What makes Evita so hard for the actress playing Eva?

[MTVMANN]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 3:40pm

I've just finished listening to the revival CD, and it made me want to ask why the role is considered so difficult to sing.

I've listened to Patti LuPone talk about it many times from her audiobook, but I'd like to hear it from a different point of view.

Besides part of "A New Argentina" and "Rainbow High" what makes this role so difficult that few women have been able to sing it?

Sorry if this has been discussed to death...

[ComingUpRoses2]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 4:10pm

It's mostly the range of the score and the fact that the whole show is sung through. There's no downtime. Lots of costumes changes, lots of energy needed, etc.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 5:13pm

I think Patti describes the difficulty pretty thoroughly in her book. She describes the role as being written mostly in the passaggio and that there are a lot of high notes and low notes that Eva sits on all night long. I think it's the range required that's so taxing on the voice and having to do it six times a week.

Updated On: 8/25/12 at 05:13 PM

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 5:16pm

I think that it's the range and the way Lloyd Webber wanted the score to be sung. He wanted the whole thing belted, top to bottom, and that's pretty taxing on the voice.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 5:28pm

^I wonder what eventually changed his mind? Elena certainly doesn't sing it that way.

[broadway guy]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 5:31pm

Plus the countless costume changes.You cant play the part if your not a triple threat.You need to be a great actress,an even greater singer and know how to do all different kind of dances( waltz,tango ect ect).The singing range for evita is out of this world! Many singers have had there voice ruined because of the original key eva sings in.

Patti said in her book that she knew she would be on or off that night depending on how buenos aires went.Its like singing elphabaX20 lol. I really do think Eva Peron is the most demanding female part in musical theatre.

Although some actresses like Florence Lacey and Loni Ackerman said they found the part easier because the range of evita fit naturally with there range.

[jpbran]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 5:34pm

Because Webber HATES WOMEN!

Duh.

[broadway guy]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 5:37pm

Lol It's a female's Nightmare but a Gay Man's wet dream :p

Updated On: 8/25/12 at 05:37 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 5:46pm

All of that and the fact that the vast majority of musical theater protagonists are easy to love. Or at least like. The actress has a not undaunting challenge in making the audience care about her to a sufficient extent (notwithstanding that the theme of Evita is simply celebrity itself) - not simply take it on face value that the nation weeped for her.

It makes one wonder how Byrne is going to pull off Imelda.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 7:28pm

It also seemed to me that they used to cast actresses who had to belt the high notes at the very top of their ranges (or at least sound like they did). Women who could easily belt even higher didn't bring the same tension to "A New Argentina" and the like.

[My Oh My]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 8:55pm

Eva has notes that are not just "high," they are bright and require proper projection. A lot of people think that just hitting those notes means being able to sing it. Not really, you have to sing them the way they were meant to be sung. This is why going through the role in head voice sounds lame.

Personally, I'm not the easily impressed type that gets "WoWed" by "high" notes. But I require them in this show because they effectively relay a story with lots of ups and downs and keeps it sounding with a sense of urgency. The toning down that Roger does in the revival subdues the role and the show considerably.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 9:16pm

Exactly, My Oh My (except that I haven't seen the revival and can't comment on Miss Roger)! During the initial run of the show, there's no way they would have cast an Evita who did the top notes in her head voice or even a mix. (Okay, now somebody's going to come up with an exception...)

The way the voice sits on those high notes is an expression of Eva Peron's character. It's not just about "what sounds good".

[My Oh My]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 9:27pm

"The way the voice sits on those high notes is an expression of Eva Peron's character. It's not just about "what sounds good"."

That's what I was trying to say. Thanks for saying it better than I could. =)

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 9:29pm

Not at all. You said it very well, indeed. I was simply elaborating from my perspective as a playwright/dramaturg, rather than as a performer.

[broadway guy]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 11:08pm

Questions.

How long was Patti in evita?
Did elaine paige do 6x a week or 8x a week? I assume its 6?
Why didnt elaine go to broadway for evita?

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 8/25/12 at 11:56pm

I can tell you Elaine Paige did 6 shows per week because I was in London and couldn't get a ticket to see her. So I saw the "matinee Evita" at the time, Marti Webb. Hers remains one of my favorite portrayals of the role.

