“I think it’s a masterpiece,” exulted Will Pomerantz after a performance of Evita at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. True, he is the director of this lively production with its mainly Latino cast, and he should have bragging rights for his fine work, but he was thinking larger on opening weekend. This very special production made many rethink the well-worn Andrew Lloyd Webber/ Tim Rice musical most associated with songs so familiar you can sing along, Patti LuPone as Evita (or Madonna in the movie), maybe Ricky Martin as Che, stars who made it famous in its Broadway debut and revivals. Bay Street’s production refocuses its epic, historic, sweeping themes: celebrity, revolution, romance and love, and makes them intimate.

You take your seat walking amidst couples chatting at a working class tango bar in Buenos Aires, on July 26, 1962, on the tenth anniversary of Eva Peron’s death. Special kudos to Anna Louizos for her set, rustic with exposed rafters, staircases for dramatic entrance and exits, and a bar, a platform for drinks, speech-making, and dance. The dolorous tones of a funeral for a beloved figure are juxtaposed with colorful memories of Evita, a girl, a coquettish young woman, wife to Juan Peron, each scene punctuated by one dress more beautiful than the next, the work of costume designer Lindsay W. Davis. The revolutionary Che (Trent Saunders) narrates as Juan Peron (Omar Lopez-Cepero) and Evita (Arianna Rosario) fall in love, the heat in their embrace amped up; in life, the actors are engaged. Their duet, “I’d Be Surprisingly Good for You,” a song I never paid much attention to, gains new meaning and importance. A sensational six-piece band, conducted by Camille Johnson, keeps the production moving through its brisk paces.

This Evita, Arianna Rosario, has especially lovely, powerhouse chops: it was all the more surprising to learn at show’s end that having committed herself to dance, Arianna Rosario only recently began to train vocally. Other exceptional performers include Dakota Quackenbush (a 7th grader at East Hampton High), Gabi Campo, and Kyle Barisich, and the dancers. Trent Saunders, a most versatile performer, will return to Aladdin on Broadway, in the fall. Evita ends in “Lament,” but the audience leaves enraptured.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura