EVITA (MUSICAL)

(Redirected from Evita)

'''Evita''' is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. It is based on events surrounding the rise to power of Juan Perón as President of Argentina and the significant role played in these events by his second wife, Eva Perón, using Mary Main's biography ''Evita: The Woman with the Whip'' as a base.

Contents
History
Synopsis / Song List
Act One
Act Two
Historical accuracy of the story
Productions
Adaptations
1996 film
Awards and nominations
Cultural impact
Recordings
References
External links

History


Like Lloyd Webber and Rice's previous hit, ''Jesus Christ Superstar'', ''Evita'' began as an album, released in 1976, with Julie Covington singing the lead role. Other parts were played by Paul Jones (as Juan Perón), Barbara Dickson (as the mistress), Colm Wilkinson (as Ché, the narrator; credited as C.T. Wilkinson) and Tony Christie (as Agustín Magaldi). Covington's recording of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" reached No. 1 in the UK singles chart in February 1977, and had similar success internationally. Dickson's "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" also became a hit. In Britain, Australia, South Africa, South America, and various parts of Europe, sales of ''Evita'' exceeded those of ''Jesus Christ Superstar''; in the United States, however, the concept album never achieved the same level of success. In 1977 American singer Karen Carpenter released a successful cover of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" which was noteworthy in that it preserved the complete song as written for the musical, rather than converting it to a pop solo.
Lloyd Webber and Rice reworked several elements of the musical before producing the stage musical. Some songs were dropped or shortened, while others were introduced and some lyrics rewritten. The 1976 album and the stage version featured different versions of the dialogue between Eva and Perón during "Dice Are Rolling". Both discussed Eva's illness and vice-presidency aspirations but the earlier concluded on "Eva's Sonnet", during which Eva reaffirms her aspirations. The stage version, "Dice are Rolling" concluded on a shorter version of the sonnet as Eva collapses due to her growing illness. Equally, the stage version of "Oh, What a Circus" features additional lyrics, explaining why Che does not share the nation's grief.
The 1976 album contained the song "The Lady's Got Potential" which described the rise of Eva and Perón. It was very particular in that it introduced a subplot about Ché being a research chemist who developed an insecticide and aspired to capitalize on this creation. A short song was also included before the start of "Charity Concert", in which Perón and other officers introduce themselves as aspiring dictators. The song was dropped for the stage version, to be replaced with the "Art of the Possible", a musical chairs number which focused on power struggles within Perón's political party.
The character of Ché evolved considerably during the development of the musical. He was originally intended as an "Everyman character who could represent the voice of the people and of opposition", but grew into a representation of the revolutionary Ché Guevara. It was not until Parker's 1996 film that the character returned to its more anonymous roots.[1]
''Evita'' opened in London's West End in 1978, and on Broadway a year later.

Synopsis / Song List


Act One


★ "A Cinema In Buenos Aires 26 July, 1952" (Crowd) Though there are no lyrics sung in this, the show opens to a cinema theatre while an audience is watching a film of Eva Peron's. During the film, an announcer comes over the speakers and announces that Eva Peron entered immortality today....

★ "Requiem for Evita" (Chorus) is modeled on a Catholic requiem sung in Latin by the cinema crowd when they hear of Eva's death.

★ "Oh What a Circus" (Ché) is sung by the narrator, assessing the hysterical grief that gripped Argentina when Evita died in 1952.

★ "On This Night of a Thousand Stars/Eva, Beware of the City" (Magaldi) introduces the audience to young Eva, who blackmails tango singer Agustín Magaldi into taking her with him to Buenos Aires.

★ "Buenos Aires" (Evita) reveals Eva's hopes and ambitions when she arrives in the city for the first time.

★ "Goodnight and Thank You" (Ché) tells the story of how Eva 'slept' her way up the ladder.

★ "The Lady's Got Potential" (Ché) tells of Eva's success as an actress and a right-wing coup in 1943. This number was cut after the 1976 recording and was then replaced with "The Art Of The Possible" in stage productions. The film soundtrack uses both numbers; however, the lyrics to "The Lady's Got Potential" were substantially re-written.

★ "The Art of the Possible" (Peron, Generals, Evita) Perón is fighting members of his political party to rise to the top. This number was almost completely omitted from the film, only including one verse sung only by Ché.

★ "Chartiy Concert" (Peron, Che, Magaldi, Eva) At a charity event held in aid of the victims of an earthquake in San Juan, Eva is reuinted with Magaldi as he closes his act. Peron adresses the crowd with words of encouragement and leaps off the stage, meeting Eva as soon as he exits.

★ "I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You" (Evita and Perón) Eva and Peron share a secret rendezvous following the charity concert, where Eva tells Peron that she would be good for him and that she could help him.

