Evita question SPOILERS

[jamiekennywicked]

Posted: 6/18/12 at 4:22pm

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?

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/18/12 at 4:24pm

For me, it was when Peron sings something about "her little body is breaking down, she can't go on much longer".

But I don't pretend to have memorized the libretto. Maybe there's a direct indication earlier.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 6/18/12 at 4:26pm

Well, the show opens by saying she died.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/18/12 at 4:30pm

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?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/18/12 at 4:30pm

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?

[jamiekennywicked]

Posted: 6/18/12 at 4:32pm

Exactly.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 6/18/12 at 5:16pm

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.]

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

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 6/18/12 at 6:54pm

I don't think it's much of a spoiler when the thread concerns the death of a person who was once living and who died

[Bwayman2]

Posted: 6/18/12 at 8:09pm

I too have pondered this.

[AngelorPhantom1359]

Posted: 6/18/12 at 9:54pm

Eva Peron went on the Rainbow Tour in 1947, and she didn't die until 1952, so I think that the reference "She seemed to loose interest, she looked tired" meant that she was physically exhausted from traveling. I always thought that it was first established that Eva was ill at the end of Waltz for Eva and Che when she says, "Oh what I'd give for a hundred years, but the physical interferes...What is the good of the strongest heart in a body that's falling apart..."

[best12bars]

Posted: 6/18/12 at 10:01pm

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.

[jamiekennywicked]

Posted: 6/19/12 at 3:12am

I've had experience with people going to see the show, thinking Eva Peron was a fictional character.

[Jimbob2]

Posted: 6/19/12 at 3:57am

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

[JeanGudio]

Posted: 6/19/12 at 5:34am

I have a problem Evita is a musical. A musicals are for the theater and if the story does not fit the musical they will change it. I also wonder if the musical would have a different story structure for the revival and the OBC.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/19/12 at 6:44am

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

[temms]

Posted: 6/19/12 at 7:32am

I overheard this from two older audience members as they left after a performance of an "Evita" I did out in the regions:

OLDER MAN: Is that the real story? I thought she got shot.
OLDER WOMAN: No, she just died.

[Jimbob2]

Posted: 6/19/12 at 9:09am

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'"

[Wynbish]

Posted: 6/19/12 at 9:15am

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

It's an easy assumption to make. George M died eventually, but his bio-musical didn't start with a funeral. It's not a stage show, but Moulin Rouge starts with saying she is dead, and sure enough, she dies by the end. Granted, that doesn't prevent my share in Ewan's ugly cry. Gets me almost every time.

I have a problem Evita is a musical. A musicals are for the theater and if the story does not fit the musical they will change it. I also wonder if the musical would have a different story structure for the revival and the OBC.

Sure...



Updated On: 6/19/12 at 09:15 AM

[castlestreet]

Posted: 6/19/12 at 10:44am

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?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/19/12 at 11:22am

Ever the optimist, I didn't believe she was really sick until Che said: And Evita's body disappeared for 17 years.

[TracyLord]

Posted: 6/19/12 at 11:23am

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]

Posted: 6/19/12 at 11:39am

Absolutely, Castelstreet. In fact, it was an innovation for the original production, altering the Concept album at that moment. On the concept album, instead of collapsing she sings (to the same melody) "This is not a gambler's final throw, forced upon me by those bastards who / only long to see me up and go, it's not an unprepared or panicked move, which just goes to prove I'd be good for you, Eva - Vice President, is good for you".

The Eva/Peron reprise of 'So what happens now' 'where am I going to?' 'don't ask any more' were also added for the original, and don't feature on the concept album. I think think they were a really good idea, taking Eva to the vulnerability of the Mistress she usurped.

[castlestreet]

Posted: 6/19/12 at 12:00pm

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!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/19/12 at 12:18pm