Evita is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. It concentrates on the life of Argentine political leader Eva Peron, the second wife of Argentine president Juan Peron. The story follows Evita's early life, rise to power, charity work, and eventual death. The musical began as a rock opera concept album released in 1976.
In Buenos Aires on July 26, 1952, an audience is watching a film ("A Cinema in Buenos Aires, July 26, 1952"). The film is interrupted when news breaks of the death of Eva Peron, Argentina's First Lady, at the age of 33. The nation goes into public mourning as they sing "Requiem for Evita" (in Latin, which is modelled on a Catholic requiem). Che, a member of the public, marvels at the spectacle and promises to show how Eva did "nothing, for years" ("Oh What a Circus"). In 1934, 15-year-old Eva Duarte (later Eva Duarte de Peron) lives in the provincial town of Junin, and longs to seek a better life in Buenos Aires. Eva falls in love with a tango singer, Agustin Magaldi, after she meets him at one of his shows ("On This Night of a Thousand Stars"). Eva persuades Magaldi into taking her with him to Buenos Aires and though he is initially resistant, he eventually accepts ("Eva, Beware of the City"). Upon her arrival at the city, Eva sings about her hopes and ambitions of glory as an actress ("Buenos Aires"). After Magaldi leaves her, and Che relates the story of how Eva goes through several relationships with increasingly influential men, becoming a model, actress and radio personality ("Goodnight and Thank You"). He then tells of both a right-wing coup in 1943 and Eva's success, implying that Argentine politics and Eva's career may soon coincide. Che also makes a point to introduce the figure of Colonel Juan Domingo Peron, an ambitious military colonel who was making his way up the Argentine political ladder ("The Lady's Got Potential"). In a game of musical chairs that represents the rise of political figures, Peron and other military figures compete for power and exhibit their political strategy ("The Art of the Possible"). After the 1944 San Juan earthquake, Peron organises a charity concert at Luna Park to provide aid to the victims. Eva attends and briefly reunites with Magaldi, who spurns her for her past actions. Peron addresses the crowd with words of encouragement and leaps off the stage, meeting Eva as soon as he exits ("Charity Concert"). Eva and Peron share a secret rendezvous following the charity concert, where Eva hints that she could help Peron rise to power ("I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You"). Eva dismisses Peron's Mistress (the character is known only by that title), who ponders the rejection ("Another Suitcase in Another Hall"). After moving in with Peron, Eva is introduced to high society, but she is met with disdain from the upper classes and the Argentine Army ("Peron's Latest Flame"). In 1946, Peron launches his presidential bid after being promoted to general in the army, and while in bed with Eva, he discusses his chances of winning the election. Eva reassures him and soon they organise rallies where the people show their support and hope for a better future, while on the sidelines Peron and his allies plot to dispose of anyone who stands in their way ("A New Argentina"). In 1972, Robert Stigwood proposed that Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice develop a new musical version of Peter Pan, but they abandoned the project. Travelling late to a meal one night in 1973, though, Rice heard the end of a radio show about Eva Peron which intrigued him. As a child stamp collector, he had been fascinated by her image on the Argentine stamps, but was unaware of her significance in Argentina's history. He began research and was introduced by a Cinema International Corporation executive to the Argentine film director Carlos Pasini Hansen who had produced the TV film Queen of Hearts, which had aired in the UK on 24 October 1972. The executive also arranged for Rice to see the film at Thames Television which he did "at least twenty times" saying also that "by that time I had seen Pasini's superbly researched film, I was hooked." The more Rice investigated Eva Peron, going so far as to travel to Buenos Aires to research her life with many documents and contacts that Pasini had supplied, the more fascinated he became by the woman; he even named his first daughter after her. Rice suggested the idea of a musical based on the subject to Lloyd Webber, but although the idea of writing a score including tangos, pasos dobles, and similar Latin flavours intrigued him, Lloyd Webber ultimately rejected the idea. He decided instead to collaborate with Alan Ayckbourn on Jeeves, a traditional Rodgers and Hart-style musical based on the