Things to Know About The Revival of EVITA

Posted on April 16th, 2014

The benefits of reviving a show on Broadway is that it can be reinvented and refreshed as if it is a new story being told. Of course, with EVITA, this is not only a musical that has had it’s place in history, but it is one that is full and rich with real-life history. Here are some things to know about the changes and updates that have been made to this iconic and classic musical.

FOCUS ON AUTHENTICITY

The creative team has done extensive research about Argentina and the Peróns to present a more authentic look at the story, while still paying homage to the iconic moments.

When ALW and Tim Rice wrote Evita in the 1970s, only Rice had visited Argentina, and there wasn’t as much accessible information about the Peróns outside of Argentina as there is today.

In the 1970s, Latin culture was less familiar to the general English and American public than it is now so the musical was written with an admittedly “Anglo” perspective of Argentine culture for an audience that wouldn’t have had a reference.

ALW and David Cullen have re-orchestrated the show to give it a more authentic, Latin sound.

Rob Ashford’s choreography reflects a more Argentinean style by incorporating tango. Furthermore, this production features more dance than any of its predecessors as dance is an inherent and important part of the Argentine culture.

The design is inspired by Argentine architecture.

NEW SONG

There is a new song added to the score since the original production: Oscar-winning “You Must Love Me” – written for the 1996 film and was included in the ‘06 London production.

CHE

In this production, the narrating role of Che is as it was written for the original concept album – an “everyman” (in Argentina, “che” means “guy”) that serves as the voice of the people; not Che Guevara. Using Che Guevara as inspiration for the role was a choice made by the original production’s director, Hal Prince.

Webber & Rice have said they wrote the role of Che with a pop/rock star in mind (specifically: David Essex)

Want to read about the history of Eva Peron? Click here to see our previous blog post.

Want to read about the history behind the major scenes in EVITA? Click here to see our previous blog post.

EVITA is on stage now thru April 27th at the Music Hall at Fair Park. Click here for tickets and more information.

See you at the theater!

-DSM Amanda

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