Official Show Photographs!

Once again this year, Mr. Pulitzer took outstanding professional photos of the production. (None of the photos were posed). Here are just a sampling from a night when Anna played Eva. He will make more photos available to us at a later date. I hope to get more close-ups of Katie's turn as Eva. (Click to enlarge each photo).

The role of Che is divided among three actors:


The first rung on Eva's ladder to power - Magaldi the tango singer:


Eva with black hair, early Act One, dances with the chorus:


Eva "B", played by Anna on Friday and Sunday, stands at her revolving door to success:


Lee plays Juan Peron, the target of Eva's intentions:


The featured tango dancers, Art and Justine:


Maggie plays Peron's ex-lover and has a wonderful solo here:


The Perons become heroes to Argentina's working class:


Eva becomes popular with the masses:


Peron at the height of his power and popularity:


In a compelling moment, Anna takes the balcony as Eva Peron as she addresses her people:


The famous moment of the show, "Don't cry for me Argentina...":


The terrific chorus is supported by a dozen lower school singers in scenes such as the "Rainbow Tour":


Peron is left to deal with rumors at home about Eva's past:


Mr. Lowell isolates different locations in this sequence using lighting from underneath the stage:


Despite her critics, Eva is confident and defiant:


At times, Che acts as Eva's conscience:


Eva's people pray for her health:


A striking photograph of Eva's decline:


Anna gives a stirring speech in Eva's final broadcast:


Cameron, one of three actors portraying Che, tries to sum up Evita's life in the final scene:


Jake as Che, (right), gives the brief spoken epilogue as Peron stands alone before Eva's casket:

A nice photo. They are dramatically lit from below the trap doors as a robotic spotlight is seen moving toward the casket up-stage. It's a unique way to end a musical. The audience sits in stunned silence until the cast runs out for the curtain call.

Final curtain means "Strike"!

I was very bittersweet to see this show come to an end. Congratulations to all involved!

Everything must go! In just an hour and a half the cast and crew struck the props, cleaned the dressing rooms and dismantled the decks of the platforms. (I waited until the following day to strike the platforms make of rented scaffolding).

Here the gang attacks the tops of the platforms. They removed the 1/2" thick Plexi-glass panels and removed the wooden framework.



Kris, my lighting assistant, removes the spotlights from under the step units. That's Kit from the chorus helping Kris. Of all the cast of Evita, Kit volunteered the most time after school to help the crew. Thanks Kit!


Here are all the wooden "triscuits" that supported the Plexi-glass. I have no space to store these, so I hope to donate them to the Athletic Department for a pep rally bonfire!


Simran, our student director, shows off the giant tape ball made from all the gaff tape that I used to "paint" the rented scaffolding!


In keeping with tradition, the last thing my crew does at the end of strike is sign the "Crew Wall". This is a secret stairwell in the catwalk where I like to sequester all the student graffiti so that the public areas of the stage stay clean. Here Hayden, my fly crew chief, writes some funny memories about the production.

My Awesome Crew!

The cast of 40 was supported by a crew of 20. They did a terrific job. No major incidents to report from our 4 day run. Here's most of the crew in a group photo, (the sound guys missed this photo). Click to enlarge photos.


My outstanding student leaders! Simran, (center), called the show as Student Director, and in the wings we had Stage Managers Taylor and Natalie.


Here's Natalie at her post stage-left during the show.


The most critical position on the crew was held by our sound operators. Here, Bradley is on book, giving stand-by cues to Chris, who runs the 13 wireless body microphones on the mixer.


Sorry this photo is so dark, but it shows Chase, who along with Jonathan, operated the 1600 watt Super Trouper followspots from the top of our balcony.

The "Guest Popes"

Each performance we had a different upper school teacher make a cameo as "The Pope" on Evita's world tour.

Here is history teacher Mark Drusdow...


...and another night it was Mr. Mimms.

It's in the details...

Now that the show is in the performance phase, I've finally found time to document many of the tiny details that make up the bigger picture.

For example, I zoomed in my camera as far as I could to capture a glimpse of the Evita mannequin in the casket during the opening scene.


Here is a close-up of the mannequin backstage. Mr. Tutterow did a good job with her make-up. We couldn't find a mannequin with her eyes closed, so he applied tape and painted it to look like eyelids. The fake lashes helped a lot too. And he ordered this blond wig for her. From the audiences' vantage point at 40 feet away, it is very convincing!


The distance from the audience also helps me with props such as this fake microphone. This is the one Migaldi "sings into" during the tango club scene. But I built it in 5 minutes using a elbow of PVC pipe and a broken socket from an old clip-light. It would have been costly to rent an authentic period microphone...so why do it?



Since the backstage wing with the dressing rooms was not built along with the auditorium in 2001, the cast has to "rough it" by using rented port-o-johns outside the stage door.


Here is the back of the nice t-shirts for the cast and crew.

Projections

I hung our 16' wide movie screen from the stage-left followspot tower. As the audience entered each night, they heard tango music and watched a slide show about the history of the play and the life of the Perons. Then I projected automated gobo patterns to colorize the unpainted backdrop we use as a show curtain. (Click to enlarge).


This is the opening sequence where the people of Argentina are mourning the death of Eva Peron. There is an actual newspaper account on the screen as the DMX robotic lights slowly pan through the crowd in the "movie theater".


Then, during the nightclub scene, we see what the real-life Magaldi looked like.


During the "Buenos Aires" dance, we see historic postcard images of the city.


As Che describes the polo match in England, we see a news photo of it on the screen.


The big finale' of Act One includes this official portrait of Juan and Eva Peron.


We see Eva's real hands signing a check during the scene where her foundation doles out funds to the needy.


Peron is distraught because Eva is dying. We see the real Eva in her hospital bed.


And they remember better times at the height of their glory.


Near the end, the school children sing for Eva's health as we see an actual schoolbook image featuring Eva Peron.


These are just a few of the images used to enhance the show. Mrs. Tutterow invested countless hours researching archival materials and securing rights. We got many comments on how these pictures enhanced the overall experience.