★ "Hello and Goodbye" (Evita) sees Perón's previous mistress being dismissed by Evita.

★ "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" (Perón's Mistress) is the young girl's song of rejection after having been kicked out by Eva. In the movie version, it is sung by Eva herself (after "Buenos Aires"), after realizing that Magaldi is married with a child.

★ "Perón's Latest Flame" (Ché) shows the upper-classes' disdain for Evita and the chauvinism of the Army.

★ "A New Argentina" (Evita and Perón/Chorus) is the election campaign to make Perón the new president.
Act Two


★ "On The Balcony of the Casa Rosada" (Peron, Che and Descamicados) Peron has won the sweeping victory of President of 1946. He stands on the balcony of the Casa Rosado adressing his descamicados.

★ "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" (Evita) is the speech from the balcony of the Presidential palace to her adoring supporters.

★ "High Flying, Adored" (Ché and Evita) looks at the price of fame as Eva dances at the Inaugural Ball with Peron, the winning president of 1946 for the country of Argentina.

★ "Rainbow High" (Evita) has Eva insisting on a celebrity/glamorous image in order to impress the people of Argentina and promote Peronism. She prepares to tour in Europe, as she is dressed for success by her fashion consultants.

★ "Rainbow Tour" (Perón, Advisers, Ché) charts the success and decline of Eva's famous tour of Europe in 1946.

★ "The Actress Hasn't Learned the Lines (You'd Like to Hear)" (Evita and Ché) Eva affirms her disdain for the upper class and is approached by Ché to start helping those in need.

★ "And the Money Kept Rolling In" (Ché) tells of Eva's controversial charitable work.

★ "Partido Feminista" (Evita) (movie version only) another of Eva's speeches.

★ "She is a Diamond" (Perón) Perón's generals do not want a female Vice-President, and Perón reveals that Eva's health is not up to the task.

★ "Santa Evita" (Chorus) is the song of Eva's devoted supporters, who see her as a modern-day saint.

★ "Waltz for Eva and Che" (Evita and Che) is a debate between the two characters over Eva's actions.
★ However, it is said that Eva and Che never met in real life.

★ "Dice Are Rolling/Eva's Sonnet" (Perón and Evita) Evita insists she can continue on, despite her failing health.

★ "You Must Love Me" (Evita — written for the 1996 film, later added to the stage version) Eva understands, at the end of her life, that Perón loves her for herself — not just for what she can do for him and his career.

★ "Eva's Final Broadcast" (Evita) a dying Eva renounces her pursuit of the vice presidency and swears her eternal love to the people of Argentina.

★ "Montage" (Chorus) are Evita's past achievements flashing before her eyes before she dies.

★ "Lament" (Evita) Eva recalls her life and asks for forgiveness. Eva dies and embalmers move on to preserve her body forever. In the last few lines of the show, Che tells of how a monument was to be built for Evita. Only the pedastol was completed and Evita's body disappeared for seventeen years....

Historical accuracy of the story


:See also: Che Guevara in popular culture''
Mandy Patinkin as Che in the 1979 Broadway production

After leaving Peronist Argentina in the mid-1950s, Guevara moved to Cuba. As Castro's collaborator, he came to occupy a position of spiritual leader in Cuba's government that was arguably analogous to Evita's role in Peronist Argentina. In the early productions of the musical, Ché and Evita have a confrontation in the song "Waltz for Eva and Ché". The character of Evita makes a reference to Guevara's future role in Castro's Cuba: "So go, if you're able/To somewhere unstable/And stay there/Whip up your hate/In some tottering state/But not here, dear/Is that clear, dear?" However, there is no evidence to suggest that Ché Guevara and Eva Perón actually ever met. Guevara later claimed that he had sent a letter to Perón's charity requesting a jeep, which was never received. He also joined a Peronist youth organisation in college, though only to gain access to their library.
The lyrics and storyline of the musical are based on Mary Main's biography, ''Evita: The Woman with the Whip'', which drew heavily upon the accounts of anti-Peronist Argentines. Shortly after the musical appeared, Nicholas Fraser and Marysa Navarro published a more neutral account of Eva Perón's life, titled ''Evita: The Real Lives of Eva Perón'', in which they claim that many of Main's assertions (which had influenced Rice's lyrics) were false, such as the suggestion that Eva had first gone to Buenos Aires as the mistress of a married musician, Agustín Magaldi. Instead, they wrote, Eva's mother Doña Juana had taken her there when she aspired to become a radio actress. Critics also suggested that Rice's lyrics disparaged Evita's achievements unnecessarily, particularly her charity work.
Following the success of the film version of "Evita," the government of Argentina released its own film biography of Peron, entitled "Eva Peron," to correct alleged distortions in the Lloyd Webber account. [1]

