Ben Apfelbaum

TINA ARENA TO PLAY EVITA FOR OPERA AUSTRALIA NEXT YEAR

Photography by Ben Apfelbaum.

Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini, Australian theatre producer John Frost and leading UK theatre producer David Ian yesterday announced that Australian icon, singer, songwriter and musical theatre star Tina Arena will play the role of Eva Peron in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s EVITA.

This follows the announcement last week that EVITA, one of the most celebrated classical musicals of all time, will return to Australia next year, playing at the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House, with tickets on sale from 31 August. This production will continue Opera Australia’s 5 year tradition of mounting popular Broadway and West End musicals.

David Ian stated that Andrew Lloyd Webber had the final say as to who should play Evita and Tina Arena was approved without hesitation.

Ms Arena said that she was both terrified and incredibly honoured to be cast as Evita and also relished the challenges that the role will offer.

This legendary musical last received a professional production in Sydney back in the 1980’s. This new production is a remounting of the original West End and Broadway production directed by Hal Prince. Prince is coming to Australia to direct the production and will be joined by his fellow original West End creative team members including choreographer Larry Fuller and designer Timothy O’Brien.

SEASON DETAILS Venue: Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House Season: From 13 September 2018 Performance Times: Tues–Sat 7.30pm, Matinees Wed & Sat 1pm, Sun 3pm 

http://www.evitathemusical.com.au

 

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.