Evita [Original Broadway Cast]

Disc 1
1	A Cinema in Buenos Aires, 26 July 1952 1:02
2	Requiem for Evita/Oh What a Circus 9:11
3	On This Night of a Thousand Stars/Eva and Macaldi/Eva Beware of the C 7:37
4	Buenos Aires 4:50
5	Goodnight and Thank You 3:06
6	The Art of the Possible 2:40
7	Charity Concert/I'd Be Surprisingly Good for You 5:57
8	Another Suitcase in Another Hall 4:42
9	Peron's Latest Flame 4:25
10	A New Argentina 6:57
Disc 2
1	On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada/Don't Cry for Me Argentina 9:32
2	High Flying, Adored 3:45
3	Rainbow High 2:16
4	Rainbow Tour 4:47
5	The Actress Hasn't Learned the Lines (You'd Like to Hear) 2:20
6	And the Money Kept Rolling (In and Out) 4:19
7	Santa Evita 2:01
8	Waltz for Eva and Che 3:44
9	She Is a Diamond 3:09
10	Dice Are Rolling 5:06
11	Eva's Final Broadcast 3:09
12	Montage 2:40
13	Lament 2:49

Barnes & Noble

A film adaptation of EVITA, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's 1979 Broadway smash, was in development for more than a decade. Everyone from Patti LuPone, who created the title role on Broadway, to Barbra Streisand was a candidate. When it was revealed that Madonna would play Argentine first lady Eva Duarte Peron, the ultimate Material Girl, it seemed, for a while, that musical movie magic might be made. Director Alan Parker's tumultuous 1996 film didn't quite raise La Ciccone to screen superstardom, but it did legitimize her as a singing actress. Utilizing deeper, more resonant tones and working hard to make every word understood, Madonna gives a strong, lyrical performance. She tears into "Buenos Aires" and "Rainbow High," gives a regal rendition of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," and strikes pure gold with the Oscar-winning "You Must Love Me," written specifically for her. A solid musical success, the double-disc EVITA is an intriguing chapter in Madonna's fascinating career. David Elliot Cohen

All Music Guide

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita, which began as a concept album in 1976 and had its first stage incarnation in London in 1978, finally came to the U.S. in 1979 with a production that opened in Los Angeles and moved to San Francisco for multi-week engagements before landing on Broadway on September 25 to begin a Tony-winning, 1,568-performance run. The London production had been represented by a one-disc highlights album, but this one became the second full-length treatment, running, like the concept album, 100 minutes. As such, the revisions made for the stage were more apparent, especially because there were more of them than there had been in London, sometimes to Americanize the language. ("The back of beyond" in "Eva and Magaldi" became "the sticks," while "Get stuffed!" in "Goodnight and Thank You" was now "Up yours!") "The Lady's Got Potential" had been deleted, and there was a new song, "The Art of the Possible," which, with its musical-chairs staging, was more effective in the theater than on record. And "Dangerous Jade" had been revised to become "Peron's Latest Flame." Many of the changes built up the role of Evita's critic, Che. As played by Mandy Patinkin, who achieved Broadway stardom in the role, Che now rivaled Evita as a musical presence, the actor's elastic tenor and bravura manner drawing more attention to him. But Patti Lu Pone also became a star here, fearlessly bringing out Evita's strident self-interest without attempting to gain the audience's sympathy. (You couldn't say that about London's Elaine Paige.) Lu Pone was at her best when Evita was at her worst, such as in the songs "A New Argentina" and "Rainbow High." The rest of the cast was unexceptional, though Bob Gunton's Juan Peron inspired curiosity as the only actor to use a Spanish accent. William Ruhlmann