Renowned East Coast accordionist and AAA Board of Director Eddie Monteiro recently concluded his year long engagement as accordionist and keyboardist in the popular Broadway production ‘Evita’ starring mega Pop star Ricky Martin as Che, and Argentinean Elena Roger as Eva.

Fellow Board of Director Rita Davidson and I were lucky enough to sit next to Eddie in the orchestra pit for one of Eddie’s last performances as Evita came to a close, to see how the Show came together from the musician’s point of view.

After a tour of the set, including a cameo photo opportunity on the balcony from where the blockbuster ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’ is sung from, and meeting the Musical Director of the show Kristen Blodgette, Rita and I took our places in the pit next to Eddie who proceeded to deliver perfection over the next two hours, as he executed a rather demanding accordion part, coupled with his doubling on synthesiser.

With limited visibility of the musical director, no visibility what so ever of the actual production happening on stage, and the percussionist being in another room all together, each Music Stand had a closed circuit video monitor focused on the Conductor. With limited access to the sound of the other musicians, the overall balance was in the hands of the sound engineer, who had his job down to a science.

As the thunderous applause from the audience welcomed Ricky Martin to one of his opening numbers, virtually a duet between Ricky on stage and Eddie underneath, Eddie was in his element. Without batting an eyelid, Eddie was performing under the demands of a high profile gig, accompanying one of the biggest pop stars in the world today, surrounded by nothing but respect from his fellow musicians. Having heard the show from out in the audience a few days earlier, the accordion echoed magnificently throughout the theatre, at the hands of the master musician.

During our pre-show tour, Eddie had explained the procedure of technical glitches as it pertained to the musicians, and in particular to the electronic instruments. Amazingly, in a rare situation in the early part of the show, such a predicament arose. As Eddie transitioned to the Synthesiser, there was no sound from his monitor, so while his performance was still being heard, he could hear nothing at all, rather a disconcerting situation. Without ruffling so much as a feather, while one hand was playing his part, another was signalling the situation to the technical assistant, who arrived immediately as expected, and without missing a note, Eddie continued on playing while explaining the problem, and within a short time, all was back in order, and before Rita and I knew it, Eddie had already strapped his accordion back on, and was on to his next number.

Having seen several shows that showcase the accordion, most are under the hands of a keyboardist with no previous accordion experience, who doubles on the accordion, it has been frustrating to see the under utilised potential of our instrument in these high profile moments.
Evita was a different and welcome change! It was easily recognisable from the Conductor Kristen Blodgette and assistant Conductor William Waldrop, as well as the other highly sought after musicians, that to have an expert accordionist and musician such as Eddie, was so greatly appreciated.

Congratulations to Eddie for his work in doing what could only be expected from any professional musician… delivering. Rita and I were so lucky to have this rare glimpse into the behind the scenes work of the all important musical side of the professional pit orchestra, where perfection and dependability is standard fare! Eddie we salute you!