Photo Flash: First Look at EVITA's Stars - Ricky Martin, Elena Roger & Michael Cerveris; Previews Start March 12- Page 3

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 7:42pm

Her voice is great. Her diction is much better now than it was when they recorded the OLC.

[canmark]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 7:49pm

>>> I was just listening to Roger's cast recording again today. And I'll say it again, her vocals are truly painful. Totally unlistenable. Her diction is beyond atrocious, and yes I know her accent is authentic. But how are audiences going to understand a word she sings? I know the lyrics, and it's still difficult to understand her on the cast album.

>>>> And yes, I know, people say she sounds "much better live!"


The recording was made soon after the show opened (in the early summer) and, agreed, her accent and voice are a bit harsh. I saw her in late winter, and I think having performed the role for many months and living in London improved her command of English greatly. I thought she sounded fine--not exceptional, but her dancing ability and petite stature worked well with the firebrand nature of Eva--and was a very good total package. (That she continued to perform on the London stage---in straight plays, in English--would indicate her increased fluency.)

I would expect an even better vocal performance than on the London recording--but if you think not, you can always go and see her alternate.

The person whose accent I had issues with was Matt Rawle. I felt like he went in and out from Argentinian to American to British throughout the performance (which was otherwise fine).

I really liked the design and staging of that production, and am liking what I'm seeing of the costuming for the Broadway production. This is not the Hal Prince Evita, but it's a stylish new take on a '70s musical set in the '30s and '40s.

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 8:17pm

Juan Peroni?
Sounds like he should be twirling pizzas somewhere.

None of the concerns mentioned above worry me as much as Rob Ashford's involvement.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 8:30pm

I have "seen" the London revival, and I saw the tour with the original staging a few years back. I am a huge Evita fan and I love both productions. They are extremely different, but both are remarkable IMO. I also really like the set for the London production. It never changes, but it is a very effective set.

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 10:35pm

Brantley was not crazy about this production.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/03/theater/03evit.html

I wonder if Isherwood will review it for Broadway, like with Sister Act.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 10:38pm

Brantley didn't exactly give the Kennedy Center production of Follies rave reviews either. And I seem to remember complaints about one of that show's stars' vocal performance.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 10:41pm

In this clip, not ony does LuPone hit every note flawlessly and with reckless abandon, she exhibits quite a bit of feistiness. I love her little growl. This was thrilling to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxNPZisSYAc&NR=1

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 10:45pm

I don't see a word about Peters' vocal performance in Brantley's DC review.

In fact, he even says this about her.

As for Ms. Peters, alone on the stage with a great torch song, “Losing My Mind,” she more than makes up for any prior uncertainty in her performance with what is the most affecting version of this ballad I have ever heard.

http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/theater/reviews/follies-at-kennedy-center-review.html?pagewanted=all

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 10:52pm

I agreed with Brantley's review of EVITA in London and hope a lot is different in this production; I especially agree with what he wrote about the treatment of the character of Eva Peron, who in this revival is sort of canonized, which is a lot less fun than the bitch Hal Prince had in mind in the original production

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/27/11 at 11:19pm

I don't see a word about Peters' vocal performance in Brantley's DC review.

In fact, he even says this about her.

As for Ms. Peters, alone on the stage with a great torch song, “Losing My Mind,” she more than makes up for any prior uncertainty in her performance with what is the most affecting version of this ballad I have ever heard.

I wasn't clear in my message, but I didn't necessarily mean Brantley's review. I meant people on message boards were complaining about her voice.

[Muhlethaler]

Posted: 10/28/11 at 3:25pm

Updated On: 6/18/20 at 03:25 PM

[The Scorpion]

Posted: 10/28/11 at 4:09pm

I have noticed a huge attachment to Hal Prince's original and LuPone's Eva on Broadway boards such as this in a way I never really noticed on London boards when the revival played here.

Hal Prince is an idol of mine and I loved his production; but I loved Grandage's too. There were some flaws, but there were also some things that, believe it or not, surpassed the original in my eyes (such as the staging of 'Buenos Aires').

