SHE seduced an entire nation! Now she is set to captivate Christchurch when award winning Theatre 2000 pay tribute to one of the most charismatic women of the 20th Century - Eva Peron.

The extraordinary wife of the Argentine President, Juan Peron is the subject of a magical production of the smash hit West End Musical, Evita which runs at Regent in Christchurch from Wednesday 25 – Saturday 28 November.

Evita was in the forefront of the new wave of British Musical Theatre that began during the 1970s and brought with it truly international box office success around the world. Evita opened in the West End in 1978 and was an instant success for Andrew Lloyd Webber and his lyricist, Tim Rice.

The show's success was assured because the hit album had already topped the Charts prior to the West End Premiere of the show, backed up by the singles success of such memorable songs as Don’t Cry for Me Argentina and Another Suitcase in Another Hall.

Appropriately for the Regent, Evita opens in a Buenos Aires cinema with a newsreel announcing Evita’s premature death from cancer in July 1952. The show then looks back at her life from her earliest days in rural Argentina when she hooked up with Magaldi, a fiery Tango singer and headed to the capital, Buenos Aires, to find fame and fortune. Here, in quick succession, she became a model, broadcaster and starlet whilst also conducting liaisons with a string of increasingly influential men.

When Evita meets the young, up and coming politician, Juan Peron, she recognises his potential to be a future President even before he has thought of the possibility! First as his mistress and then as his wife, aged just 26 years of age, she worked tirelessly to promote his cause, much to the consternation of the Argentine Army and Buenos Aires upper class society. However, completely undaunted in her mission and with the people behind her, Evita ensured that her husband won the Presidential election of 1946.

Evita suddenly finds herself on the world stage and she undertakes a European Tour. Initially, this is a great success in Spain but she receives cooler receptions in other countries and sensing political and economic problems at home, she curtails the Tour to return to support her husband.

Her popularity with the people is unquestioned but as Evita aspires to become the Vice President, her health fails and on her death Argentina goes into national mourning as all political and economic problems of the Peron Government are put aside. In death, it seems, she has delivered one last service to her husband by uniting the nation in grief.

Throughout the show, the infamous Che Guevara acts as the narrator, questioning her motives and methods and accusing Evita of achieving nothing more than publicity stunts to seduce her adoring public.

The 1979 Broadway production of Evita was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, winning 7 of them including Best Musical. Then in 1996, Evita received the full Hollywood treatment in Alan Parker’s lavish Oscar winning film starring Madonna, Jonathan Pryce and Antonio Banderas.

Regent, Christchurch

01202 499199

www.regentcentre.co.uk