 Producer Bill Kenwright is about to launch a new UK tour of Evita, largely based on the London production, will soon start at the Liverpool Empire on 22 May. The lead roles will be played by Louise Dearman (Eva), Seamus Cullen (Che) and Mark Heenehan (who was Philip Quast's understudy in the London production). More details about dates and venues at this link. |
THE SHOW
Evita was the last collaboration between composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice, who originally developed the show as a concept recording (as they had done previously with Jesus Christ Superstar). The album was released in the UK in 1976 and went straight to the top of the British charts. The recording's success spurred Robert Stigwood to produce Evita for the London stage, featuring Elaine Paige in the title role. The show opened at the Prince Edward Theatre on 21 June 1978, and it became one of the greatest musical theater hits ever seen in London. By the time it closed, Evita had played 2,900 performances in the West End, and the Broadway production of the musical walked off with seven Tony Awards at the end of its first season in New York.
THE STORY
The story of Evita follows the life of María Eva Duarte, the second and most famous wife of Argentina's President, General Juan Domingo Perón, and one of Latin America's best-known women. It begins in 1934 and follows the young girl from her small hometown to Buenos Aires where she uses her feminine powers to climb the ladder of success, first as a model, then an actress, and finally as a charismatic political figure. When Perón is elected president, Eva becomes the most powerful woman in South America. Another key figure of the story is Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, a real-life Argentinian revolutionary, at times a narrator, at times an observer, at times simply a device that enables the authors to place Eva in a situation where she is confronted with lucid personal criticism.
Detailed synopsis |


Outside the Adelphi Theatre

Evita is a story of people whose lives were in politics, but it is not a political story. It is a Cinderella story about the astonishing life of a girl from the most mundane of backgrounds who became the most powerful woman her country had ever seen, a woman never content to be a mere ornament at the side of her husband, the president. Her death at the age of 33 ensured that she became a legend. Peron himself lasted only a further three years in power after her death.

A. Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice, introduction to the original concept album. |
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