‘Evita’ revival puts love at forefront of Eva Perón story

When “Evita” arrived in the mid-’70s, first as a rock opera album, then in London’s West End and, finally, in 1979 on Broadway, the notion of celebrity colliding with politics was practically foreign.

The story of Eva Perón — actress-turned-first-lady of Argentine President Juan Perón with eventual interest in her own political career — was fascinating because of its novelty.

But our post-Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sonny Bono, etc., world offered new illumination of the melding of political ambitions and entertainment, which made “Evita” a prime candidate for revival.

First in London in 2006, then in 2012 on Broadway with Puerto Rican pop-heartthrob Ricky Martin starring as the show’s narrator, Che, “Evita” returned with a score re-orchestrated by musical creator Andrew Lloyd Webber, costumes based more authentically on Perón’s wardrobe and sets modeled after the Casa Rosada, the executive mansion of the president of Argentina.

“In the interceding 25-plus years (since the show first opened), we’ve learned so much more about Argentina. We’ve had that incidence of what happens when a celebrity does politics. The music of the show now has an Argentinian sound. The choreography uses a lot of tango,” said theater veteran Hal Luftig, the lead producer of the “Evita” revival, which plays the Fox Theatre Tuesday through Sunday.

Another addition to the score is the inclusion of “You Must Love Me,” which was written for the 1996 Madonna-starring film version of “Evita” but never was part of an English-language stage production until Lloyd Webber added it to the London rebirth. Its presence signifies the enhanced love story between the Peróns, which now is given a bigger spotlight in the show.

The national tour of “Evita,” which will end in July after 10 months of traversing the country, mimics the size and scope of the Broadway production — 26 people in the cast, 16 members of the orchestra.

“We promised both Andrew and ourselves that we wouldn’t send out a smaller version,” Luftig said.

Aside from the grandiose set design and elegant footwork, the star of the production is Caroline Bowman, who inhabits the formidable title personality forever linked to the illustrious Patti LuPone, whose portrayal earned one of the show’s seven Tonys in 1980.

Bowman has graced Broadway in “Wicked” and, most recently, the hit “Kinky Boots,” for which Luftig is also a producer. Not expecting to see someone from her then-current show at her final callback for “Evita,” Bowman “saw me in the room and turned white as a sheet,” Luftig recalled with a laugh. “I ran up to her saying, ‘It’s OK!’ And then she knocked this thing out of the park. She walked out and we all said, ‘That’s our Eva Perón.’ She just got it. We had to send tape of her to Andrew (for approval) and he was beside himself. She’s amazing.”

While the Broadway return of “Evita” only lasted nine months and 337 performances, Luftig is pleased with the success of the road production.

On Broadway, Martin’s celebrity helped attract tourists to a theater district crammed with cheery Disney musicals, but his presence had the side effect of overshadowing the show.

The national tour co-stars theater mainstays Josh Young — a Tony nominee for playing Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar” — as Che and Sean MacLaughlin — who has starred as Raoul in “Phantom of the Opera” — as Juan Perón.

“I had hoped that the show would become the star,” Luftig said of the Broadway revival. “Ricky was tremendous, but it became virtually impossible to replace him. Now, it’s become just what I had hoped. It’s not an easy show. It’s not a happy, tap-dancing extravaganza. An audience coming to see it has to be open to the message that no one is all good or all evil in politics. To some people, the Peróns were horrible, but for a lot of people, Eva did a lot of good.”