The Musical Makes a Comeback

For three years, prohibitively high costs and the desire of the Harvard-Radcliffe Drama Club (HRDC) to present "straight drama" meant that the Loeb Theater's Mainstage was barren of musical productions.

But last weekend, with the HRDC's premiere of "Evita," the story of Argentinian states woman Eva Peron, that all changed. After its first four performances, the show, which tells the tale of the woman who rose to great power from destitute beginnings, is already sold out for its final showings this weekend. In fact, says Co-Producer Timothy J. Corbett '89, the show is also the first show in at least two years to make money at the Loeb Mainstage.

But because of the traditional difficulties of putting on a musical, the road toward producing the show, which took the theatrical world by storm a decade ago, was by no means an easy one, say those involved in the production.

HRDC President Fouad S. Onbargi '89, who acknowledges the club's bias toward non-musicals, credits the show's director Adam J. Fratto '90, with the ideas that succeeded in passing the club's highly competitive process for selecting its shows.

Fratto "had lined up fantastic lighting and technical crews," Onbargi says. "The director also had really great and creative ideas, like he thought that he wanted to do a rock version of the show rather than following the traditional style," he says, explaining why Fratto's was one of two productions the club approved this semester.

Fratto describes this opportunity to do "Evita" on the Mainstage in terms that make it seem like a dream come true. "I've always loved the music from this show, and when I saw a badly done production of it years ago I decided that I wanted to do it," he says.

Presenting "Evita" on the Mainstage is a milestone in his Harvard directing career, he adds. "I think that this is the most ambitious thing that I've done here at Harvard and it is probably the most ambitious thing that I will do at Harvard," Fratto says.

The director says he thinks he has interpreted the show very differently from other productions of "Evita." "I see it as a colder production than ones that are usually done. `Evita' is a cynical, harsh portrayal of a totalitarian regime," Fratto says. "To accent this perception, I stripped down the music to a hard-edge,rock score," he says.

Despite his love for the show, Fratto, who also directed "The Foreigner," "March of the Falsettos," and last year's Lowell House Opera, "The Merry Wives of Windsor," says there have been many trying moments in putting the show together.

When the show began its rehearsals, Fratto says, he felt a lot of pressure to produce a good show. "I knew a lot people would be coming to see the show. And whereas I try not to concern myself with audience response, I realize that it is a factor," he says.

To acclimate his crew to the Loeb's high-tech set-up, Fratto devoted a 12-hour rehearsal just to work through the lighting and technical cues. During the rehearsal, called a "wet-tech," the cast walks through the entire show, stopping every few minutes to allow the lighting and technical crews to mark their cues.

Fratto describes this rehearsal as frustrating. "During this rehearsal, it was not my rehearsal. I couldn't direct the actors," he says.

In itself, directing a show on the Mainstage is a challenge "because you basically have everything you want at your disposal. It challenges you to be as creative as you can." Fratto says.

In addition, the show posed difficulties for the producers, says Co-Producer Ricardo J. Dopico '89. He said he was forced to approach the logistics of producing "Evita" differently than he would a smaller production. On the Mainstage, he says, producers oversee the operations behind the scenes while a large crew takes care of more menial tasks. In a smaller show the producers often end up taking care of most of the minute details themselves, he says.

"You have to delegate more authority in a Mainstage production," Dopico says. "In a house production you may be responsible for getting the props and building the set yourself. In a Mainstage you have someone in charge of getting props, a master technician, and a master carpenter."

Producing a show on the Mainstage involves a lot more public relations work, too, Corbett says. "It was an incredible thing to produce `Evita.' In a house production you end up doing all the technical work, whereas when you're producing on the Mainstage. you end up on the phone all the time."

In choosing the show's cast, Fratto, Corbett and Dopico, as well as the show's choreographer. Rebecca C. Shannon '89, auditioned a total of about 150 people and called back four or five actors for each of the six major roles.