Per IBDB, on Broadway Terri Klausner did the matinees originally, while Patti LuPone did the evening performances.

So I guess it was the same in both cities.

***

I can only speculate as to why Paige didn't go to NYC, but she was still playing the role in London when the Broadway version opened. IIRC, unions on both sides of the Atlantic were stricter in the 1970s in determining who was a big enough "star" to justify exceptions to union rules about foreign performer waivers. I'm sure there are others who can correct me if I am wrong about this.
Updated On: 8/25/12 at 11:56 PM

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 8/26/12 at 12:19am

^You are correct. Equity would not let her perform the role.

[Leadingplayer]

Posted: 8/26/12 at 1:05am

Patti did Evita for a year and then extended her contract for 3 months I believe. (the other principles all left after a year.


The one thing I never get is how did Patti do the Les Mouche concerts if she was struggling so with Evita?

[My Oh My]

Posted: 8/26/12 at 1:34am

This is a theory, so take with a grain of salt. LuPone has never confirmed the following. This is all gathered from what I've observed as a fan of both LuPone and Evita over the years and from a significant distance.

Up until the Sunset Blvd. scandal, LuPone was never quoted with having said anything as negative as she does today about ALW or the shows he had written that she had been involved in; however, she has been blunt and generally open for as long as I've been aware of her, which dates many moons ago. I do recall reading an issue of TheaterWeek back in the day where she revealed she found the score difficult to sing at first. I remember that surprised me a little but not too much since I've always noted glitches in her singing of that role. The general feel was more relaxed and she didn't come off so negative as she does today when discussing Lloyd Webber, understandably.

I do distinctly remember calling "bullsh*t" when she suddenly loathed everything Lloyd Webber and claimed her experience in Evita was so bad it was traumatizing. To this day, it was all too sudden, the change of heart, that I'm convinced remnants of her outrage regarding the role of Eva Peron may be true, but are also significantly colored nowadays by her falling out with Lloyd Webber. Patti doesn't strike me as a liar or a drama queen and I do believe the Sunset experience deeply hurt her.

But I also believe the Evita experience wasn't nearly as bad as she claims and it's a role she looks back on fondly, but can't bring herself to say anything positive about that "composer who hates women." LOL.

Yeah, I think it's an unfortunate aspect of that whole debacle. It's never a nice feeling hearing a celebrated artist say very negative things about a role and a show they worked on and one of the reasons they're celebrated.

Updated On: 8/26/12 at 01:34 AM

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 8/26/12 at 1:37am

A New Argentina and Rainbow High are not the only difficult parts that Eva sing. I think that because of the great difficulty that comes in singing those two (especially the former) overshadows the other difficult songs and phrases in the score. Some other difficult/high stuff:

"Screw the middle classes..."
High Flying Adored ("I was smack in the right place...")
Buenos Aires (hitting those C's over and over can be tiring, and belting the bridge section is difficult)
"We are tired of..." in Art of the Possible. It's essentially the "He supports you"s in a slightly lower key--one that often rests on the break between the actress's chest and mix
Don't Cry For Me, Argentina, while not the most difficult song in the score, is still nothing to sneeze at. It (and I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You) is the closest thing Eva gets to a rest, aside from the intermission, and she's stilling belting Db's

And then there are those low notes. An actress playing Eva must use every part of her belt and mix over and over as the role covers more than two octaves. Even for men, who are typically trained to use chest and mix voices almost all the time, a role with this range is really difficult. Women typically aren't trained to use such a large range in the chest and mix voices because they are usually allowed their head voice as an extra tool.

Evita is one of the most rangy roles ever written. Then again, most Andrew Lloyd Webber roles have impossible ranges--almost everyone in Superstar, both leads in Phantom, Emma in Song & Dance (and possibly others in that show... and I make my judgement only knowing one song from the show, Unexpected Song), and countless others. He really doesn't understand the limits of the human voice.

[The Scorpion]

Posted: 8/26/12 at 5:43am

I think that it's the range and the way Lloyd Webber wanted the score to be sung. He wanted the whole thing belted, top to bottom, and that's pretty taxing on the voice.

