Evita question SPOILERS

I've just gotten into the show (I was familiar with Buenos Aires and Don't Cry..Argentina before hand) and was wondering, in what part of the show do we actually find out Eva is dying? I know she faints during Rainbow Tour but when is it actually stated?

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Well, the show opens by saying she died.

By saying you just got into the show does that mean you are just now in the middle of listening to it for the first time?

LOL @ Wynbish! True that.

Though traces of her illness are hinted throughout Act II in "Rainbow Tour" (But she suddenly seemed to lose interest, she looked tired) and "She Is a Diamond" (But on the other hand she's slowing down, she's lost a little of that magic drive) and "Dice Are Rolling" (Your little body's slowly breaking down, you're losing speed, you're losing strength not style), it's not officially stated that she is ill or dying until later in "Dice are Rolling" when Perón frustratingly blurts it out when Eva is refusing to accept that she is ill (I am trying to point out that you are dying!). And even then we're never told what the illness is. [For the record, it was cervical cancer.]

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Updated On: 6/18/12 at 05:16 PM

I too have pondered this.

There is something about this thread that makes me smile.

The innocence of it.

I love that there are people out there who suspend their disbelieve enough to wonder and hope if Eva will live ... and worry about when the first signs of death are cast upon her.

... especially when the show opens up with her funeral. It's not a question of IF she will die, but WHEN she will die.

To think that you were so caught up in the story to wonder or even hope that she wouldn't succumb to her own fate is a testament to the power of the writing.

"Evita" may not be a perfect show, but it does present its leading lady in such a light that you get completely caught up in her journey.

And you hope ... that maybe ... this time ... the cancer won't win.

I kinda love that.

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I guess there's a glimmer of a chance that if people don't know the show or Eva's history, they might think that the funeral is for a more timely death; not a life cut short so young. I haven't seen the Grandage production, but the original one had projections (I think including her embalmed body) and of course the waxwork corpse in the coffin. But still, you might not tell her young age from those if you didn't know; and nothing in the lyrics of 'Oh, what a circus' indicates her age.

Interesting, certainly makes it a different watch if you don't know her life is going to be cut short at her prime.

Updated On: 6/19/12 at 03:57 AM

Jaimie - hell, there are people that didn't know TITANIC was a real event.

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Love it, Temms!

My favourite 'overhear' was after a tour performance of Evita in Bristol, England. Standing at the bus stop a mother and daughter. Daughter: "I thought she was gonna sing that 'Mem'ry'"

Here is a question for anyone who saw the Original Production of the show- did Eva have the big dramatic collapse after singing "Then I Must Now Be Vice-President" as the music swells during Dice Are Rolling?

While Eva Peron may not have actually been sick during her "Rainbow Tour," I don't think, from a structural standpoint, that the musical would take the time to show us her collapsing if it wasn't meant to have dramatic significance. For that reason, I have always assumed that her fainting was the first sign of her illness. By the time we get to the Waltz, I think that she knows that she is not only sick, but also that she is dying.

Jimbob2- thank you so much for the info- its been so long since I have listened to the Concept album I had forgotten that they were different there- I will be giving another go!