I do worry though with reading comments like these how this revival is going to go down with staunch Broadway and Patti fanatics. Elena is phenomenal and it's a rare thing for the London critics to unanimously hype up someone's performance...the last time I remember them being so mesmerised by one person's performance in a musical was Michael Crawford in Phantom.

The recording is not great although I enjoy it. It doesn't at all reflect what happened live, not in the tempo, nor in the orchestrations, nor the performances. It wasn't even done after it opened, it was a rushed recording job in previews. And it's a real shame it was highlights only; I really hope, especially with the commercial justification of Ricky Martin's fanbase, that the Broadway production generates a full-length cast recording.

Elena's diction is much better now, although I had no problems understanding her in the first place. She is not a belter and she's not Patti. If you expect her to play Eva as a one-dimensional diva bitch, you will be disappointed. As much as I loved Hal's production, I do agree with Tim Rice that, when they took the show to Broadway the first time round, they went too far in villainising her. The Anglo-American world knows a lot more about Argentina and the Peróns than it did in the 70s, and if you go to Argentina now or read up on the subject, it becomes clear that the original Broadway production merely perpetuated a 'black myth' about Evita that isn't true. She was no saint, but she was no pure incarnation of evil either. Maybe it's not as fun to have her as a one-dimensional bitch, but it is more challenging. I imagine critics will complain about how Rice's portrayal doesn't make up it's mind about her, but the point is that it's not supposed to, and both ideas -- of Eva as the saint, and Eva as the sinner -- run concurrently and are never resolved.

The press photo is gorgeous but it doesn't reflect the costumes/design of the London revival. I assume this is just a taster and maybe we will see Cerveris with a wig? Who knows?

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/28/11 at 4:20pm

I can't disagree strongly enough with the notion that LuPone played Eva as a one-dimensional bitch.

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/28/11 at 4:26pm

She is not a belter

But I rather hear a thrillingly belted/sung Evita. Not a woman straining and shouting trying to hit the notes. I think the role needs a belter.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/28/11 at 4:44pm

I've actually read that Eva was softened for the original New York production from London where she was portrayed as a real monster (you get a glimpse of this in the clips of Elaine Paige in the role on Youtube).

I understand the desire to try to make Eva seem fully dimensional, but my issue with how the character of Eva is 'softened' in this vision, is that the musical, as originally written really does 'villianize' Eva Peron to a large degree, and there isn't really a satisfying way around that.

Webber and Rice at least partly wrote the original EVITA as an allegory over the political unrest in British politics in the 1970s under Margaret Thatcher (an equally ambitious loved/despised political woman)

The musical (though unaccredited) is largely based on information from a biography called "The Woman with the Whip" published in 1952 by Mary Main. There are countless things in the biography, from the story of Eva leaving at 15 with Magaldi, to her throwing out Peron's mistress to the details from the Rainbow Tour that all stem from this specific biography.

Many of these things have since been debunked, but the book and the musical as written are too sewn up with the fabric of this version of the myth that they didn't leave much room for revision in interpretation.

The London production tried to get around some of Eva's villany, by simply ignoring the lyrics, even as Che sang them, often to truly bizarre affect. I remember in "The Money Kept Rolling In" as Che sang about Eva skimming money off for expenses and adding it to her own Swiss Bank accounts, Ashford and Grandage had Elena Roger hugging children or some such saintly nonsense.

They also added the song for the film "You Must Love Me" which Brantley pegged in his review correctly as feeling like a late night last minute limp plea for some kind of human sympathy for this character who for the last 90 minutes has systematically clawed her way over men, the aristocracy, the military and Che Guevara in her desire for power.

Honestly, the only solution if they wanted to paint a more sympathethic portrayal of Eva Peron that would work, I think, is for Tim Rice to re-write some of his lyrics.

But why should they do that? And why should they apologize for the anger filtered through/towards the character as they wrote the musical as disillusioned young men in their 20s?

