STAGE REVIEWS : ‘EVITA’ IN A NEW LIGHT

Putting “Evita” in a dinner theater is a bit like having a circus in your living room. “Evita” at the Grand Dinner Theatre may not be grand spectacle, but it is a thoughtful, innovatively presented production that offers several highlights of its own.

Director-choreographer Timothy Smith has added many twists--some of them dazzling--in his staging of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice pop opera that traces the rise and fall of Eva Peron, second wife of the Argentine dictator Juan Peron. The innovations not only keep the tale fresh and nicely sardonic, they also help the viewer appreciate the sly details of the work in ways not possible on a larger stage. The epic splendor of “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” and “Requiem for Evita” is missed, to be sure, and “A New Argentina” seems more like a picnic than the hysterical rising of a nation that it is intended to depict. But Smith makes up for it with great ingenuity, enriching many of the numbers with an adroit sense of storytelling.

“Buenos Aires” has all the hot impatience of the young Eva as she arrives in the big city to make her mark. There is a telling petulance in the moves of the aristocracy and Peron’s soldiers--who disapprove of the liaison--in “Peron’s Latest Flame”; and there is clownish and frenzied optimism in “Rainbow Tour” and “And the Money Kept Rolling In,” which depict the dubious accomplishments of the Peron administration. Each is a spirited yet concise interpretation of elements of Rice’s complex book.

Sandy Edgerton as Eva and Robert Yacko as Che (the show’s Greek chorus) do justice to the Webber-Rice score. However, Edgerton’s self-absorbed Eva is decidely uncomplicated, and her performance fails to unlock all of the doors in this intricate character. This Eva seems to be far more interested in simply being important rather than in grasping for power. But Edgerton does give Eva a seductive femininity that can (and does) abruptly turn ugly--to fine dramatic effect.

Yacko, as the critical observer, lacks the undercurrent of outrage that might give his performance greater momentum. But he takes command of the audience splendidly with his unsettling conspiratorial tone and mordant wit. He provides the combustion that fires the production’s best moments. (Lisa Michaelson and Kirby Ward play the roles in the matinee performances.)

Lyle Kanouse is terrific as a rather bovine Peron, and the progression from shy, innocuous soldier to monster is chilling. Beverly Ward, as the young mistress who finds herself abruptly displaced by Eva, renders a heartbreaking portrait of utter helplessness. Kirk Wall is a wonderfully hammy Magaldi, the second-rate tango singer who is Eva’s first conquest.

The technical aspects of the production are all solid, from Robert Bingham’s steel framework set with its mobile projection screen to the special effects created by Bruce Heydon’s lighting.

“Evita” has been extended through Sept. 7 at the Grand Dinner Theatre in the Grand Hotel, 1 Hotel Way, Anaheim. For information, call (714) 772-7710.