Broadway's 'Evita' Goes Double

[philitalia]

Also Elena's performance on Good Morning America was not really good, but on stage I did not hear her miss any notes. Prefer Covington to Lupone.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Patinkin really is the best when it comes to acting through song.

[246015]

Sorry to high-jack the thread slightly, but I have never seen a production of "Evita" on stage and have only ever seen the film with Madonna which I found utterly boring (and I love a bit of Lloyd Webber!) Is the film a fairly faithful of adaptation of what is seen on stage? Is the piece as seen on stage likely to be more compelling than that on film?

[246015]

Sorry to high-jack the thread slightly, but I have never seen a production of "Evita" on stage and have only ever seen the film with Madonna which I found utterly boring (and I love a bit of Lloyd Webber!) Is the film a fairly faithful of adaptation of what is seen on stage? Is the piece as seen on stage likely to be more compelling than that on film?

[ClapYo'Hands]

The stage show is far more engaging. One of the main reason the film plods along is because the keys were altered so much in the score making it lose all dramatic intensity and excitement.

[The Scorpion]

The film is a very watered down version of Evita, not just musically but also content-wise. A lot of lines were cut and/or altered to make the character of Eva Perón more likeable and less controversial than originally written, which defeats the whole point. The reason they did that is because they wanted to film on location on Buenos Aires and use the balcony of the actual Casa Rosada, but the President of Argentina at the time was Peronist and wasn't going to let them use BA as a set for a piece that was known to be a rather scathing assessment of Evita.

Although Phantom's my favourite ALW, I really think Evita is the pinnacle of his and Tim Rice's respective careers. Neither has produced anything better since.

Interesting to read the comments above by those who don't care for LuPone, when it seems a lot of people on the Broadway board won't accept anyone in the role other than her and her type of interpretation. I find it a shame that a lot of them aren't giving Elena Roger a chance just because she's not a Patti soundalike or traditional Broadway belter. I like Covington, Paige, LuPone and Roger in the role equally and for different reasons, and thought Roger gave an electrifying star turn at the Adelphi. The American response has been very different to her at the Marquis; everyone in the audience kept going on about Patti.

[Princeton Returns]

I actually found the film better than the stage show, its such an epic story and in captures it better. It also felt more fleshed out than on stage in terms of story and political goings on. The stage show was a huge let down as I really liked the film

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

I happened to hear Elena Roger sing "You Must Love Me" on Sirius XM on Broadway. She obviously has a certain type of voice...which I honestly don't care for. I think (quite a few) people here in the States don't care for her voice because it comes across as weak and thin. I belive that potential Evitas can have good vocals and put their own interpretation. Elena was a good dancer and actress when I saw her in the first preview on Broadway...but her vocals left me underwhelmed. I wonder who is a potential "Evita" after Elena's contract expires. I'd love to go to NYC again and see Elena's understudy, as well as Max von Essen (Ricky Martin's u/s).
from RC in Austin, Texas

[MamasDoin'Fine]

Oh dear God, what a circus!
This dreadful recording will certainly go down as the worst cast recording of this once highly regarded piece.
My ears are sore!
Who let her get away with this?