Actress returns to stage to star in Evita! after break to have children
For Selena Fisher, playing Eva Peron in Front Row Centre’s Evita! is a Cinderella story.
“Eva goes from rags to riches, from the slums to the palace and she marries her prince, Juan Peron, so this really is a Cinderella story. It’s also a Cinderella story for me because getting to play Eva is a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I’m at the right age to play her.”
This is Fisher’s first show in Calgary since moving here five years ago, but the Idaho native is no stranger to performing, having worked as a singer in Florida’s Bush Gardens theme park after graduating with a musical theatre degree. She then worked on cruise ships as an entertainer for three years, which is where she met her Edmonton-born husband, a travel guide who gave lectures on all the ports visited.
“We started our family when we moved to Calgary so the only role I could take was full-time mom. Now that our children are two and four years old, I felt it was time for me to get back into performing. My husband has been a real rock star taking care of the children so I could do this role.”
When she was considering a return to the stage, Fisher checked out Calgary’s theatre scene and discovered Front Row Players produce four musicals a year and Evita! was on their schedule for this season.
“I worked really hard to get my voice back in shape so I could audition, not really expecting to get the role.
“But when I did, I worked even harder because this is my way of regaining my identity. I’m getting my feet wet again in a very big way.”
History has vilified Argentinian First Lady Eva Peron, but Fisher says she can’t think about that.
“The core of Eva’s character, for me, is the passion she had for her people. My job is to humanize her and try to make the audience connect with her or the show won’t work. I have to try to make the audiences adore her in the same way she made the people of Argentina adore her.”
Evita! is one of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s most popular collaborations and Fisher is quick to recall one of Rice’s most famous quotes when he and Lloyd Webber were working on the script.
“Tim was aware that Andrew thought Eva was a b — ch, but he said he told Andrew their goal was to make her a wonderful b — ch.”
Fisher’s two male co-stars in Front Row Centre’s Evita! are James Noonan as Juan Peron and Gavin Logan as the show’s narrator, guerrilla leader Ernesto (Che) Guevara.
The musical is directed by Jamie Eastgaard-Ross with musical direction by Brian Holiday and choreography by Ashley Soles.
It’s also a Cinderella story for me because getting to play Eva is a once-ina-lifetime experience.