live from New York's famous Radio City Music Hall on CBS-TV here in America with a live red carpet preshow which will be webcast at TonyAwards.com at 11:30 p.m. (UK time).


Cry-Baby, In the Heights, Passing Strange, and Xanadu are competing for the Best Musical award; and Gypsy, Grease, South Pacific, and Sunday in the Park With George are all nominated for Best Revival of a Musical. We'll see musical numbers from all of these but the 3 other eligible musicals, A Catered Affair, Young Frankenstein and Little Mermaid, which were not nominated will also present performances. I'm so pleased about this because I saw A Catered Affair and Young Frankenstein and really enjoyed them both, especially Young Frankenstein. And as if this wasn't enough, we'll also be treated to performances by the long-running musical Rent which is scheduled to close in September after 12 years on Broadway and Lion King which celebrated 10 years on Broadway this past November.

Listen up this Sunday, June 15, to "The Matinee" for more information from me, "the fabulous Suko" (a legend in her own mind) about the 62nd annual Tony Award show.

Megan Mullaley Disses Suko

That cheeky Megan Mullaley decided not to show up the other night when I went to see Young Frankenstein. Do you think someone gave her a heads up telling her I was coming to see the show? Oh Ja-ames. Don't you know it's for the good of the show. Oh well, not to worry because the show didn't need her anyhow. It had enough wonderment to go it without her. And, in fact, her understudy for the part of Herr Frankenstein's fiance Elizabeth, Heather Ayers, looked and sounded so much like her that I just pretended it was her. The rest of the original cast was there, Roger Bart as Frederich Frankenstein, er that's Frunkensteen, Sutton Foster as Inga, Shuler Hensley as the monster, Andrea Martin as Frau Blucher (nei-ei-eigh), and Christopher Fitzgerald as Igor, er that's Eyegor. We, my husband, daughter and myself, were thoroughly entertained. There were some great special effects, and hilarious lines taken directly from the movie. And the music is very good, maybe not great, but really good, with several memorable songs, "Life, Life", "Transylvania Mania", "Together Again", "Listen to Your Heart", "Surprise", "Deep Love" and Irving Berlin's "Puttin' on the Ritz" done only as a monster could do it. Andrea Martin and Christopher Fitzgerald are nominated for Tony's for featured actors in a musical. They were both outstanding, but the whole cast was great, even the fake Megan Mullaley. Why it didn't get more Tony nominations, I don't know. I think the critics underrated it. One could only wonder if the original price of seats on the weekends ($450 for the best 100 seats, $375 for the next 120) left the critics expecting even more than they got. But the audience loved it. Madame Aries would have been roaring with laughter. My daughter put it up there with Wicked, Lion King and Hairspray. Just be warned if you ever have a chance to see it, the language is quite explicit and the sexual innuendos run rampant, both of which made me cringe sitting next to my 12 year old daughter but she had begged us to take her to see it and to be honest, I'm glad we did. So if this big green monster ever crosses the pond, it's definitely one to see.