South Bay Cities’ ‘Evita’ Seems to Be Going Through Motions

Imagine an entire musical performed as though the cast were following footprints pasted to the floor to diagram their steps. That’s how it feels to watch Civic Light Opera of South Bay Cities’ revival of “Evita.” Everyone purposefully hits the marks, but with little spontaneity or conviction.

If there is any reason to see this rehash of the 1978 Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice rock opera, it is to catch Christa Jackson’s performance as Eva Peron. As of Sunday, Jackson was pretty much just going through the motions, projecting little of the complex inner life of this woman who calculates her way to the top of turbulent 1940s Argentina, only to be betrayed by her dying body. But the actress’ electric voice--much-admired in last fall’s “Always ... Patsy Cline”--powered her along, especially in songs that allowed her to punch toward the top of her register.

To play the revolutionary who darkly comments on Eva’s rise, Michael A. Ross, who understudied the part during the show’s national tour engagement at the Shubert in the early 1980s, puts some bite into his voice as well as his personality. Yet he, too, is just skating along the surface.

Some of the trademark mass-movement numbers--originally choreographed by Larry Fuller, under Harold Prince’s direction--are better drilled than others. Still, they ignite this production’s only real fire. Wicked humor still crackles in the political game of musical chairs and in the unruly tango-dance passion of Argentina’s working poor, re-created here by South Bay CLO stalwart Sha Newman.

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“Evita,” Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd. (at Aviation). Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends June 16. $35-$50. (310) 372-4477. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.