Olivas discusses playing Argentine president Juan Perón, why the musical is still relevant today and how it has connected with Latino audiences: “This is such a significant moment of representation for them.”
Nearly three decades ago, James Olivas’ mother and father met during a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s political musical Evita.
“It’s a fun little coincidence that we have going on,” the theater star tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And it makes me doing the show now especially exciting for them.”…
“We had this idea of this authoritarian politician, some version of a scary, moustachioed man very far away that presents as evil,” Olivas says about his conversations with Lloyd and music director Alan Williams about the Juan Perón they wanted to showcase. “But this is 2025, and that is not the state of politics. Through Perón, we are trying to portray a version of a politician that is extremely engaging and very charming — that people watch and think, ‘I can get a beer with this person,’ or, ‘I might even be attracted to this person.’”…
Before landing a major role in Evita, the actor had just finished a stint in L.A.’s Deaf West Theatre company, a non-profit arts organization that hires deaf and hard-of-hearing people to make up half of their casts. Olivas starred in the Green Day-inspired rock show American Idiot, the entire production performed in both American sign language and spoken English….
This London era of the show winds down in September — Olivas says he’s trying to soak up every moment until then — but the big question remains: will Evita be coming to Broadway? “That’s always in the water,” he responds. “We’ve received no official word yet on that, but from my understanding, it’s what people are pushing for.”…