P. G. Wodehouse character, which proved to be a critical and commercial failure. After Jeeves, Lloyd Webber returned to Rice, and they began developing Rice's proposed musical. The authors of the 1996 book Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron claim the musical was based on Mary Main's biography The Woman with the Whip, which was extremely critical of Eva Peron. Though Rice praised the Main biography, it was never officially credited as source material. Rice created a character, Che, to serve as a narrator and Greek chorus. Although he had recently discovered Che Guevara was Argentine, he did not necessarily intend that the character be based upon him, despite inserting specific biographical details into the lyrics that clearly apply to Guevara. When Harold Prince later became involved with the project, he insisted that the actors portraying Che should use Guevara as a role model. In the 1996 film adaptation, the character returned to his more anonymous roots. This was also the case for the 2006 London revival. Lloyd Webber and the conductor Anthony Bowles presented the musical at the second Sydmonton Festival before making the recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. As they had previously done with Jesus Christ Superstar, the songwriting team decided to record Evita as an album musical and selected actress and singer Julie Covington to sing the title role, after having caught an episode of Rock Follies and remembered her from the original London production of Godspell. The recording, which was released by MCA Records who had previously marketed Jesus Christ Superstar, commenced in April 1976 and was produced by Lloyd Webber and Rice. The recording was engineered by David Hamilton Smith, whose work Rice later acknowledged was effectively that of a third producer. He also delivered the line, "Statesmanship is more than entertaining peasants," a rebuttal to Eva's balcony speech on the album. Released in 1976, the two-record set included Paul Jones as Juan Peron, Colm Wilkinson as Che, Barbara Dickson as Peron's mistress, and Tony Christie as Agustin Magaldi. The writers had originally considered Steve Marriott and John Fogerty but neither was interested. Murray Head, who had enormous success with the Superstar album, recorded some demos but Rice later admitted they "didn't really reproduce the magic that his portrayal of Judas had." Colm Wilkinson had recently played Judas in the London production of Superstar and agreed to audition: "It only took a couple of verses to know he was our man." Mike d'Abo, who had succeeded Paul Jones as lead singer of Manfred Mann, had a minor role on the album which was notable as the first one which both had appeared. Mike Smith, former lead vocalist with the Dave Clark Five and d'Abo's then working partner, also appeared. Pasini wrote the dialogue in Spanish of the first scene, "A Cinema in Buenos Aires, 26 July 1952". On this recording, he played the part of the actor in the soundtrack of a movie that grinds to a halt and also read the official communique of Eva's death. When the album was presented to the press at Lloyd Webber's country home Sydmonton, Pasini organised a photographic presentation with his colleague Anton Furst to accompany it. His contribution to the development of the project was recognised as Rice and Lloyd Webber acknowledged him first in a thank you speech afterwards. In Britain, Australia, South Africa, South America, and various parts of Europe, sales of the concept album exceeded those of Jesus Christ Superstar; in the United States, however, it never achieved the same level of success. Covington's recording of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (originally titled "It's Only Your Lover Returning") was released in October 1976. It reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart and enjoyed similar success internationally. Dickson's "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" also became a hit. In the US and UK, respectively, Karen Carpenter, Olivia Newton-John, and Petula Clark released cover versions of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina".
What was the recording?
Requiem for Evita" ( the songwriting team decided to record Evita as an album musical the songwriting team decided to record Evita as an album musical and selected actress and singer Julie Covington to sing the title role, The recording, which was released by MCA Records who had previously marketed Jesus Christ Superstar, commenced in April 1976 and was produced by Lloyd Webber Che, a member of the public, marvels at the spectacle and promises to show how Eva did "nothing, for years" ("
Che, a member of the public, marvels at the spectacle and promises to show how Eva did "nothing, for years" ("