Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
#1Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/5/23 at 4:46pm
Fascinating! https://youtu.be/wivRS9LHSN0?si=seiZb8P0O3Pmq_Bj
#2Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/5/23 at 5:26pm
Thank you.
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's own political views are abhorrent to me, so I'm not sure I would trust their judgement on Eva Perón anyway. Whatever about politics, there is definitely a misogynist element to this show. Sure, it has a woman as the main character, but it shames and treats her like a prostitute using her body to climb the ladder. Seems a little unfair, seeing as how it was her husband who passed on an STD which killed her. The same one which killed his FIRST wife. His womanizing is not shamed, or even mentioned. Sad.
#3Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/5/23 at 5:48pm
I was puzzled by Julie Covington's refusal to continue on with the role of Evita. Even when she initially decided to undertake a 1989 Australian production, she backed out at the last minute. I was surprised that both Patti LuPone and Elaine Paige shared similar "trials" with their alternates. Both ladies ffaced a media onslaught and obviously had difficulties with the vocal demands of the role. I had the "experience" of seeing Elena Roger in the second preview of Evita in 2012. While her acting was okay, her singing was decidedly underwhelming.
#4Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/5/23 at 6:27pm
I don't think Elaine Paige's voice ever really recovered. Even when she's speaking, it can sound like she has blown her sinuses out.
#5Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 2:08pm
Jay Lerner-Z said: "Thank you.
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's own political views are abhorrent to me, so I'm not sure I would trust their judgement on Eva Perón anyway. Whatever about politics, there is definitely a misogynist element to this show. Sure, it has a woman as the main character, but it shames and treats her like a prostitute using her body to climb the ladder. Seems a little unfair, seeing as how it was her husband who passed on an STD which killed her. The same one which killed his FIRST wife. His womanizing is not shamed, or even mentioned. Sad."
Is it me, or do you just hate the British.
And as far as EVITA is concerned, you can't really fault Lloyd Webber and Rice for her characterization, because at that point in time all the information available about Eva Peron was less than flattering but there is quite a bit of truth in that she did what she had to in her quest to get to where she did.
SANTA Evita is the oxymoron of oxymorons.
#6Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 2:59pm
It's just you. I do not hate the British.
#7Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 3:41pm
Jay Lerner-Z said: "It's just you. I do not hate the British."
Ahhh, there it is....
#8Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 4:00pm
There what is?
Let's compare Britain to Downton Abbey. I hate the lords and ladies, but love the servants. Just like Evita herself would.
BETTY22
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/29/13
#9Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 4:11pm
I remember ALW saying as a white, English man, couldn't write this show today.
#10Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 5:06pm
Was Evita not white? Spanish speakers are not automatically people of color.
#11Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 5:11pm
BETTY22 said: "I remember ALW saying as a white, English man, couldn't write this show today."
He said it in an interview earlier this year, but it's not true. Whatever problems Here Lies Love is facing, there is no widespread condemnation of the fact that it was written by white men (I'm sure you can find isolated complaints about it, of course).
More geographically on the nose, I don't think anyone has condemned LaChiusa for writing book, lyrics, and music for a show about a woman from Argentina.
chrishuyen
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/12/14
#12Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 5:59pm
Jay Lerner-Z said: "Was Evita not white? Spanish speakers are not automatically people of color."
This is sort of why Hispanic/Latino is considered an ethnicity and not a race, and there's been some back and forth on whether white Latinos count as people of color (a lot of this discussion was regarding Hamilton casting that I saw)
fosterfan2
Broadway Star Joined: 8/7/11
#13Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 6:03pm
Jay Lerner-Z said: "Thank you.
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's own political views are abhorrent to me, so I'm not sure I would trust their judgement on Eva Perón anyway. Whatever about politics, there is definitely a misogynist element to this show. Sure, it has a woman as the main character, but it shames and treats her like a prostitute using her body to climb the ladder. Seems a little unfair, seeing as how it was her husband who passed on an STD which killed her. The same one which killed his FIRST wife. His womanizing is not shamed, or even mentioned. Sad."
