If you suspect that I’m not an actual, fully qualified reviewer, you’d be correct. However, in this particular instance, I feel I have some expertise having watched the movie Evita, starring my pal Madonna.

Armed with this extensive knowledge, and having wikipediaed Eva Peron (did you know Juan Peron popped her corpse in his dining room 20 years after her death? You’re welcome), I trotted along to the show at the Opera House.

It was opening night and the theatre was abuzz. The Opera House is such a special space and it was fun watching all the youth getting drunk over at Te Aro Park from the gorgeous balcony. It’s a local production, put on by the Porirua Little Theatre and Amici Productions. The audience was filled with friends and family, the woman next to me proudly told me her daughter was in the show (she was very good!).

Onto the show! It all starts with a bit of a spoiler, the death of Eva Peron is announced and from there on the show positively rocks along. I can see why people like Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. They’re quite clever. The show was seamless and pacy and rich. Given my entire expertise is based on Madonna and Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce, none of whom can sing that well (sorry Madonna! I love you! I’m coming to see you anyway!) I was blown away by the voices in the show. There wasn’t one bung singer. Eva (played by Heather Wilcock) sang like a fricking songbird, simply amazing. Her acting was A++ also. Che Guevara, the narrator (Matthew Pike) was jaunty as hell and I could listen to his lovely voice forever. Shout out to Katie Evans too, who played Peron’s mistress and whose singing was so gorgeous I had to go home and listen to her song ‘Another Suitcase in Another Hall’ with the kids.

I think you probably get the gist. I loved the show. I loved the set and the costumes and I had a wee weep because they have CHILDREN BEING WONDERFUL.

And dare I say it, it was approximately 1000 times better than the movie.

See it at the Opera House until November 21st.