Evita ending
Marcy Hirsch
Evita's body. Is this supposed to be parallel to Eva's life, or is it there
because ALW desperately needed an ending? It just seems odd that they spend
two hours telling us about her life, then close the show with a line about her
[dead] body. Something is not right. Please help me understand!
--Melanie, who likes shows that close neatly so you can be sure that they're
over
hirs...@acpub.duke.edu
Lucia Spina
because that's pretty much what happened--burial wise. I'm not quite
sure, but I don't think they even know where Eva peron's body is today.
I just checked my EVITA cd, and I din't find the info I thought I had.
But, there is documentation about her death and burial out there in you
local library. Some girl in one of my classes last year did a paper on
Eva Peron. Good Luck. Happy Hunting!!:>
--Lucia Spina
North Central College
Naperville, IL
gsa...@nccseq.noctrl.edu
Anya M. Weisbrod
(Juliet A. Youngren) wrote:
> I remember thinking that the bit about Evita's body being lost was
> a sort of commentary on her legacy to Argentina ... not only did
> she not do anything that lasted, but even her body, the symbol of
> the personality that made her so popular, was lost.
Eva Peron did start many charitable organizations, despite her greed. She
founded numerous children's hospitals and welfare organizations.
They did not last, you are right, but NOT because of Eva-- after Peron
lost power, the new regime (which wasn't any better than Peronism)
destroyed those hospitals.....
I got this info from numerous books I've read on the life of Eva Peron,
and interestingly, from an interview Patti LuPone gave in 1980, in which
she spoke a lot about her research on Evita's life.
:) *
Anya M. Weisbrod * "One learns most from teaching others"
Northwestern University *
:) *
Marcy Hirsch
>Maybe this will help...
>Quoted from a must-have book for all ALW fans,
>"Andrew Lloyd Webber - His Life and Works" by Michael Walsh
[actual quote deleted]
Despite the strangeness of the trip Eva's body took, ending a musical about
her life with a very cryptic sentence about her body seems odd. I think it
just requires a little more explanation to justify its existance. When I saw
Evita, most of the audience seemed confused by the abrupt ending. Very rarely
does the audience complain about the work of the authors rather than that of
the actors in a local production.
--Melanie, who does like Evita, despite its stranger moments
hirs...@acpub.duke.edu
Juliet A. Youngren
Andrew--
I stand corrected about Eva's legacy. I actually wasn't thinking
so much of the historical Eva Peron (about whom I know very little)
as the Eva of Evita, seen through Che's eyes--he's the one who
keeps saying she's all flash and no substance.
J.A.Y.
kon...@titan.ksc.nasa.gov
> From what I understand, ALW ended EVITA so abruptly and mysteriously
> because that's pretty much what happened--burial wise. I'm not quite
> sure, but I don't think they even know where Eva peron's body is today.
> I just checked my EVITA cd, and I din't find the info I thought I had.
> But, there is documentation about her death and burial out there in you
> local library. Some girl in one of my classes last year did a paper on
> Eva Peron. Good Luck. Happy Hunting!!:>
>
> --Lucia Spina
>
>
>> I know Evita fairly well, but cannot get used to the abrupt ending about
>> Evita's body. Is this supposed to be parallel to Eva's life, or is it there
>> because ALW desperately needed an ending? It just seems odd that they spend
>> two hours telling us about her life, then close the show with a line about her
>> [dead] body.
Maybe this will help...
Quoted from a must-have book for all ALW fans,
"Andrew Lloyd Webber - His Life and Works" by Michael Walsh:
"..But the real problem with Che's little speech is that it begs the
question. What happened to the body? The truth is, as they say, stranger
than fiction. Evita, who weighed only eighty pounds at her death in 1952,
was indeed embalmed, by Dr. Pedro Ara, the Spanish cultural attache in
Buenos Aires. For nearly 2 1/2 years, Evita's corpse lay in state at
the Ministry of Labor. When Peron was ousted in a 1955 coup shortly
after being excommuicated by the Vatican for, among other transgressions,
taking a 13 year old mistress and legalizing divorce and prostitution,
the head of army intelligence seized the body.
No one, though, knew what to do with it. One officer, Major Antonio
Aranda, kept it in his bedroom; fearing intruders, Aranda slept with a
loaded pistol under his pillow - a precaution with tragic consequences
when Aranda accidently shot and killed his pregnant wife while she was
headed to the bathroom. The corpse then spent some time in a storeroom,
in a packing case labeled 'Radio Sets'; the case was eventually shipped
to Bonn, West Germany, and from there, the body now in a coffin, to Rome.