She died of breast cancer.
ajh
Broadway Star Joined: 5/6/11
#14Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 6:11pm
I thought she died from cancer of the uterus?
#15Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 6:50pm
My understanding is she died from cervical cancer, brought on by an undiagnosed and untreated STD. Juan Perón's first wife Aurelia died of the same cause in the late 1930s. Very sad. His third wife, Isabel, is still alive to this day. Quite a contrast.
#16Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 7:01pm
Chrishuyen, I don't know who gets to decide these things. I remember Penelope Cruz being celebrated as a person of color recently. It was news to her. She's Spanish, from Spain, in Europe. They don't regard their population as people of color... but Americans seem to. Strange.
#17Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 7:05pm
If people could pivot back to the featured players.. Elaine.. Patti...all that. It would be much appreciated.
#18Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 7:17pm
Sorry, sometimes I can get carried away by conversation.
Returning to the subject, I have more appreciation for Madonna's performance than I used to. Patti and Elaine's portrayal ,under the direction of Hal Prince, was too overly dynamic and all-conquering. Madonna showed the more human side, and I'm glad she ignored Alan Parker's direction in that regard.
John Adams
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/1/13
#19Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/6/23 at 9:02pmJay Lerner-Z said: "Was Evita not white? Spanish speakers are not automatically people of color."
Evita's lineage is Basque (the region along the northern border of Spain and southern France)
Argentina is largely a population made up of Italian and German immigrants. IMO, "European" describes the population more so than "Hispanic".
Argentines don't speak Spanish. They speak Castellano (not to be confused with Spanish Castilian). Castellano utilizes the archaic vosotros form of speech. Accents fall on different syllables. For example, if you want to say, "Leave me be!" in Spanish, you would say, "DEjame" (with the accent on the first syllable). In Castellano, you would say, deJAme vos" (with the accent on the second syllable).
Another fun fact: "che" is not a person's name. It's a vocative expression similar to, "buddy", "man", "gurl", etc. It's mostly used only in Argentina (very few other SA countries) and unlike other Hispanic words, it's neither masculine nor feminine. "Che" can be used to capture the attention of both men and women, equally.
Ernesto "Che" Guevara earned the nickname due to his fondness for, and over-abundant use of the expression.
Another fun fact: After Evita's death, Peron's third wife, Isabel, became the first female president of any country following Peron's death in 1974.
I was a foreign exchange student to Argentina in 1975. Isabel Peron was president while I was living there. There were *many* comparisons made between Isabel and Evita, both positive and negative.
I discovered the white concept album for Evita while browsing in a record store shortly after I returned to the US. I was both very surprised that it existed ...and also disappointed.
#20Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/7/23 at 12:40pm
That's interesting. I think they tried to christen her "Isabelita" at the time, hoping to recapture the magic of Eva. It didn't work.
Che Guevara had Irish ancestry, his father was a Lynch. The founder of the Argentine navy was also Irish. The current Pope is from Argentina, his parents were Italian.
#21Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/7/23 at 4:50pm
Just caught this last night as I was going down a YouTube hole. Very interesting episode and up to date to include the recent “revival”.
#22Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/8/23 at 11:01pm
Jay Lerner-Z said: "Sorry, sometimes I can get carried away by conversation.
Returning to the subject, I have more appreciation for Madonna's performance than I used to. Patti and Elaine's portrayal ,under the direction of Hal Prince, was too overly dynamic and all-conquering. Madonna showed the more human side, and I'm glad she ignored Alan Parker's direction in that regard."
Evita is the only role I've ever found Madonna convincing in. It's not a well directed movie but she delivers.
#23Staged Right: The Creation of Evita The Musical
Posted: 11/12/23 at 7:04pm
What did you not like about Alan Parker's direction? I loved it. He made a movie, not a screen version of the stage show. Which is always good. Cinematic. Expansive. Not like Susan Stroman's Producers movie. Not awful and completely clueless about musical potency like Tom Hooper.
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