Evita
with Madonna, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce
Based on the play by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice
Screenplay by Alan Parker and Oliver Stone
Directed by Alan Parker
by Lex Marburger
Even if you’re not a fan of Madonna (and I am), you have to be impressed with Evita, if for no other reason than Andrew Lloyd Webber actually came up with a score that involves more than two songs. Even though he still abuses the concept of leit motiv, the score has some fascinating melodies and verges at times into atonality (no, she’s not singing off key, it was written that way). Some scenes, such as the opening one, are still tinged with the era that Webber wrote, leaning towards that Theatre-rock sound that made Jesus Christ Superstar at times ingratiating and annoying. The arrangement superbly covers up the smarminess of Andy Lloyd, and the actors bring to life the subject of the songs, be it human rights or sleeping your way to the top.
Madonna’s only flaw (other than not being able to play a (mostly) virginal 15 year old) is that she’s been on stage too much. In front of an audience of thousands, you need to have big movements, to overact, make huge gesticulations. On camera, however, it looks forced and slightly silly. This can be forgiven, because the whole premise of this musical (and any musical), is one of grandiosity, of dramatizing an epic story, and Peron’s overemphizised body movement, next to Jonathan Pryce’s perfectly understated subtlety, draws attention to her every gesture, creating a larger-than-life persona. Madonna is wonderful, a natural for the role (choose your own reason why – a) she is loved in much the way Peron was, or b) she’s a cold, clinical backstabber who uses her body to get ahead).