On the 26th of July 1952, with the death of Eva Peron, a nation mourned and the world was left in shock. She had been loved by many, seen as a great ambassador to her country, and had faded before her time. As with all these things, a few years on Andrew Lloyd Webber thought it would make a wonderful musical, and along with Tim Rice produced Evita, which has since become (as his shows have a habit of doing) a "must see". And of course, it being a must-see musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, I hadn't seen it until I reviewed it tonight (regular readers of these reviews will be aware of my inexperience in Lloyd Webber musicals). Bristol Light Opera Club (or BLOC to give them their performing title) are the only amateur association in the country to be putting the show on this year, and they've done it in rather a mixed manner.

The plot centres on Eva's story as seen through the eyes of a young Argentine student named Che. Just to add an extra twist of political ideals clashing, Che's surname is Guevara, and his character is all which that entails. In the eyes of the people of Argentina, Peron was a cult figure, held in higher public esteem than her husband, the President himself. Through the eyes of Che, things are of course very different. He looks at her success in a hopeful way, as a sign that anyone can achieve greatness, but considers the way in which she uses this success to be wrong. Irony is increasingly employed as things come to a head. The outcome is an interesting mix of tragedy at Eva's young death and a curious detachment, because we know what the people of Argentina do not - that she was not as great as she seemed to them.

Of course the script is one thing, but after it is written it is in the public realm and this is very much where it has been taken in this show. Different productions do different things, and this one saw Che popping up in all sorts of places around Eva, and thus concentrated on showing the adoration of the people in contrast to his cynicism. Set-wise it was basic but workable enough, and never did the lack of pretty background colours and pictures detract from the piece on show, in fact it enhanced the over-riding sense of mourning for Eva's life. The orchestra were on top form as well, which is never a bad thing in any musical, let alone a Lloyd Webber one.

The cast were a bit of a mix, as I suppose is inevitable in an amateur production (or quite a few professional ones, come to that), but the main thing is: They could all act. The dancing was well done, few people if any putting a foot wrong, and it was never too difficult to pick out Che wherever he happened to be on stage. It is a minus point in a musical that not all of the cast could sing, but having said that the main characters all could, Vicky Hayes as Eva Peron delivering a stunning rendition of "Don't Cry For Me Argentina", which, let's face it, is a pretty big number if you're doing this show. The real star for me was, as you may have guessed, Che Guevara, played by Simon Vardakis, who appeared to have grown his sideburns specially for the occasion, and whose acting was every bit as revolutionary as that of the great man himself.

If there are any gripes, it is with the technical side this time round. A few people came onstage, said their bit and left without having a light turned on them, and the backing singers' microphones weren't always switched on very quickly, or at all. It is nice when you go to a play to be able to see and hear the actors who've put their time into the production, and I'm sure this will be sorted out soon now that the first night has gone without any more serious hitches.

Overall, nothing was really wrong with the performance as such, but I was left with a feeling that - but for a couple of moments - more could have been done with this. The piece was decent, but in terms of how it grabbed my attention and affected me it just wasn't quite all there, or so it seemed. Still well worth a look, though.

Set - 3
Costumes - 4
Lighting - 3
Cast - 4
Story - 4
Overall - 3 1/2

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