Directed By Alan Parker; Screenplay By Alan Parker & Oliver Stone; Starring Madonna, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce, and Jimmy Nail.
Based on Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1978 biographical stage musical of the same name, Evita follows the infamous real-life story of Eva Duarte de Peron (Madonna), the wife of President Juan Peron (Jonathan Pryce), who rose from poverty to become the most famous Argentine woman in history. Her huge political influence and constant charity works earned her scorn and fear from the military and upper classes but adoration and love from the workers and descamisados. Evita's legendary life is displayed before your eyes as the most hated and most beloved woman in Argentina.
This musical began life as a concept album released in 1976. The original stage production directed by Hal Prince opened in London's West End on June 21st, 1978, becoming an enormous hit that ran until February 18th, 1986 after 3,176 performances. Evita then opened on Broadway on September 25th 1979, where it ran until June 26th, 1983 after 1,567 performances. A film adaptation entered development around that time. Multiple studios, filmmakers, and actors were attached at different points, but never came to fruition. Oliver Stone was even slated to write and direct it for a while, but that fell through. Then Alan Parker, the two-time Oscar nominated filmmaker behind 1978's Midnight Express and 1988's Mississippi Burning, took over. Although he was no stranger to musicals having helmed 1976's Bugsy Malone, 1980's Fame, 1982's Pink Floyd - The Wall, and 1991's The Commitments.
Evita was released in 1996, which was during an era of when live action movie musicals were barely made, let alone commercially successful. On a budget on $55,000,000, the film made over $141,000,000 at the worldwide box office. It went on to receive 5 Academy Award nominations, winning one for the original song Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote for Madonna titled 'You Must Love Me.' When I first saw this movie around 10 years or so ago, I wasn’t terribly impressed with it. Now that I rewatched it, I will say that it’s a lot better than I remembered.
Under Alan Parker’s direction, everything is so impeccably mounted from the sets to the costumes to the cinematography. As someone who’s mainly been familiar with this musical through the original Broadway cast recording, the way the numbers are reimagined for the film are brilliant. Especially with how a good deal of them are presented as montages as a way to move the story forward. I also loved how ‘Another Suitcase in Another Hall’ was recontextualized by having Eva sing it earlier in the plot after arriving in Buenos Aires as opposed to the less prominent character of the mistress. Although she does sing a brief reprise at the same spot where she’d get the full song in the stage version. The soundtrack is also mostly well produced, even if the orchestrations at times do sound like a product of the 1990s.
In one of the better instances of casting a pop star in a musical, Madonna delivers a great star turn as Eva Perón. It’s easy to see why she campaigned for the role herself, thinking she’d be perfect for it. Andrew Lloyd Webber has admitted in a recent interview that he didn't think anybody else could have done it better. Although Antonio Banderas easily steals the show as Ché. He’s very charismatic, which is a necessity for a narrator-esque character, and sings very well. Him being the only Spanish performer of the three leads is a nice bonus. I’ll also give a shoutout to Jonathan Pryce, whose work as Juan Perón is an underappreciated highlight. The third act is the most emotionally moving section of the movie. By having some of the songs there recorded live on set, the actors managed to create such raw emotion they would never accomplish by lip synching.
Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals so far haven’t had a good track record when it comes to film adaptations. Although I agree with a number of people that Evita is definitely the best of them. Part of that might be due to Alan Parker embracing the stylized nature of the source material. The whole thing is pretty underrated when it comes to movie musicals.
Rating: 4/5
Based on Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1978 biographical stage musical of the same name, Evita follows the infamous real-life story of Eva Duarte de Peron (Madonna), the wife of President Juan Peron (Jonathan Pryce), who rose from poverty to become the most famous Argentine woman in history. Her huge political influence and constant charity works earned her scorn and fear from the military and upper classes but adoration and love from the workers and descamisados. Evita's legendary life is displayed before your eyes as the most hated and most beloved woman in Argentina.
This musical began life as a concept album released in 1976. The original stage production directed by Hal Prince opened in London's West End on June 21st, 1978, becoming an enormous hit that ran until February 18th, 1986 after 3,176 performances. Evita then opened on Broadway on September 25th 1979, where it ran until June 26th, 1983 after 1,567 performances. A film adaptation entered development around that time. Multiple studios, filmmakers, and actors were attached at different points, but never came to fruition. Oliver Stone was even slated to write and direct it for a while, but that fell through. Then Alan Parker, the two-time Oscar nominated filmmaker behind 1978's Midnight Express and 1988's Mississippi Burning, took over. Although he was no stranger to musicals having helmed 1976's Bugsy Malone, 1980's Fame, 1982's Pink Floyd - The Wall, and 1991's The Commitments.
Evita was released in 1996, which was during an era of when live action movie musicals were barely made, let alone commercially successful. On a budget on $55,000,000, the film made over $141,000,000 at the worldwide box office. It went on to receive 5 Academy Award nominations, winning one for the original song Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote for Madonna titled 'You Must Love Me.' When I first saw this movie around 10 years or so ago, I wasn’t terribly impressed with it. Now that I rewatched it, I will say that it’s a lot better than I remembered.
Under Alan Parker’s direction, everything is so impeccably mounted from the sets to the costumes to the cinematography. As someone who’s mainly been familiar with this musical through the original Broadway cast recording, the way the numbers are reimagined for the film are brilliant. Especially with how a good deal of them are presented as montages as a way to move the story forward. I also loved how ‘Another Suitcase in Another Hall’ was recontextualized by having Eva sing it earlier in the plot after arriving in Buenos Aires as opposed to the less prominent character of the mistress. Although she does sing a brief reprise at the same spot where she’d get the full song in the stage version. The soundtrack is also mostly well produced, even if the orchestrations at times do sound like a product of the 1990s.
In one of the better instances of casting a pop star in a musical, Madonna delivers a great star turn as Eva Perón. It’s easy to see why she campaigned for the role herself, thinking she’d be perfect for it. Andrew Lloyd Webber has admitted in a recent interview that he didn't think anybody else could have done it better. Although Antonio Banderas easily steals the show as Ché. He’s very charismatic, which is a necessity for a narrator-esque character, and sings very well. Him being the only Spanish performer of the three leads is a nice bonus. I’ll also give a shoutout to Jonathan Pryce, whose work as Juan Perón is an underappreciated highlight. The third act is the most emotionally moving section of the movie. By having some of the songs there recorded live on set, the actors managed to create such raw emotion they would never accomplish by lip synching.
Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals so far haven’t had a good track record when it comes to film adaptations. Although I agree with a number of people that Evita is definitely the best of them. Part of that might be due to Alan Parker embracing the stylized nature of the source material. The whole thing is pretty underrated when it comes to movie musicals.
Rating: 4/5