Evita Question - Possible Spoiler!

[musikman]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 12:15pm

I saw Evita a few nights ago for the first time in about 10 years or so. The ending seemed awfully abrupt and strange with Che coming out to say that Evita's body had disappeared for 17 years, and then a cut to blackout.

Having seen it so long ago, I couldn't remember if this is the normal ending, or if maybe there are different version(s).

Thanks!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 12:18pm

No, that's the way it always ends. I've left productions where I've heard people murmuring, "Well, WHERE did it go?"

[ZiggyCringe]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 12:27pm

Nope, three different endings.

One of them is the one you saw. That's the Patti LuPone ending. It ends "disappeared, for 17 years."

Another ending, which is on the "Elaine Paige" cast recording, finishes things very differently.

Thirdly, there's the original cast recording, with David Essex, which has still another ending.

The Hal Prince ending works, IMO.






Updated On: 10/16/09 at 12:27 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 1:19pm

David Essex and Elaine Paige aren't on the same recording?

[TimesSquareRegular]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 1:27pm

OMG - Evita's DEAD????? I should have heeded the spoiler alert.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 1:42pm

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeadToBeginWith

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 2:48pm

Yes that is the original Broadway ending.

I think it's an appropriate ending because it leaves a hint of mystery (sort of like the Anastasia mystery). Also the musical has a lot of anti-Evita sentiment (her only good parts are between her thighs) and I think it says something that Che delivers the news that after a huge spectacle and viewing of the body, nobody knew what happened to Saint Eva's body.

***spoiler alert***

Compare the Evita ending to "Once On This Island". In the book, Ti Moune's body is chucked in a ditch. No "grew into a tree", no "this is why we tell the story." They gave it a happy, cheery Broadway ending, but it wasn't true to the source material.

[Sant]

Posted: 10/17/09 at 6:38am

I don't think that ending is confusing, strange or anything. I mean, throughout the show Che is acting as a narrator so it has to be him delivering that line. And the line adds a nice touch of 'mystery' to the story, sort of "though she died, her story didn't end here".

But in the London revival the ending was totally different. Well, the whole outlook of the show was different - for example Che's costume was the same kind as it was in the movie, he was more a bartender/peasant type. I don't remember Che delivering that line (he may have, though I don't remember it!). Just before "Lament" Eva's hospital bed is turned into a coffin by covering the bed with the Argentina's flag and Eva has climbed on a balcony and sings the song there. During the songs the ensemble, as the people of Argentina, bid their farewells to Eva's body, and after the song, Che and Peron walk up to the coffin - opposite sides of it - and then turn their backs to the audience and walk into the shadows and off the stage. All the while Eva is standing on the balcony, alone, with lights behind her so we can't no longer see her face. And then the curtain comes down.

I thought it was very beautiful ending. Different from Hal Prince's original, but beautiful.
Updated On: 10/17/09 at 06:38 AM

[BroadwayBenny]

Posted: 10/17/09 at 10:46am

I am about to close a production of Evita on Sunday that we've been running for a month (sniff sniff) ... I LOVE saying that line at the end of the show though. I haven't had any questions afterward from audiences as to what I was talking about.

also Ziggy, I thought it was Colm Wilkinson on the original recording? Essex was with Paige in the stage premiere.

[Sant]

Posted: 10/17/09 at 3:00pm

Benny, Essex was on the OLC with Elaine Paige.

Colm Wilkinson was on the original concept album opposite Julie Covington as Eva.