If you were one of the 1,248 people who had a ticket to last week’s sell-out Congress Youth Theatre production of Evita you don’t need to read this review. You know how good it was.
If you were one of the ones you didn’t get a ticket you need to be more organised and get in early for the group’s (yet-to-be-announced) 2025 production.
It was two hours of breathtaking pleasure less than ten minutes from my front door. No long drive with car parking charges. No fuss. And all for the bargain price of £12.
Director Rachel Hamilton chose to cast three young women for the main role, each took on a key part of her life from the poor actress through to the First Lady of Argentina.
Katie Panter,15 (Eva Duarte ), Ryann Ratcliffe, 18 (Eva Peron), and Jemima Searle, 17, (Evita) were fantastic and all gave pacy performances that kept the story moving. The on-stage transitions from one actress to the next, high on the balcony, using lighting and music was seamless.
Hamilton did the same with the narrators, with Dylan Williams, 15 (Aristocrat Che), Jacob Whitehead,16 (Military Che), and Elys Sweet-Morgan, 18 (Worker Che), taking on the storytelling role for each unique stage of Eva’s life.
It’s important to put their ages in as it adds another layer to this powerful musical by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Chicago was last year’s Congress Youth Theatre production. Evita is a much different production for a young cast. There were no funny lines, but I didn’t find it sad, depressing or dark. It was a wonderful couple of hours that was once again a reminder of the number of talented young people we have in this area who spend so much of their time doing positive things.
The choreography was something else. The awesome company did what the best ones always do, they put on a top performance that just allowed the cast to effortlessly shine. Their company’s movement on, off and around the cast on stage just screamed ‘we’ve spent 100s of hours in rehearsals’.
And the costumes. I tried to count the number of costume changes but gave up. Top marks to the team behind the planning of those outfits and managing the fast changes off-stage.
Jumping to the last song (or last song but one) before the interval saw nearly all the cast and company line up on the edge of the stage. It felt like they were leaning over those sat in the front row as they blasted out a song under the full glare of the lights. You could clearly see every member giving it their all just a couple of metres from us in the audience. Breathtaking.
The orchestra were fantastic across a musical packed with big songs.
And jumping back to a few minutes before the curtains went up, there was a ticket mix-up in the row in front of me. Three people walked carefully along the packed row and asked three people sat down to double-check their seat numbers. Always a bit awkward as you’re not sure how these situations will end. They were in the wrong seats but the standing-up people told them not to worry and stay where they are, and they shuffled back and sat in the other ‘wrong seats’. I’m a people watcher and it nicely summed up the happy-go-lucky friendly audience in the Congress Theatre.
Nosing around the audience I spotted two of my nieces (both former youth theatre members), the mum and nan of a former youth theatre member, and Rachel Rice, the winner of Big Brother 9 and a former youth theatre member. The keenness of old members to support the group after leaving shows the impact being part of this group has on people as they go on in life and into new careers.
The show doesn’t end when the curtain goes down at a Congress Youth Theatre production. Sit in your seat for five minutes before leaving. By that point, some of the cast and company will be out in the foyer and bar area. Enjoy watching their faces as they spot a relative or friend. It’s a roomful of big grins, hugs and proud people saying “well done”.
And finally, if you were the man behind me in the queue for a drink at half-time. Were you humming ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’? The room was noisy, but I’m sure you were and I wasn’t brave enough to turn around and ask. Maybe I should’ve hummed and seen if we could have got everyone else in the room get involved!
The Congress Junior Theatre is putting on Cats in the summers. Tickets aren’t on sale yet but keep an eye on congresstheatre.co.uk.
The cast
- Eva Duarte- Katie Panter, 15
- Eva Peron- Ryann Ratcliffe, 18
- Evita- Jemima Searle, 17
- Peron- Finlay Dunn, 16
- Aristocrat Che- Dylan Williams, 15
- Military Che- Jacob Whitehead, 16
- Worker Che- Elys Sweet-Morgan, 18
- Magaldi played by Trystan Hughes, 18
- Mistress- Emily Isgrove, 18
The Company
- Betsy Honeywill
- Ruby Gregory
- Emily Fish
- Oliver Chesse
- Amy Powell
- Annabel Jones
- Chloe Morgan
- Aaron Wyper
- Ava Stratford-Davies
- Lois Languerand
- Nathaniel Bustin
- Charlie Burton
- Caitlyn Williams
- Addison Hunter-Davies
- May Brunsdon
- Taya Rouf
- Harri Rhodes
- Julio Sebastiao
- Isabella Ridley
- Jessica Cook
The Orchestra
Under the Musical Direction of Wayne Beecham
- Keyboards- David Winterbottom, Rory Briggs and Daniel Davis
- Trumpet- Gethin Liddington
- Trombone Phil Jarvis
- Guitar- Chris Fry
- Bass- Tony Cleaton
- Drums- Simon Brittlebank
- Percussion- Rhydian Griffiths
Creative Team
- Director………………………………………Rachel Hamilton
- Musical Director………………………….Wayne Beecham
- Choreographer…………………………….Bethanie Philpot
- Costume Design………………………………Meryl Herbert
- Set design…………………………………………Chris House
- Stage Manager………………………………….Izzy Morgan
- Lighting Design………………………………..Matthew Hunt
- Sound……………………………………………….Jon Morgan and Nathan Long
- Props……………………………………………..Sue Emmings
- Company Manager………………………Martyn Redwood
- Marketing/Admin……………………………Maisie Williams
- Costume Assistant………………………….Emily Williams
- Poster Design…………………………………..Millie Skinner
- Follow Spot Operators………………………..Quinn Philip, Olivia Arnell and Cailen Franklin