Just for the record, Elaine Paige did not belt the whole thing like Patti did. Elaine used her head voice to get those top Es out in 'A New Argentina' and in several other places, so I think it's unlikely that ALW wanted the score to be belted all the way through. The decision to do that was Patti's, and even she didn't do that live every night. The OBC seems to have brainwashed everyone into thinking Patti sounded like she does on that recording live every night. Worse is when people then compare the wonderful but very different Elena Roger unfavourably to Patti's performance on that recording. These people obviously never saw Evita live in its original run.

I for one love Elaine's, Patti's and Elena's individual takes on the role and think all three of them were wonderful in Evita. Why this board swears by OBC-Patti and hates everything else is beyond me.

And I tend to agree with My Oh My in that I too noticed Patti's negative comments about how hard Evita supposedly was for her only started appearing after the Sunset debacle. I doubt it's a coincidence. I loved reading Patti's autobiography, but it made me realise that she is clearly insecure and seems bent on the idea that the whole world is out to get her. Maybe she never really did get over the Sunset experience.



Updated On: 8/26/12 at 05:43 AM

[broadway guy]

Posted: 8/26/12 at 10:09am

why would patti extend 3 months if she was struggling so much with the part?

Heres what i think.After Reading her Book Patti says evita was a difficult process but she says it was also very rewarding because she grew alot during that show.She learned many life lessons that still echo to her now.

"But I also believe the Evita experience wasn't nearly as bad as she claims and it's a role she looks back on fondly, but can't bring herself to say anything positive about that "composer who hates women." LOL.

I think it was as bad as she says,She might not like lloyd webberI(with good reason) but she praised/praises Hal Prince for the direction.I dont think it was all bad,she did win her Tony award after all. I think the gist of what patti is saying is " it was an awful experience but it was a learning experience.It wasnt all bad but it wasnt all good"

To this day she actually sings the evita songs in concerts in the original key.Patti also said evita was andrew's best work,which i agree with.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/26/12 at 10:31am

That any actress taking on this role will unmercifully be compared to Patti LuPone.

[broadway guy]

Posted: 8/26/12 at 10:42am

"so I think it's unlikely that ALW wanted the score to be belted all the way through. The decision to do that was Patti's, and even she didn't do that live every night. The OBC seems to have brainwashed everyone into thinking Patti sounded like she does on that recording live every night"

Patti didnt belt ALL the way through but i get your point.She belted more than any other evita because she understood the fire in eva and the passion.Im not sayig other eva's didnt undertsand the character im just saying no one took as many punches as patti did for evita.

I agree with you that pattti didnt sound like the recording every night.There is actually recordings of her opening night where you can tell she was straining during a new argentina and having trouble with buenos aires.It was nothing like the recording but it was still pretty beast!She grew into the part and even Patti says she didnt "feel" like eva until the last couple months she was in the show.

To be honest I have heard recording of her final night as evita and i actually thinks she sounds BETTTER than the recording. her Buenos Aires was out of this world!!You could tell it was easy for her to sing i by than.The last performance of "rainbow High" gave me goosebumps for 2 minutes.It was clear she was going to miss the show and that she was giving it her all one last time.

"Worse is when people then compare the wonderful but very different Elena Roger unfavourably to Patti's performance on that recording"

I totally agree with You on that.Patti did a great evita but her way isnt the only way to be a good eva.Im a patti lupone finatic but i LOVE how elena roger does the character.Ive never seen her live but i love her rendition of buenos aires.I actually like the fact that she dosen't belt that song,it makes it more intimate.I love her rainbow high also!Its really sad elena isnt getting the reviews she deserves .

[My Oh My]

Posted: 8/26/12 at 10:49am

I have no doubt it wasn't as bad as she claims, but you have to admit, she does occasionally publicly say things that lead to the impression it was much worse than it likely was.

For example, she has publicly stated when asked what was her reaction to landing the role of Eva Peron, that she cried. Not from joy but because she wanted to be in a Mamet play instead, which she had to reluctantly turn down because of Evita.

Can't help loving her nonetheless. Not that she doesn't deserve people's adoration, but I'm usually a hard ass when it comes to people mouthing off unfairly about stuff I love. But when it's someone I grew up looking up to, I may feel disappointed but nothing erases that little boy in me who warbled to "Rainbow High" while throwing on his sister's clothes to Patti's rendition!