Evita- Page 2
Evita
NYadgal
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/18/04
CurtainUp2
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/8/04
#27re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 12:38amPuhleeeeze! Madonna was perfect! Give credit where it's due. She worked hard and she delivered an incredible performance. No one is saying that she's a better singer than Lupone or anyone else for that matter. But like I said, this was a movie. And Patti Lupone is best viewed no closer than the 10th row of the orchestra section.
There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
- Nelson Mandela
Updated On: 10/25/04 at 12:38 AM
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
Matt_G
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/1/04
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
B.B. Wolf
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/26/04
Matt_G
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/1/04
#32re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 12:49amNo, I don't think I will. I just put EVITA in and am reliving the glory that is Madge.
"Noah, someday we'll talk again. But there's things we'll never say. That sorrow deep inside you. It inside me, too. And it never go away. You be okay. You'll learn how to lose things..."
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
B.B. Wolf
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/26/04
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
#35re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 12:58am
One final word on "Madge" as Lady Eve!!
It goes downhill from there--and how could it not?--as the movie rests on Madonna's shaky ability to die convincingly. "Have I said too much?" she sings. "Yes!" we shout. In her final moments, when she asks, "So what happens now?" and someone retorts, "Acting class!" it is painfully apparent that death will not be proud.
CurtainUp2
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/8/04
#36re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 1:03amWell... for what it's worth, one of my dearest friends (and by no means a Madonna fan) whose Argentine and lived in Argentina during the time that Peron held office, felt that Madonna did a beautiful job capturing the spirit and essence of Eva Peron. I saw the movie with him on Christmas day 1996 and I'll never forget his emotional reaction to it. On the other hand, Lupone's performance on stage left him cold. As for myself, I thought Lupone was excellent. But I still wouldn't have wanted to see her in the movie. Two very different mediums. And yes, two very different interpretations. But for my money, Madonna nailed it! Beside the fact that overall, I just think it works better as a movie than it does on stage.
There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.
- Nelson Mandela
Updated On: 10/25/04 at 01:03 AM
#37re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 1:43am
I thought I'd dive into this discussion.
LuPone was never going to be in the film version -- too old for it by the time Evita was going to be made into a movie. As well, her voice would just overpower a cinema house. She's trained for the stage, not for the cinema. One more point: her portrayal of Eva Peron is as Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber would have liked the character to be: cold, arrogant bitch-queen.
The film version was going for a character much warmer and multi-faceted (and closer to what Argentines see their Evita to be). I thought Madonna delivered a magnificent performance: charismatic, alluring and complicated. I by no means think Madonna is a good actress, but I think she really pulled it off in this movie (and worked damn hard at it, from what I've read). Question: do people on this board criticize Madonna's performance because she didn't deliver a convincing performance, or because she's Madonna and not a big Broadway star?
One more thing: unlike Moulin Rouge and Chicago that followed, the emphasis Evita the movie was NOT that it was a musical, but that it was a biopic about Eva Peron. So whether Madonna sang the score in its original key in inconsequential to me: she delivered a believable and identifiable Eva Peron, which is most important.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
#38re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 1:50am
One more thing: I thought Madonna's performance of Eva's death scene was beautiful and full of pathos.
Again, two different interpretations of Eva Peron: the stage version approached Eva as a power-hungry opportunist. The movie version did more research, IMO, and portrayed a more complex, morally-ambiguous character, which is more accurate if you ask me. Notice how when people talk of the stage version, they rarely compare it to historical evidence (it's as if the stage version is pure fiction); while when the film version is brought up, there is much more talk about the real Eva Peron.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
jczelyph
Broadway Star Joined: 10/21/04
#39re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 8:00am
Hello? Americans? Elaine Paige anyone? The original and best Evita on stage. She can sing (not scream like LuPone) and act (unlike Madonna, not that she is a stage Eva anyway).
I agree that Madge was pretty good in the film and she was probably the best choice for the role because Paige and LuPone would have been too old anyway. I have a lot of recordings of Evita and the OLC and movie soundtrack are definitely my favourites. LuPone on the other hand, makes me want to scratch my eyes out.
I think I might have just made myself the least popular person here...
"Jane, I've been dealt a blow - I've been dealt a blow, Jane."
#40re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 4:18pmPersonally, I don't like the OBCR either -- I think LuPone has a tendency of sounding awful on recording. The OLCR of Sunset Blvd. is another example. I don't think she emotes well on recording -- she sounds cold, sterile and loud. But from what I've heard, she's wonderful onstage.
BlueWizard's blog: The Rambling Corner
HEDWIG: "The road is my home. In reflecting upon the people whom I have come upon in my travels, I cannot help but think of the people who have come upon me."
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#41re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 4:39pmI don't get Madonna in anything, including Evita -- sorry. I found her performance in Evita cold, remote, plastic, unemotive (partly the director's fault as well) and undersung. It was like her video for "Vogue" -- lots of posing and attitude, but without a drop of warm blood running underneath the facade. Where was the fire? The spontaneity? The life behind the eyes? The whole film looked like a two hour feminine hygiene commercial to me. Nice cinematography. No depth whatsoever. Whatever criticisms one may have of Lupone, she never lacked in urgency and fire and passion (to say nothing of VOICE).
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Matt_G
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/1/04
#42re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 4:43pm
Margo, you've made a powerful enemy here, today.
Smithers, release the hounds.
"Noah, someday we'll talk again. But there's things we'll never say. That sorrow deep inside you. It inside me, too. And it never go away. You be okay. You'll learn how to lose things..."
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
Matt_G
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/1/04
#44re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 4:47pmThe sooner you admit that Madonna IS Eva Peron, the happier your life will be. You'll be free.
"Noah, someday we'll talk again. But there's things we'll never say. That sorrow deep inside you. It inside me, too. And it never go away. You be okay. You'll learn how to lose things..."
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#45re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 4:48pm
From the second she warbled 'Screw the middle classes...' and had that dead-behind-the-eyes look, I knew I wouldn't be a fan of Madonna's EVITA.
The death scene was alright...but I'm convinced Alan Parker was actually putting out cigarettes on the souls of her feet to get her to cry like that.
"I'm so looking forward to a time when all the Reagan Democrats are dead."
Matt_G
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/1/04
#46re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 4:49pmRobbieJ, you don't have to say that just to impress Margo. You've told me many times how much you loved her in it and now you can't stomach Patti LuBORING's recording.
"Noah, someday we'll talk again. But there's things we'll never say. That sorrow deep inside you. It inside me, too. And it never go away. You be okay. You'll learn how to lose things..."
robbiej
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
Matt_G
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/1/04
#48re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 4:58pm
Yeah, but it's Madonna. Case closed, Silly gal.
Now I WILL say that it doesn't compare to THE WORST WITCH, but than again nothing reall does.
"Noah, someday we'll talk again. But there's things we'll never say. That sorrow deep inside you. It inside me, too. And it never go away. You be okay. You'll learn how to lose things..."
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#49re: Evita
Posted: 10/25/04 at 5:37pm
Margo Channing wrote:
" The whole film looked like a two hour feminine hygiene commercial to me."
That has to be one of the funniest lines I have ever read describing a movie! I'm still laughing my @ss off!
As far as Madonna in "Evita", well I have to say that I wasn't impressed. The score was slowed down to such a pace so that she could keep up with it. It sucked all the energy out of the score. "Rainbow High" and "Buenos Aires" two of the most energetic songs in the score were downright yawns in the movie. It should have been so much better. I was downright disappointed because "Evita" happens to be one of my all-time favorites.
Updated On: 10/25/04 at 05:37 PM
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