In Italy, it was received by a nun who was told it contained the remains
of one Maria Maggi, an Italian widow who died in Argentina.
In 1971, with Argentina in a state of political and economic collapse,
the generals called on Peron to return from his exile in Spain. Evita's
body was exhumed and driven to her husband in Madrid. There the coffin
was opened, in the presence of Peron, his new wife, Isabel, and Dr. Ara:
aside from tattered clothing and a broken fingertip, Evita was in mint
condition. Peron's return to Argentine presidency in 1973 was short-lived;
he died of a heart-attack on July 1, 1974, and he and Evita were buried
in a private cemetery. Evita's macabre, posthumous Rainbow Tour was over."
...Now who can blame Rice/Lloyd Webber's abrupt ending...
that story merits a musical in itself! :)
Cheers!
May
Juliet A. Youngren
I remember thinking that the bit about Evita's body being lost was
a sort of commentary on her legacy to Argentina ... not only did
she not do anything that lasted, but even her body, the symbol of
the personality that made her so popular, was lost.
J.A.Y.
Ronald P. Baumanis
: >Maybe this will help...
: [actual quote deleted]
Yes, but at the time EVITA opened in London, then on Broadway, there was
a tremendous amount of media, articles about the dissapearance of the
body, pictures of the cemetery, etc...Also, this musical was written for
British citizens, very well aware of the Evita Peron story (much more so
than Americans...although even here, ask people who were in their
twenties and thirties in Evita's hay day and you will find that many of
the women positively adorded her, even idolized her to some extent, and
certainly knew the story of her disappearing body)...Evita was very much
a Hilary, at least for a few years...I have repeated once too often on
this newsgroup...DO NOT JUDGE A MUSICALS MERITS BY AN AUDIENCES
REACTIONS...there are plenty of ignorant people out there, and this show
was NOT written for community theatres (although it is GREAT that it is
now being performed by them)...ALW writes popular musicals to be sure,
but it's nice to see an audience think every now and again.
Daniel Feyer
anticlimactic, stupid, and confusing. When I was in it, the director cut
the last line, and instead of doing the final scene with Eva sick in bed,
had her sing "Lament" in her big, "Balcony of the Casa Rosada" white
dress, and slowly walk across the stage and upstage center, and as the
final note sounds, she looks back at the audience with a sad face. All
involved and observing liked it better than the strange line about her body.
------------
Daniel Feyer -- dfe...@cello.gina.calstate.edu
Ronald P. Baumanis
: Whatever the historical facts are, the ending of "Evita" is, IMHO,
...unfortunately, in which case, your theatre broke the legal contract in
doing so, and should never have performed this musical in the first place...
Barton1899
the most excruciating sheer incompetence and idiocy in story-telling
and/or book-writing in musical theatre history...... if Che was being
sarcastic with "it's our funeral too", it hardly matters because no one
knows who this chick is singing "Come share my coffin," or why she's
singing a neo-folk-hipped-out lyric about God knows what in the first
place..... (add to that the non-tune on Che's line that sounds like six
wrong notes no matter how well the poor guy sings it). I couldn't agree
with the remark from....someone or other about the utter inadequacy of the
show's blessed conclusion, and the audience's consistent dissatisfaction
and mystification with the clumsy, untheatrical report of her body
disappearing for 17 years, fadeout. What?? Meanwhile, in contrast to
another comment, I think the audience (in general) deserves a great deal
of consideration in matters musical-theatre! Even ALW's audiences!
Fogtalent
it...BOOGA-BOOGA-BOOGA! Just something to "weird" people out. Her body
"disappeared...for 17 years." Meaning there's some significance in the
number 17? Was Che involved in some corpse-kidnapping plot? There are
several lines in Evita that, upon close inspection, are pretty ambiguous
and/or meaningless. What exactly does "It's our funeral too" mean? Think
about it. Meaning that now that Eva is dead, we might as well all be dead
too?
You'd think Che felt that now that Eva is dead, Argentina might be REBORN!
Any other opinions or interpretations?
kon...@titan.ksc.nasa.gov
> In article <3jhme1$n...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, fogt...@aol.com
>
>>There are
>>several lines in Evita that, upon close inspection, are pretty ambiguous
>>and/or meaningless. What exactly does "It's our funeral too" mean? Think
>>about it. Meaning that now that Eva is dead, we might as well all be
> dead
>>too?
