Money, sex, power, fame –

who knew they had a dark side?

At the center of the story sits a popular, charismatic political figure, beloved by followers and despised by opponents. A celebrity.  A demagogue. The leader of a movement. Nope, we're not talking about Barack Obama or Sarah Palin or even Glenn Beck.

Or are we?

In Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's masterwork of rock opera, it's Argentina in the 1940s. It only feels like America in 2010.

New Line closes its 19th season with the brilliant political potboiler, the rock opera EVITA.  And with this production, New Line will give you a new, more intimate, more political, more rock and roll Evita. No violins and no giant chorus. Just sex, power, and rock and roll.

Evita tells the somewhat fictionalized story of Eva Peron, from her roots in a small town in Argentina through her meteoric rise to first lady of Argentina as wife to Juan Peron. Today, it's hard not to see her story as a metaphor for our current political superstars like Beck, Palin, and Obama. Though Eva was a real historical figure, Tim Rice fashions her turbulent life into a rowdy, visceral Shakespearean tragedy of intrigue, deception, betrayal, greed, and power, a kind of monstrous Cinderella tale mixed with Richard III. With Evita, lyricist Tim Rice was his usual smartass, acerbic, cynical self, and Lloyd Webber wrote the most mature score of his career, still rooted firmly in rock and roll. Like Tommy and Jesus Christ Superstar before it, Evita is real rock opera.

Auditions will be held May 3 and 10. Click here for more info.