 Madonna as Evita in the 1996 movie adaptation of the musical Like Rice and Lloyd Webber's previous hit, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita began life as an album, released in 1975, with Julie Covington singing the lead role. Other parts were played by Paul Jones (Juan Perón), Barbara Dickson (the mistress), Colm Wilkinson (Che, the narrator, modeled on Che Guevara) and Tony Christie (Magaldi).
When it arrived on the West End stage at the Prince Edward Theatre on June 21, 1978, Evita was played by Elaine Paige, who had been selected from a large number of hopefuls after Julie Covington elected not to take the role. Che was played by David Essex and Peron by Joss Ackland. The show successfully transferred to Broadway and starred Patti LuPone as Evita, Mandy Patinkin as Che, and Bob Gunton as Perón.
Plans were soon in place for a film, which was originally to have starred Barbra Streisand and Barry Gibb and to have been directed by Ken Russell. This did not materialise, and it was not until 1996 that Evita came to the big screen with Madonna in the title role, Antonio Banderas as Che and Jonathan Pryce as Perón. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for Best Original Song ("You Must Love Me").
The show was the final collaboration of Rice and Lloyd Webber.
Songs
- "Oh, What A Circus" (Che)
- "On This Night of a Thousand Stars" (Magaldi)
- "Buenos Aires" (Evita)
- "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" (Evita and Mistress)
- "Goodnight and Thank You" (Che)
- "I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You" (Evita and Perón)
- "A New Argentina" (Evita and Perón)
- "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" (Evita)
- "High Flying, Adored" (Che and Evita)
- "Rainbow High" (Evita)
- "You Must Love Me" (Evita -- written for the 1996 film)
External Sites
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