On the eve of his 70th birthday, the chance to see one of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s major success stories is a no-brainer. Evita is a masterclass of how to ‘do’ Musical Theatre and to see the show is always a privilege!

You should know the story by now. Girl gets shunned by her step family, moves to the city to seek her fortune. Girl marries the future president and becomes the Spiritual Chief of the nation’...and the story ends when she dies.

Let's be brutally frank - If you’re looking for an all singing, all dancing sing-a-long then go and see Sound of Music or Hairspray. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a dose of realism, history and emotion, Evita is the show for you. This is a production as raw and heart felt as recent runs of Sunset Boulevard and Miss Saigon, something the audience responded to beautifully.

The tour has a beautiful yet minimal set which transforms from grand palace to back street Tango bar effortlessly and the performances, as you would expect from a tour, are simply perfect. Madalena Alberto (Cats, Jekyll and Hyde) gives a career best as Eva Peron; a part she was born to play. Che, performed by Gian Marco Schiaretti (Tarzan) acts as a narrator of sorts but also represents the people as their voice and conscience. His voice comes to crescendo in the second half - very much a goosebumps moment!

This is a difficult musical to stage as it is so much larger than the three walls of the performance space especially if you’ve seen the film version with Madonna taking the lead. Bill Kenwright’s direction is simple and not too busy; that said, some of the story does get lost with this production. These changes are clearly for practical reasons but it does mean that you fail to really get to know the characters as well as their interactions with each other.

The show is also extremely polished and slick, which normally would be a good thing. But with Evita, and the period its set in, there should be a rawness there that I felt at times was sadly lacking.

That said, as a piece of theatre it was stunning, all encompassing and features some of the most mesmerising performances. You need to add Evita to your to-do list, not least because the score is sublime and the singing is incredible.

Evita continues at the Birmingham Hippodrome until 24th March. For more information, or to get your tickets, head to birminghamhippodrome.com.