Some Evita Questions

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 4:20pm

1. What's the point of the Mistress? She has a beautiful song, but she doesn't really show up later in the show or anything? I'm sort of left wondering what the significance of the song/charater is?

2. How do they do the Requiem in the London revival? I'm doing a local community/professional production and they're setting the Requium in a bar. I was just wondering if anyone has seen any other interpretations of the Requiem?

3. What does "Big Apple" mean? I've always been confused by that.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 4:32pm

1. Eva has a major costume change there. That's really about it.

2. I closed a production of Evita last month, for us it was a funeral sequence. Our production involved a lot of multimedia, so it was military escorting Eva's casket, the descamisdaos mourning and projection images of the real Eva throughout significant events in her life (a bit of a flash forward as they would be addressed throughout the production) and her real funeral shown on screens throughout the theater.

3. No one REALLY knows where the saying comes from. Similiar reason NYC is called "The Big Apple", it's the major metropolitan city where so many go to make their name. It's believed to be from the old show biz saying "There are many apples on the tree, but only one Big Apple."

Updated On: 5/5/07 at 04:32 PM

[musical_devotee]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 4:38pm

The London revival's Requiem starts with the footage from Eva Peron's funeral. Then, after the first chorus lines are finished one of female descamissados (i.e., poor) bursts into stage with a huge scream as the orchestra starts the crescendo. After that, the other people, members of her family gather and they cling close together and moan. A priest holding a crucifix joins them and that's about it. There is no coffin.

The whole sequence takes place in Junín, place where the real Eva Peron grew up.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 5:50pm

Also...Big Apple implies to the initials of Argentina's version of New York City: Buenos Aires, where Eva Peron dreams of going and making her fame.

B.A. = Buenos Aires = Big Apple

Also, the Mistress sequence is simply to showcase Eva's control (and power) how she took over Peron's life once she entered it -- Eva kicks this girl out. This explains the lyrics sung in "Another Suitcase in a Another Hall" (seems she's a serial 'mistress'). Peron was well-known for having an affinity for young girls/ladies (which is also referenced in the "Rainbow Tour" staging), and Eva took care of all that by 'cleaning house':

EVA: "...hello and goodbye -- I just unempoyed you. You can go back to school. You had a good run. I'm sure he enjoyed you. Don't act scared or surprised let's be fair, civilized. Come on little one, don't sit there like a dummy. The day you knew would arrive -- is here, you'll survive. So move, funny face!"

Posted: 5/5/07 at 6:02pm

Well, Colleen, it sounds like you missed a lot when you were in Evita

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 11:25am

Has there ever been a major production of Evita that didn't use projections throughout? I really wish the new version of Evita would come over, it sounds really interesting and beautiful.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 11:40pm

Do they always do the "cinema" opening?

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:25am

The phrase Big Apple has ALWAYS meant New York. Tim Rice admitted at the time that he was just having fun with the B.A. initials in his lyric but Buenos Aries has never been called The Big Apple.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/9/07 at 1:42am

Oh, well that's sorta lame. I mean, it has nothing to do with the story whatsoever, yet its repeated over and over again.

Posted: 5/9/07 at 4:20am

I HATE that B.A. line. Not only does it not make any real sense--the lyrics "I wanna be a, part of B.A., Buenos Aires, Big Apple" don't read well in a theatre if you'rehearing them for the first time (particularly when someone as inarticulate as Patti is singing them even if I adore her Evita). A perfect example of traps Rice likes to fall into

[dgjbear]

Posted: 5/9/07 at 4:37am

*** SPOLIERS***

Though suppose its closing now so no biggies!

I loved how they did the requiem bit in the new production, as described above - it had real power. And Eva appeared and changed from being one of the mourners into Evita (just took off a shawl basically that was covering her head and body, but was well done).

The best bit was Lament at the end where her body was lying in state in a coffin with the Argentine flag on it while the crowd moved slowly around it paying respects. Her ghost sang the song on the casa rosada above them. As the song comes to conclusion the crowd and officials leave the stage until there is only her on the balcony in shadow - thought it was very clever.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 5/9/07 at 5:20am

I believe that the mistress (though she existed in real life) was included to contrast with (and give emphasis to) Eva's manipulative/forceful personality. Whereas Eva is resolute, the mistress is passive.

I, for one, like the Big Apple reference. As others have pointed out, the initials B.A. stand for Big Apple/Buenos Aires (in fact, the city is sometimes referred to by its initials, not unlike L.A.). Also, "be a" in that line is a clever play on words. Though I have to agree with Eric, I had no idea what was being said/sung when I first watched it.

[musical_devotee]

Posted: 5/9/07 at 6:20am

Yes, I also tend to take B.A. as an abbreviation for Buenos Aires and Big Apple as a reference to a big city Buenos Aires is.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 3:22pm

Well, I understood the lyrics when I heard then, but it just doesn't make sense when later in the show Evita says "we might just loose...the big apple." I mean, it makes sense, but the fact that B.A. isn't called "the big apple" by anyone, just seems random. Evita is one of my favortie shows, but some of the lyrics just bother me. And I also find it odd that the mistress is the only character to get her own song, with the exception of the 3 leads. It seems so random because its hard to really care for this person cause she has no lines or anything.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 3:54pm

"The phrase Big Apple has ALWAYS meant New York. Tim Rice admitted at the time that he was just having fun with the B.A. initials in his lyric but Buenos Aries has never been called The Big Apple."


I can back this up because I heard Rice say this in an interview.

[temms]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:04pm

>>And Eva appeared and changed from being one of the mourners into Evita (just took off a shawl basically that was covering her head and body, but was well done). >>


Actually, it was done that way in the original Prince production, just as you described.

[Julian2]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:09pm

See, I've always heard it as "I wanna be/I wanna be/In Buenos Aires/Big Apple". I wondered about it, but a just assumed it was an adopted nickname for the city because it was the main city in Argentina, like New York is to America. But it dosen't really suprise me that its not, it always sounded a little wierd.