Op zoek naar Evita (Looking for Evita) was a 2007 talent show-themed television series produced by the AVRO in the Netherlands. It documented the search for a new, undiscovered musical theatre performer to play the role of Eva Peron in the 2008 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita.
Pia Douwes – (musical theatre actress who is very successful in Europe)
Live finals
The final ten contestants competed in the live studio finals held on Sunday nights over eight weeks. Each week the contestants sang and performed during the live show, receiving comments from the judges following their performance. The public then got a chance to vote for their favourite Evita, and the two contestants with the fewest votes performed a sing-off in front of Nijholt, who then decided which Evita to keep in the contest. This was repeated with the top ten, the top nine, the top eight, the top seven, the top six, the top five and the top four.
Nijholt had no say in the final casting decision, when in the concluding edition of the series it was left to the public to choose who should play Evita out of the final two contenders, Brigitte Heitzer and Suzan Seegers. After more votes were cast, the winning entrant was revealed as Heitzer, who won a contract to play Evita at the Nieuwe Luxor Theater in Rotterdam.
Finalists
Ten potential Evitas made it through the auditions process to perform during the live shows.
The live shows saw the finalists eliminated one by one following both individual and group performances. Once eliminated, the leaving contestant ended the programme by receiving a suitcase and leading a performance of "Dag en bedankt nog(Goodnight and Thank You)\Jij blijft bij mij(You Must Love Me)" from Evita with the remaining contestants.
Week 1 (September 2, 2007)
Following the first week of competition, Tineke was the first Evita to be eliminated from the competition. The show performances were:
Erwin van Lambaart: could not choose between Suzan and Brigitte
Pia Douwes: could not choose between Suzan and Brigitte
Peter Van de Velde: Brigitte
Willem Nijholt: Suzan
After being announced as the series winner, Brigitte concluded the series with a performance of "Huil niet om mij, Argentina (Don't Cry For Me, Argentina)".
After the series
Brigitte Heitzer and several other finalists appeared in a special programme on 25 December 2008 with the winner and finalists from Op zoek naar Joseph titled Kerst met Joseph en Evita (Christmas with Joseph and Evita).
Reception
Awards
On 1 October 2008, it was announced that Op zoek naar Evita was nominated for the Gouden Televizier-Ring 2008, for the best television from the season 2007–2008. On 24 October 2008 showed that this nomination was not silver, the Golden Televizier-Ring was won by Mooi! Weer De Leeuw.
