Op Zoek Naar Evita

''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''.

The show was hosted by Frits Sissing who announced Brigitte Heitzer as the winner of the final public telephone vote on 21 October 2007 and masterminded by Willem Nijholt.

It became the first of a series of the Dutch themed talent contests to be produced by the AVRO in collaboration with Willem Nijholt. ''Op zoek naar Joseph'' followed in 2008 to find a new male lead to play Joseph for ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', In 2009, it was followed by '' Op zoek naar Mary Poppins'' searching for a new lead to play Mary Poppins in a production of the musical ''Mary Poppins'', In 2010, it was followed by '' Op zoek naar Zorro'' searching for a new lead to play Zorro in a production of the musical ''Zorro'', Ten years later in 2021, it was followed by ''Op zoek naar Maria'' searching for a new lead to play Maria in a production of the musical ''The Sound of Music''. In 2022, it was followed by '' Op zoek naar Danny & Sandy'' searching for a new lead to play Danny & Sandy in a production of the musical '' Grease''.

Format

Expert panel

To assess and train the potential Evitas and judge them during the live shows, an expert panel was chosen. The panel included:
* Willem Nijholt – actor and singer.
* Peter Van de Velde – Flemish actor from Belgium
* Erwin van Lambaart – (managing director of Joop van den Ende theatre)
* 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.

* at the start of the contest

Results summary

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:

*Group performances:
**"Dreamgirls" (from ''Dreamgirls'')
**" Rhythm of the Night" (DeBarge)

*Jury's favourite Evita:
**Erwin van Lambaart: Suzan (but revealed that his other favourite was Marjolein, but was positive about Suzan)
**Pia Douwes: Suzan
**Peter Van de Velde: Brigitte
*Sing-off:
**Tineke Blok and Sophie Veldhuizen were in the sing-off, and performed "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from the musical ''Jesus Christ Superstar''.
**Willem Nijholt chose to save Sophie and say "Goodnight and Thank You" to Tineke.

Week 2 (September 9, 2007)

Sabina was the second contestant to be eliminated from the series. The show performances were:

*Group performances:
**"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" (from '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'')
**" Can't Help Falling in Love" (Elvis Presley)

*Jury's favourite Evita:
**Erwin van Lambaart: Marleen
**Pia Douwes: Wieneke
**Peter Van de Velde: Sabina
*Sing-off:
**Anne Stalman and Sabina Petra were in the sing-off, and performed "Memory" from ''Cats''.
**Willem Nijholt chose to save Anne and say "Goodnight and Thank You" to Sabina.

Week 3 (September 16, 2007)

The third potential Evita to be eliminated was Sophie. The show performances were:

*Group performances:
**"Get the Party Started" (Pink)
**" Mijn pakkie an ''(My Strongest Suit)''" (from ''Aida'')

*Jury's favourite Evita:
**Erwin van Lambaart: Suzan
**Pia Douwes: Marleen
**Peter Van de Velde: Wieneke
*Sing-off:
**Sophie Veldhuizen and Anne Stalman were in the sing-off, and performed "Beauty and the Beast" from '' the same title''.
**Willem Nijholt chose to save Anne and say "Goodnight and Thank You" to Sophie.

Week 4 (September 23, 2007)

Babette became the fourth contestant to hear she was not Evita. The show performances were:

*Group performances:
**" We Go Together" (from '' Grease'')
**"Take a Chance on Me" (from '' Mamma Mia'')

*Jury's favourite Evita:
**Erwin van Lambaart: Babette
**Pia Douwes: Babette
**Peter Van de Velde: Babette
*Sing-off:
**Babette Holtman and Wieneke Remmers were in the sing-off, and performed " Heel alleen ''(On My Own)''" from ''Les Misérables''.
**Willem Nijholt chose to save Wieneke and say "Goodnight and Thank You" to Babette.

