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Madonna is, I think, a singer and performer whose true talent has yet to be adequately explored, and this dumbed-down material gives her little opportunity to expand beyond her already established appeal. Perhaps the most annoying element of the recording, however, is the fact that Madonna's vocal range is simply not suited to the material at hand, which had to be rewritten for both vocal range and content. As a result, the film soundtrack (both in abbreviated and full length versions) lacks the exciting, strident, and powerful authority of the stage recording, with Patti LuPone's New York stage version the most notable case in point. And Banderas and Pryce are merely adequate.

Still, some of the tracks--"You Must Love Me," specifically created for Madonna's film performance, and which she performs quite well--hold up reasonably well out of context. But that may be exactly what is wrong with the entire project as a whole: it doesn't hang together in any artistic sense. This would not necessarily be a problem with a straight forward pop album, but since we're talking about a musical soundtrack here, we do have the right to expect at least that much.


Entertaining Musical Biography   February 6, 2001
 22 out of 25 found this review helpful

'Evita' was Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's third musical, and their second big hit after 'Jesus Christ Superstar'; a hard act to follow. While there have been three main recordings before this Motion Picture Recording, I believe that this recording is superior to all of them due to orchestrations and the performers. Tim Rice's lyrics are, as usual, extremely clever, and Lloyd Webber's music is powerful and easy listening. From this pair I'd expect no less.

'Evita' is a musical biography of Eva Peron, the glamorous wife of the Argentinian President, Juan Peron, in the first half of the twentieth century. The action begins with the announcement that Eva Peron, the 'spiritual leader' of Argentina, has died leaving the nation in mourning, which is then followed by her state funeral ('A Cinema in Beunos Aires, 26 July 1952', 'Requiem for Evita'). Then the plot goes back and follows Eva's earlier life until it returns to the starting point of the musical, the protagonist's death.

Listeners are first introduced to the character of Eva when the plot back tracks to when she is just a girl and attempting to attend the funeral of her father. The action then progresses forward several years to Eva as a teenager and waking up in bed after having a one night stand with a singer named Migaldi, whom Eva is hoping will take her to live in the city ('Eva and Migaldi/Eva Beware of the City'). The surprise choice of Madonna to play Eva in the film was superb casting. I loved Elaine Paige in the Original London Cast, and Patti Lupone's powerful (as always) portrayal in the Original Broadway Cast was brilliant, but I feel that Madonna has captured the glamour, youth and the strength of Eva Peron. She has taken the good points of both Lupone and Paige. I feel that Lupone though she was extremely powerful in portraying Eva, sounded a bit too old for the part, and Paige portrayed the youth and glamour of Eva, but didn't portray the strength of Eva. Don't get me wrong, these two veterans of the stage were brilliant Evitas, but I believe that Madonna is the perfect Evita. Throughout the musical, listeners are subject to a balanced view of Evita. She is ambitious ('Buenos Aires'), a social climber ('Goodnight and Thankyou'), clever and manipulative ('I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You'). Listeners are coerced to feel sympathy for Eva when she is left in the city by Migaldi without any help, without family and without certainty ('Another Suitcase in Another Hall'; this song in my opinion is better suited with Eva singing it rather than a shallow unimportant character, such as Peron's mistress, where it was previously). One of the central characteristics of Eva is her glamour ('Rainbow High'). Though she had a multitude of mortal faults, which makes her realistic, she was loyal to her husband and Argentina ('A New Argentina' and 'You Must Love Me'; the latter song is just beautiful and was added just for the motion picture and brings a touch of completion to the score). Then of course there is the brilliantly powerful 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina' where Eva reassures her people that she is still one of them, performed beautifully by Madonna.

From the view of the other characters, listeners are able to see both sides of Eva Peron's character. Similarly to Lloyd Webber and Rice's other musicals; 'JCS' and 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat', 'Evita' employs the use of a narrator. 'Evita's' narrator is named Che, played by Antonio Banderas. Through Che, listeners are given a deeper insight into Eva's personality. While the majority of Argentina adore Eva, Che is bitter toward her because he sees that she is manipulating her people, as well as using their money to make herself glamorous ('An the Money Kept Rolling In (And Out)'). The song 'Oh What A Circus', sung by Che, is a bitter satire about Eva's funeral. Banderas is a fantastic Che. He is up with the likes of two other brilliant Ches; Mandy Patinkin (OBC) and Colm Wilkinson (Original Concept Recording). Being an actor who can sing, Banderas portrays Che with more powerful bitterness than the other two Ches. The duet with Eva, 'High Flying Adored', is performed beautifully by Banderas and Madonna. Another of their duets is 'Waltz for Eva and Che' in which Eva utters the sad, conceding words about her life "Oh, what I'd give for a hundred years, but the physical interferes every day more, oh my Creator! What is the good of the strongest heart, in a body that's falling apart? A serious flaw, I hope you know that."

Jonathon Pryce is the best Juan Peron I've heard, and I have no idea why he is being criticised by some reviewers, he is definitely a better actor of all of the others. He portrays Peron with great sympathy, and sensitivity in the songs, 'She is a Diamond' and 'Your Little Bodies Slowly Breaking Down', where he is trying to tell Eva that she is dieing. The chorus plays a big role in 'Evita' in the songs, 'Peron's Latest Flame', 'A New Argentina', 'Rainbow Tour', and the soft 'Santa Evita'.

Practically all of the songs in 'Evita' are worth listening to, and Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice should be commended for writing such a brilliant musical. This the best album to buy of Evita because it is most complete, and the story line has a better order, which makes the action easier to follow. Whereas, in the other three main albums, the sound quality and orchestrations are poor which made the musical sound 'grungy', and dissonant. Fortunately Lloyd Webber and Rice have fixed the problems found on the previous albums, and have made this recording of 'Evita' easy to listen to, as well as telling an accurate story about one of the twentieth century's most controversial people.


