Opera Australia and John Frost announced today that Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic musical Evita will return to Australia to open at the Sydney Opera House in September 2018.

Evita will mark the fifth co-production between GFO and Opera Australia to perform at the House (South Pacific 2012-2013, The King and I 2014, Anything Goes 2015 and My Fair Lady 2016-2017) as part of Opera Australia’s season.

Directed by original Broadway director, 21-time Tony Award winner Hal Prince, this Evita will be a recreation of Original Broadway and West End production. Original West End creative team members including choreographer Larry Fuller and designer Timothy O’Brien will also work on the musical.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to recreate the renowned original production of Evita 40 years after it opened in the West End, following the wonderful success of My Fair Lady,” said Lyndon Terracini and John Frost. “To have the original creative team of Hal Prince, Larry Fuller and Timothy O’Brien overseeing the production is a dream come true.”

Charting the story of Eva Peron, wife of Argentine dictator Juan Peron, from her humble beginnings through to the extraordinary wealth, power and status which ultimately led her to be heralded as the ‘spiritual leader of the nation’ by the Argentine people, Evita was last seen professionally in Australia in 1989 after premiering in 1980 at the Festival Theatre in Adelaide.

The last musical to play the Sydney Opera House’s second largest performance space – the Joan Sutherland Theatre – was My Fair Lady in 2016, before a major refurbishment of the 40 year old Opera House building commenced. Scheduled to close for seven months from May 2017, as part of $45 million in self-funded projects, part of the refurbishment included upgrades to the technical elements of the theatre.

Evita will commence auditions in September 2017, with rehearsals set to commence in August 2018.

Evita was released as a concept album in 1976 featuring some of the best loved songs in musical theatre, including ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’, ‘On This Night of a Thousand Stars’, ‘Oh What A Circus, You Must Love Me’, and ‘Another Suitcase in Another Hall’. The original West End production opened in 1978.

For more details and information visit: Evitathemusical.com.au