According to the Sunday Times, 30-year-old Roger will take on the title role in the award-winning musical when it opens in June at the Adelphi Theatre. Best known as a singer/dancer, Roger recently appeared in Les Misérables in Argentina.

The Michael Grandage production will be the first West End revival of the musical since Evita premiered at the Prince Edward Theatre in 1978. Hal Prince's production made a London star out of Elaine Paige and a Broadway star out of Patti LuPone. Madonna was already rather well known when she took on the role in Alan Parker's 1996 movie version.

The focus of the musical is on Eva Peron's rise from her slum origins to the wife of Argentina's post-war nationalist leader Juan Peron, a position from which she held her people in thrall. Such was her power she became her country's unofficial vice-president and as she grew richer, her people's poverty deepened. She died of cancer at the age of 33.

The original London cast also included Joss Ackland as Juan Peron and David Essex as the revolutionary Che.

The creative cast of the new production includes design by Christopher Oram and choreography by Rob Ashford, who with director Grandage are responsible for the latest West End revival of Guys and Dolls. Evita will replace the Adelphi's current long-running production of Chicago, a musical which Elena Roger is reported to greatly admire.