Evita
by Claire J Rottenberg
Although the film version of "Evita" was a financial
success, earning almost $140 million in profit, the
film did not reach the Broadway play's critical
acclaim and success.
"Evita," unlike most of the musicals before it, did
not begin or achieve its first success on Broadway.
Instead, it started as a concept album in 1976 and
then two years later became a success on the West End
of London. It took another year to bring "Evita" to
Broadway and US success. The Broadway version starred
Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin and it ran on
Broadway for 1,567 performances, over a period of
close to 4 years. "Evita" received 11 Tony
nominations and it won 4 Tony awards, including the
awards for Best Musical, Best Book and Best
Director.
The beautiful music for "Evita" was written by Andrew
Lloyd Webber, with poignant lyrics by Tim Rice, who
also wrote the book for the play. The screenplay was
adapted by Rice and Webber plus Alan Parker and
Oliver Stone. Several songs from the original stage
production were eliminated from the 1996 movie
version and one new song, the beautiful "You Must
Love Me," was added to the film.
The movie version of "Evita" is wonderful with a
perfect, superb cast. Yet, it only won the Academy
Award for Best Music, Original Song ("You Must Love
Me") and the other 4 nominations it received were
minor awards. There were no nominations for any of
the stars, even though Antonio Banderas was the
perfect Che and no one could have been better than
Madonna as Eva Peron.
"Evita" was my first exposure to Madonna (really) and
I was thoroughly impressed with her acting and
incredibly beautiful singing voice. Although "Evita"
made money for its producers and investors, 12 years
later the film has become a lesser purchased and
viewed film. Yet, it is a film will worth watching
over and over. If you haven't seen "Evita," give it a
try this Christmas and you'll be in for a special
treat.