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Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber revealed he was "very, very excited" today about the return of blockbuster musical Evita to London's West End. Unknown Argentinian actress Elena Roger, 30, will play the lead role of Eva Peron, the second wife of former Argentinian president Juan Peron. The role catapulted Elaine Paige to fame in the 1970s and was taken by Madonna in the Hollywood version. The classic musical, which first opened in 1978, has not been staged in London for 21 years. The curtain will once again go up in June.
Lloyd Webber said he and his songwriting partner Sir Tim Rice, who have previously teamed up on hit shows Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, wanted to remake Evita for a new generation of theatregoers. Tipping the new Evita for success, producer Andre Ptaszynski said: "Many will remember the original opening of Evita in 1978. It was a show which was, and is, the pinnacle of the great creative successful collaboration of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. "The original play was delivered in a groundbreaking production by Harold Prince which raised the bar for musicals and set the standard by which musicals in the eighties and nineties were made. The music is complete, the songs touching and the story so well known that it is possible to approach it from a new point of view. "We know so much more about Argentina and South America than young writers in the seventies did, and Andrew Lloyd Webber will deliver a new and colourful show."
The musical promises to be more like the 1996 Alan Parker film version than the original 197Os stage show which ran for seven years and attracted the largest advance booking of the time. Speaking via a videolink from Argentina, lyricist Sir Tim Rice said: "The original did fantastically well and was pretty controversial at the time, and many thought it was the worst idea of all time. "But it is those so-called bad ideas that usually turn out to be the best. I am very excited about the new version." His sidekick, composer Lloyd Webber, added: "We are very, very excited. Tim and I had a lot of discussion about whether we wanted it to come back, and we felt it absolutely had to."
During a packed press launch at the Langham Hilton Hotel in central London, director Michael Grandage and producer Lloyd Webber officially unveiled their leading lady, petite redhead Elena. Accompanied by Lloyd Webber on the piano, the Argentinian belted out the show's best known number 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina', a charttopper when Julie Covington originally released her version. After her rendition, Elena said: "It is very important for me to play this role, as I did not live in those times but I feel in my blood everything that happened with the Argentinian people, and it is very important for me to play the role. "We never saw the show in Argentina, only the film, and I enjoyed Madonna's performance, but I saw some of the true moments of Eva Peron and she was wonderful."
The musical's score also includes 'Oh, What A Circu's and 'Another Suitcase In Another Hall'. Talking about his fourth musical, Mr Grandage said: "We now have access to a city and country that we did not the first time around, and we want to be able to give all of that to this production." He added: "We had a long casting process for her, some British and some American actresses but when we found Elena we knew we found what we were looking for. She is an extraordinary performer and actress, and brings authenticity to the role we could not have dreamed about when we started casting. "Unlike many others, she had Eva Peron as her role model a showed in everything she did."
The production was originally touted for a 2003 opening, but Lloyd Webber felt they did not know enough about the country's background. He said: "Tim Rice and I and particularly me did not know that much about Latin American music, but there is infinitely more music available now than in the seventies. "And one reason we thought it was worth bringing it back was to re-look at the orchestrations and the overriding reason was because I thought it would bring something back to it." The new production will also feature the Oscar winning song 'You Must Love Me' written especially for the film adaptation.
The new musical is directed by Mr Grandage, designed by Christopher Oram and choreographed by Rob Ashford, the team behind the successful reprisal of Guys and Dolls. Mr Grandage added: "The new production is an opportunity to show the play to a generation who have not seen it, and a chance for us to look at it anew. "I wanted to do it because I believe it is one of the greatest musicals of the last century and I thought it would be exciting to reinterpret a classic. "But I know the public who know it and will want to see it again will want to see some of the iconic moments as well, and I do not want to short change them by getting rid of the bits they love and enjoy."
Evita is scheduled to open in June at the 1,500 seat Adelphi Theatre on The Strand, currently running the musical Chicago.