Productions


Poster for the Broadway production with Patti LuPone in the title role

;1978 London production
''Evita'' opened at the Prince Edward Theatre on June 21 1978. The title character was played by Elaine Paige, who had been selected from a large number of hopefuls, after Julie Covington elected not to take the role. Ché was played by the pop singer David Essex, and Perón by Joss Ackland. The production was directed by Harold Prince, choreographed by Larry Fuller, and produced by Robert Stigwood.
;1979 Broadway production
The show opened at the Broadway Theatre on September 25, 1979, and closed on June 26, 1983, after 1567 performances and 17 previews. Patti LuPone starred as Evita, withMandy Patinkin as Ché, Bob Gunton as Perón, Mark Syers as Magaldi, and Jane Ohringer as Peron's Mistress. As in the London production, Harold Prince directed with choreography by Larry Fuller.
;2006 London production
On 2 June 2006, the first major London production of ''Evita'' in 25 years opened at London's Adelphi Theatre, directed by Michael Grandage with Argentine actress Elena Roger as Eva Perón, Philip Quast as Perón, and Matt Rawle as Ché. Notably, its song list included "You Must Love Me", written for the 1996 film, which had never been part of an English-language stage production. The production opened to rave reviews, but due to a surfeit of musicals in the West End at the time, ticket sales were slow and the production closed on May 26 2007, after a run of less than twelve months.[2]

Adaptations


1996 film

Main articles: Evita (film)

Plans for a film developed soon after the West End and Broadway openings, which was originally to have starred Barbra Streisand or Liza Minnelli as Eva, and Barry Gibb or Barry Manilow as Ché, and was to have been directed by Ken Russell. This eventually did not materialise, and it was not until the 1996 film ''Evita'', directed by Alan Parker, that the theatrical production came to the big screen, with Madonna in the title role, Antonio Banderas as Ché, and Jonathan Pryce as Perón. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for Best Original Song ("You Must Love Me", composed especially for the film).

Awards and nominations


;Olivier Awards 1978[3]

★ Best New Musical

★ Performance of the Year in a Musical — ''Elaine Page''
;Tony Awards[4]

★ Best Musical (WINNER)

★ Best Score (WINNER)

★ Best Book (Musical) (WINNER)

★ Best Director (Musical) — ''Harold Prince'' (WINNER)

★ Best Actor (Featured Role - Musical) — ''Mandy Patinkin''(WINNER)

★ Best Featured Actor in a Musical -- Bob Gunton (nominee)

★ Best Actress (Musical) — ''Patti Lupone'' (WINNER)

★ Best Lighting Designer — ''David Hersey'' (WINNER)

★ Best Scenic Design (nominee)

★ Best Costume Design (nominee)

★ Best Choreography (nominee)
;Drama Desk Awards[5]

★ Outstanding Musical (WINNER)

★ Outstanding Lyrics (WINNER)

★ Outstanding Music (WINNER)

★ Outstanding Actress (Musical) — ''Patti LuPone'' (WINNER)

★ Outstanding Featured Actor (Musical) — ''Bob Gunton'' (WINNER)

★ Outstanding Director of a Musical (WINNER)

★ Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Patinkin) (nominee)

★ Outstanding Choreography (nominee)

★ Outstanding Costume Design (nominee)

★ Outstanding Lighting Design (nominee)
;Outer Critics Circle Awards 1980[6]

★ Best Lyricist
Cultural impact

''Evita'' came in sixth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the UK's "Number One Essential Musicals".[7]
One episode of ''The Simpsons'', "The President Wore Pearls", has a plot loosely based on the musical, including parodies of songs such as "Don't Cry for Me, Kids of Springfield". At the end of the episode, a disclaimer is displayed stating, "On the advice of our lawyers, we swear we have never heard of a musical based on the life of Eva Perón".

Recordings


At least twenty-five English language cast albums have been released, along with many foreign language recordings. There are currently four in Spanish, five German, three in Japanese, and two in Hebrew, with additional recordings in Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, Hungarian, Icelandic, Korean, Portuguese, and Swedish.

★ 1976 concept album

★ 1978 London cast

★ 1979 Broadway cast

★ 1980 Spanish Cast

★ 1981 Korean Cast

★ 1996 film soundtrack

★ 2006 London cast

References


1. Programme notes, 2006 London production
2. Joseph hangs Dreamcoat at Adelphi in July
3. Past Olivier Award winners
4. Archive: Evita
5. 1980 Drama Desk Awards
6. 1980 Outer Critics Circle Awards
7. Elaine Paige - Nation's Favourite Musicals

External links



Internet Broadway Database listing for Evita

''Evita'' at Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group

Evita synopsis and other information on the NODANW site
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