Part of the appeal of Evita for me has always been in its enigmatic quality. "Oh My daughter. Oh My Son. Understand what I have done" has always been something of an unanswerable plea, that I'm not sure is worth trying to really answer in the musical itself.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/28/11 at 4:47pm

Ljay, you didnt' respond to what I wrote earlier - you might not have seen it - but I'm curious to hear your thoughts on Julie Covington, because Webber and Rice clearly didn't have a LuPone type voice in mind when the wrote the show initially.

To that end, I'd actually be curious to hear your thoughts on Paige who sounds like she just 'stood and screamed and strained' alot of the role too.
Paige singing Rainbow High Updated On: 10/28/11 at 04:47 PM

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/28/11 at 4:59pm

Well there has to be a reason why they didn't continue with Covington? Please enlighten me - because I really don't know the story.

And Paige sounds a heck of a lot better in that clip than from what I've heard of Roger.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/28/11 at 5:03pm

well it was definitely Covington's choice to not continue with the show. She apparently didn't like the musical or the character and didn't want to be pegged as a musical theatre actress. There are a few biographys on Andrew Lloyd Webber that claim Tim Rice begged Julie to reconsider and thought her indispensable to the project.

Covington was supposed to open the Australian production but famously walked out of rehearsals two days before opening night (She was a little crazy apparently) allowing LuPone to finally 'find her voice' (in her own words) as a last minute replacement.

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/28/11 at 5:05pm

Wow, interesting!

[sassylash3s]

Posted: 10/28/11 at 5:06pm

I was just reading Tim Rice's "Oh What A Circus," and apparently everyone involved wanted Covington to do the part on stage, but she wasn't interested. I believe the reason she gave was that she didn't want to "compromise the integrity" of her recording, whatever that means. I may be misremembering that part, though. I also seem to remember hearing stories that she had developed some kind of agoraphobia/stage fright at the time.


EDIT: Beaten to it.

Updated On: 10/28/11 at 05:06 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/28/11 at 5:17pm

Here's the article that Covington talks about her reasons for not doing EVITA on stage.
Covington interview

[The Scorpion]

Posted: 10/30/11 at 7:07am

Rice has always claimed that he wrote Evita *before* he read the Main biography, basing the musical more on the TV documentary called Queen of Hearts (which I've never seen), but either way, he did like Main's biography and called it "superb". Note that this is before the more balanced biographies of Eva came out in the 1990s.

The London production tried to get around some of Eva's villany, by simply ignoring the lyrics, even as Che sang them, often to truly bizarre affect. I remember in "The Money Kept Rolling In" as Che sang about Eva skimming money off for expenses and adding it to her own Swiss Bank accounts, Ashford and Grandage had Elena Roger hugging children or some such saintly nonsense.

Funny, I interpreted the whole scene differently. Elena's Eva looked mean as hell while she was distributing the money. It was a really complicated moment because you didn't know how to react -- on the one hand, it's good she was giving out the money; on the other, it seemed her motives were less than honourable. I liked how the production kept the two ideas going without really resolving them.

I do think though that Grandage shouldn't have cut some of the things he did. There weren't many things he cut, but much missed for me was Eva's 'But your despicable class is dead! Look who they are calling for now!'. I'd like that to be restored for Broadway if possible.

As for Covington, it is truly a shame she never played Eva on stage. The original concept album remains my favourite and her Eva is phenomenal. She was convinced by the producers in Australia (a production that Patti I think later ended up in for a while) to do the role there, and they even printed publicity material with her name on it, and then she had second thoughts and backed out at the last minute. I'm not sure she felt confident enough in her own abilities, even though she clearly possessed them.
Updated On: 10/30/11 at 07:07 AM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 10/30/11 at 9:52am

I imagine the QUEEN OF HEARTS documentary (as well as the radio program Andrew Lloyd Webber heard about the Perons on the BBC -- which was apparently the very first inspiration for the idea of a musical) were both at least heavily inspired by information in Main's biography. Written shortly after Peron's death, it was really the only substantial biography (in English) about Eva Peron until the late 70s when the musical created a new public interest in her.

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 10/30/11 at 10:37am

In case you haven't heard it:
Julie Covington Sings Rainbow High

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 10/30/11 at 10:39am

Double post... Updated On: 10/30/11 at 10:39 AM