Editorial Reviews

As they had with Jesus Christ Superstar, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber presented Evita, "an opera based on the life story of Eva Peron 1919-1952," as the album cover subtitle revealed, as a concept album before mounting a stage production. As hoped, the album became a hit, spawning a British number one hit, "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," as well as the Top 20 "Another Suitcase in Another Hall," feeding anticipation for a theatrical version. (It was much less well-received in the U.S.) The lengthy double album was all music; even the dialogue sections were set to music. Lloyd Webber naturally drew upon Latin themes, at least of an ersatz sort ("On This Night of a Thousand Stars" aped Pérez Prado's 1955 hit "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White"), to add to his taste in pop/rock and affection for Puccini. Rice had a big, rich story to tell about a social-climbing peasant who achieves the highest rungs of power, only to succumb to early death. As in Jesus Christ Superstar, he used a one-man Greek chorus, the fictional Che (based on Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara), to challenge Evita's ruthlessness. The subject matter attracted the criticism that it glamorized a fascist, but Rice's very point was to present a cautionary tale about the deceptive appeal of such a person. The choice of Julie Covington, who could negotiate the musical range of the title role and sing without warmth, was perfect; no stage successor matched her willingness to make Evita unsympathetic. C.T. (Colm) Wilkinson's Che was her match, and the rest of the cast sang effectively. In its first recording, Evita was a long, at times dense work (it would be streamlined for the stage), but it was certainly the best work Rice and Lloyd Webber ever did together. William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

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