Too Bad Webber Doesn't Do More Movies.   December 2, 1999
 19 out of 27 found this review helpful

When I first popped this double CD into my player, I was engrossed. I found myself listening to it over and over again. The movie based on Webber's Broadway Play far surpasses the original broadway score. The melodies and instrumentation are hauntingly beautiful and make the listener feel the haughty emotion and dirty sleaze of the rags-to-riches life of Eva Duarte de Peron. What can I say about Madonna? She is one of the all time divas of popular music and this cross-over has proven a good move. She breathes new life into the character which benefits from Madonna's power of presence. Madonna's powerful vocals are only enhanced by Antonio Banderas' Latin style. Who knew that this hulking "Desperado" could sing! Banderas has definately made a name for himself with his appearance in this movie, and immaculate singing and interpretation of the humerous chorusman, Che. The arrangement of the music just shows what a genius Andrew Lloyd Webber truly is. The CD features everything from classical Spanish guitar to a lamenting Ave Maria-esque dirge featuring a 100-strong choir. I recommend this set to anyone, whether you're a fan of musical theatre, film score, Madonna (actress or pop star), classical music or if you just like a CD who's music will live a long time.


Madonna is different from Elaine and others   June 4, 2003
 17 out of 21 found this review helpful

The songs from Evita have been recorded several times. First, there was the studio cast recoding in 1976, which yielded a UK number one hit for Julie Covington with her original version of Don't cry for me Argentina. Then there were the original stage recordings - the London cast featuring Elaine Paige and the Broadway cast featuring Patti LuPone. Eventually, the movie starring Madonna was made and this collection features music from the soundtrack. You can buy a double-CD to get the complete soundtrack, but the single CD contains all the essentials.

While I can understand the opinions of those who criticise this collection, I cannot agree. Certainly, Madonna is not Elaine Paige or Patti LuPone. I am not familiar with Patti, but I am a huge fan of both Madonna and Elaine, who are very different types of singer. Elaine has a clear, powerful, soprano voice with a wide vocal range - a British version of Barbra Streisand. Despite the hit versions by Julie Covington in the seventies and Madonna in the nineties, Don't cry for me Argentina is generally regarded (at least in Britain) as Elaine's song. Madonna, by contrast, has a deeper voice and a more limited vocal range. Nevertheless, her version of Don't cry for me Argentina is brilliant in its own way - and she is also in great form elsewhere on this soundtrack. Indeed, many will prefer Madonna's voice to those of Elaine or Patti.

So, taken on its own, this is a wonderful soundtrack. It demonstrates an extra dimension to Madonna's music that was previously absent, while it will reach places that Elaine Paige and Patti LuPone had no hope of ever reaching. If even a small proportion of Madonna's fans end up discovering Elaine's music because of the Evita connection, even better.

Enjoy this for what it is - a mainstream pop soundtrack - but if you are a serious fan of theatrical music, buy one of those original stage recordings (London or Broadway) or buy some of Elaine Paige's own music.


Fantastic Orchestration makes up the weak vocals   October 26, 2000
 13 out of 20 found this review helpful

Every time I listen to this soundtrack I am more and more impressed by the orchestrations done by Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Cullen. One of the nicest things about turning a Broadway musical into a Hollywood film is that you finally have a full studio orchestra playing the music instead of just the musicians you can afford to stuff into the orchestra pit in the theater. Even so, the original cast album of "Evita" did feature a full string section on "Don't Cry For Me Argentina." But the added orchestration on this soundtrack is absolutely awesome and it is not just a question of having more instruments. Some of my appreciation is for the little things I notice in the background, such as the castanets that pop up in "Oh What a Circus," the flutes in the intro to "Goodnight and Thank You," and the honky-tonk piano in "The Lady's Got Potential." Apparently Lloyd Webber thought about this a lot during all those years "Evita" was in pre-production. The credits say Cullen provided "Additional Orchestrations," so there is some question of who actually gets credit for what, but wherever the line of demarcation falls this is as nice a job of adapting a musical to film that you will ever hear.

The vocal liabilities of the singers are much more noticeable on the CD than they are when you are watching the film. Madonna has never been a particularly strong singer, but power has never been the key to her performance anyhow. I keep getting the feeling she is falling behind the pace on the fast songs, particularly "Eva Beware of the City," which only highlights her strength in the slower numbers and from that perspective she pretty much nails "Don't Cry For Me Argentina," which is the one song she has to nail. Of course, there are the inevitable comparisons to Patti LuPone, and I have to wonder if I think Madonna's best effort is on "You Must Love Me" because it is more suited to her vocal stylings than LuPone or because I never heard anybody else sing that particular song. But then the first time I heard "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" Karen Carpenter sang it with opera singers doing the intro part, so there. Similarly, Antonio Banderas does not have the same impact as he does on film, where his expressive looks and gestures provide so much of the nuance of his meaning in singing any given line (e.g., "On What a Circus"). Jonathan Pryce really does not have all that much to sing in this show, but his few moments certainly match the emotion tenor of each scene (e.g., "She is a Diamond"). Jimmy Nail sounds (and looks) to young to be Evita's ticket out of the sticks, even though he is technically the best singer in the group ("On This Night of a Thousand Stars"). However, the additional vocalists are all obviously younger than the actors lip-syncing in the film, so at least there is consistency.

All this being said, I have to say I do not think it incredibly strange than when I listen to this album at home I tend to put on the DVD rather than the CD. Not only do I get to see the visual dimension that is so important to these performances, but the beautiful cinematography. Besides, the deathbed sequences were done live so what was recorded for the CD was never used in the film. However, whenever I listen to the disc it is the