>>You'd think Che felt that now that Eva is dead, Argentina might be
> REBORN!
>>Any other opinions or interpretations?
>
> something like "Come share my glory, come share my coffin"? If that's
> where Che's line comes in, it makes sense: he's being sarcastic (like
> "Oh, so it's our funeral too, huh?").
I thought of Che's line, "it's our funeral too" as a stripping away
of Evita's "candy-coating" of her actions with the glory of nationalism
of which she is their leading lady, the "rainbow of Argentina".
It is the first response of many throughout the musical for which
Che will play Evita's Devil Advocate, dulling Evita's glitter with
satire and outright cynicism.
Just a thought,
May
Kevin M. Randall
>There are
>several lines in Evita that, upon close inspection, are pretty ambiguous
>and/or meaningless. What exactly does "It's our funeral too" mean? Think
>about it. Meaning that now that Eva is dead, we might as well all be
dead
>too?
>You'd think Che felt that now that Eva is dead, Argentina might be
REBORN!
>Any other opinions or interpretations?
I can't remember exactly, but does Che's line come after Eva sings
something like "Come share my glory, come share my coffin"? If that's
where Che's line comes in, it makes sense: he's being sarcastic (like
"Oh, so it's our funeral too, huh?").
Kevin M. Randall
k...@nwu.edu
Keith&Lilian Robinson
writes:
>
>I've always thought the final line was a little...oh, how shall I put
>it...BOOGA-BOOGA-BOOGA! Just something to "weird" people out. Her body
>"disappeared...for 17 years." Meaning there's some significance in the
>number 17? Was Che involved in some corpse-kidnapping plot? There are
>several lines in Evita that, upon close inspection, are pretty
ambiguous
The significance of the number 17 is just facts...the body was taken
from Argentina because the military did not want it to be the focal
point for martyrdom. It was discovered 17 years later, and becuase the
furor had died down, they placed her body in her family plot.
>and/or meaningless. What exactly does "It's our funeral too" mean?
Think
>about it. Meaning that now that Eva is dead, we might as well all be
dead
>too?
As far as "our funeral too", it is basically that so many of the hopes
and dreams of the Argentinian people had been placed in Eva that, now
that she was dead, so were the hopes of the people; they were in
essance dead and without hope. There would have to be some sort of
rebirth before Argentina would begin to prosper again.
>You'd think Che felt that now that Eva is dead, Argentina might be
REBORN!
>Any other opinions or interpretations?
>
Finally, there was really a sort of bitter-sweet feeling for Che,
because even though he was against her abuses of power, he secretly had
some hopes of his own in her. (This last is just my speculation.
Historically, Che was not even in Argentina during any but the earliest
days of Eva's life. He is really a figure-head for common sense)
P.Moravek
the veneration that Eva expected upon her death. And that she considered
herself a SAINT that would eventually be canonized.
But then again, I knew some of the history before seeing the
show.
Louise W Losos
themes of this show is that Eva is draining the resources of Argentina.
Swiss bank accounts, the money keeps rolling in without any significant
accounting, the fact that a country that used to be one of the wealthiest
with gold reserves and some of the best beef grown in the world is now
broke. With Eva's death the coating of acceptance and the false fron was
being torn away, people, especially Argentines were now going to see the
true state of Argentina and the reality of the problems. They could no
longer hide behind the pretense of Santa Evita and her reflected glory.
Oh, as to teh seventeen years, her body was truly missing for that length
of time, just adding to the mythos and surreality surrounding Eva Peron.
Louise.
Louise W Losos
: because even though he was against her abuses of power, he secretly had
: some hopes of his own in her. (This last is just my speculation.
: Historically, Che was not even in Argentina during any but the earliest
: days of Eva's life. He is really a figure-head for common sense)
In the version that I first heard and fell in love with(The London
version I believe) one of the recurring themes is that Che is also try to
make it on his own, he created some sort of pesticide or something(the
character in teh show not the real che). Part of the dissilusionment in
the show was that his dreams were destroyed. This whole subplot
disappeared when transferred to the American version.
Louise
Heather V. Sands
I heard the same version, but IMHO, they didn't lose anything by
cutting it from the American version, although we'd heard more from Mandy
Patinkin, which would have been fine by me!
Heather
P.S. I have been trying to reply to some messages while at the same time
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Any help would be greatly appreciated. :)