Fratto says that the most talented auditioners were not necessarily the people he cast in the leading roles. "Some people were objectively the best singers, dancers, and actors but they were not always the people that I picked," Fratto says. "I thought about things like, is the voice too brassy, is the presence too weak or too strong?' Looks of course enter into it. but obviously they can be dealt with," he says.

For instance, Fratto says, Jacqueline H. Sloan '90, who plays Eva, has "a magic quality about her presence that made her perfect for this role. whereas someone else may have more power in the higher registers."

Even though they represent some of the best that Harvard has to offer, the actors and actresses also have found the show to be demanding, members of the cast say.

Sloan says that meeting the demands of a difficult musical score while keeping in sync with the orchestra is no mean feat.

"There are a lot of melodies, but a lot of intervals. It's all really difficult. There are a lot of things to co-ordinate. If you mess up, everything falls apart," Sloan says.

It's almost like you have to fit a mold that's already made. It's hard to be spontaneous and keep singing at the same time," she adds.

The lead actors say they found that while working on "Evita," their perceptions of their characters changed.

Sloan says that she came to realize that Eva, even if she was often cruel and manipulative, was also subject to a wide range of human emotions.

"She's a real character. She's really mean, but really genuine," says Sloan, speaking of Eva. "She's really loves jewels but she really wants to help the poor and she considers herself one of them," she says.

Sloan, who also appeared in "The Ruling Class" and "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui," adds that Eva is not afraid of using any and everyone to get what she wants. "I think that's the point of the play--we're all using one another so we can't point the finger at anyone. I don't think that's anyone's life motto. But everyone has bad things about them, and hopefully everyone has good things about them too," she says.

Dean E. Shapiro '91 says that he initially thought of his character. Peron's husband, a military dictator, as a device needed only for plot purposes. As the rehearsal process continued, however, he realized that his character gradually developed through the play. "I saw him as a third wheel to move the plot along," says Shapiro of his character, but "he definitely grew."

"I related to his experiences, but I didn't understand how crucial to the actor and the show that it was that he be a real person," he adds.

Pier Carlo Talenti II '90, who plays Che, the story's narrator, had a difficult time separating his character from the music that the character sings. Talenti says that he also worked on exploring the nature of the relationship between Che and Eva. "I don't remember the character being as complex as he is for me now," Talenti says.

Talenti says it was only gradually that he came to realize that his character, who criticizes Eva's actions throughout the show, actually loves the dictator's wife. He says that Sloan planted the seed of his realization during a rehearsal.

"It definitely became clear that the reason why he gets so frustrated at the end is because she had a certain something that made the people and himself fall in love with her," Talenti says. "He's incredibly angry at her for making him fall in love with her," he says.

The big payoff for everybody's hard work came on opening night, cast members say.

Fratto's reaction to opening night was one of both fear and surprise. "I was paralyzed. I was not able to enjoy the show at all. It has gotten successively easier with each night," Fratto says.

The big surprise, he says, was that "parts of the show were funny. because we rehearsed so much, the parts that I had directed as funny just weren't anymore. It was pleasant to hear the audience laugh."

Laughter was one of the things that made Shapiro happiest on opening night, too, he says. "If I do something on stage and I hear someone laugh I think `Oh my God, what's more important than hearing someone laugh?'" says Shapiro.

Talenti found that what he enjoyed most about the show's premiere was the fact that for the first time he had an audience. "I definitely felt them listening, and that was really nice since most of what I do is directed toward the audience. Talenti says.

He says he also appreciated the audience's apparent comprehension of what he tried to say. Talenti says, "Che is used mainly to move along the plot, and it's important that I be understood."

The difference between the first night and other performances was the added confidence the cast and crew gained, Sloan says.

"On opening night they were the greatest audience," Sloan says. "A lot of them were our friends. It was really great to do it in front of people. It is reassuring to know that you can do it," she says.

On the second night, she adds, "we concentrated more on `let's do it well' rather than `can we do it?'"