Week 5 (September 30, 2007)

Wieneke became the fifth contestant to hear she would not be Evita. The show performances were:

*Group performances:
**"Don't Stop Me Now" (from ''We Will Rock You'')
**"Rainbow High" (from ''Evita'')
**"It's the Hard Knock Life" (from ''Annie'')

*Jury's favourite Evita:
**Erwin van Lambaart: Marjolein (but also very positive about Suzan being his favourite)
**Pia Douwes: Marjolein
**Peter Van de Velde: Marjolein
*Sing-off:
**Wieneke Remmers and Anne Stalman were in the sing-off, and performed "Thuis ''(Home)''" from ''The Wiz''.
**Willem Nijholt chose to save Anne and say "Goodnight and Thank You" to Wieneke.

Week 6 (October 7, 2007)

In the quarter-final, the sixth Evita to be eliminated was Anne. The show performances were:

*Group performances:
**" Shout" (Lulu)
**"Foxtrot (Dutch version)" (from ''Foxtrot'')

*Jury's favourite Evita:
**Erwin van Lambaart: Marjolein
**Pia Douwes: Marleen
**Peter Van de Velde: Brigitte
*Sing-off:
**Marleen van der Loo and Anne Stalman were in the sing-off, and performed " De winnaar krijgt de macht ''(The Winner Takes It All)''" from '' Mamma Mia''.
**Willem Nijholt chose to save Marleen and say "Goodnight and Thank You" to Anne.

Week 7 (October 14, 2007)

In the semi-final, the seventh and final Evita to be eliminated was Marleen. The show performances were:

*Group performances:
**" Dance: Ten; Looks: Three" (from ''A Chorus Line'')
**" Ik ben uitzonderlijk goed voor u ''(I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You)''" featuring Roberto de Groot, who will play as Juan Perón in the upcoming Dutch revival of Evita

*Jury's favourite Evita:
**Erwin van Lambaart: Suzan
**Pia Douwes: Suzan
**Peter Van de Velde: Brigitte
*Sing-off:
**Marleen van der Loo and Marjolein Teepen were in the sing-off, and performed " Één van ons ''(One of Us)''" from '' Mamma Mia''.
**Willem Nijholt chose to save Marjolein and say "Goodnight and Thank You" to Marleen.

Week 8 (October 21, 2007)

The grand finale saw Brigitte win the competition, with Suzan coming second and Marjolein third. The show performances were:

*Group performance:
**Finalists and former Evitas: "There's No Business Like Show Business" (from '' Annie Get Your Gun'')
**Finalists: " One Night Only" (from ''Dreamgirls'')
**Brigitte and Suzan: "Buenos Aires (Dutch version)" (from ''Evita'')
**Brigitte and Suzan: " Huil niet om mij, Argentina ''(Don't Cry For Me, Argentina)''" (from ''Evita'')

*Jury's verdict on who is Evita:
**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.

Follow-up

The success of the series lead to it becoming the first of a series of the Dutch themed talent contests produced by the AVRO in collaboration with Nijholt. 2008 saw ''Op zoek naar Joseph'' search for a new male lead to play Joseph for a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's and Tim Rice's ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat''. This was followed in 2009 by '' Op zoek naar Mary Poppins'', which searched for a new lead to play Mary Poppins in a production of the musical ''Mary Poppins''. 2010 saw '' Op zoek naar Zorro'' cast Zorro in the forthcoming stage production of ''Zorro''. Ten years later in 2021 saw ''Op zoek naar Maria'' cast Maria in the stage production of ''The Sound of Music''. This was followed in 2022 by '' Op zoek naar Danny & Sandy'', which searched for 2 new leads to play Danny & Sandy in a production of the musical '' Grease''.

External links

Official Program Website at avro.nl

{{Evita

Dutch reality television series
Singing talent shows
2000s TV shows in the Netherlands
2007 Dutch television series debuts
2007 Dutch television series endings
NPO 1 original programming