Friday, November 19, 1976

Nov. 19, 1976: studio album of Evita released

First posted November 14, 2010. Last updated September 4, 2018.

Evita (studio/cast/soundtrack)

Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice (composers)

cover of studio album

cover of cast album

cover of soundtrack

Studio Album Released: Nov. 19, 1976

First Stage Production: June 21, 1978

Soundtrack Released: Nov. 12, 1996

Sales (in millions):
US: 1.0 ^C, 5.0 ^S
UK: 0.3 ^SR, 0.6 ^S
IFPI: 2.0 ^S
World (estimated): 1.3 ^C, 18.0 ^S

Peak:
US: 105 ^C, 2 ^S
UK: 4 ^SR, 1^1-S
Canada: --
Australia: --

^SR Studio Album
^C Cast Album
^S Soundtrack

Quotable: --

Genre: show tunes

Album Tracks – Studio/Cast Album:

Cinema in Buenos Aires, 26 July 1952
Requiem for Evita / Oh What a Circus
On This Night of a Thousand Stars / Eva and Magaldi / Eva Beware of the City
Buenos Aires
Goodnight and Thank You
The Lady's Got Potential **
Charity Concert / I’d Be Surprisingly Good for You
Another Suitcase in Another Hall
Dangerous Jade *
A New Argentina
On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada / Don’t Cry for Me Argentina
High Flying, Adored
Rainbow High
Rainbow Tour
The Actress Hasn’t Learned the Lines (You’d Like to Hear)
And the Money Kept Rolling (In and Out)
Santa Evita
Waltz for Eva and Che
She Is a Diamond
Dice Are Rolling * / Eva’s Sonnet *
Eva’s Final Broadcast
Montage *
Lament

* Unique to cast album
** Unique to studio album

Album Tracks – Soundtrack:

Disc 1:

Cinema in Buenos Aires, 26 July 1952
Requiem for Evita
Oh What a Circus (ANTONIO BANDERAS / MADONNA)
On This Night of a Thousand Stars (JIMMY NAIL)
Eva and Magaldi / Eva Beware of the City (MADONNA / JIMMY NAIL / ANTONIO BANDERAS)
Buenos Aires (MADONNA)
Another Suitcase in Another Hall (MADONNA)
Goodnight and Thank You (MADONNA / ANTONIO BANDERAS)
The Lady's Got Potential (ANTONIO BANDERAS)
Charity Concert / The Art of the Possible (MADONNA / JIMMY NAIL / ANTONIO BANDERAS) **
I’d Be Surprisingly Good for You (MADONNA / JONATHAN PRYCE)
Hello and Goodbye (MADONNA / JONATHAN PRYCE / ANDREA CORR) **
Peron’s Latest Flame (MADONNA / ANTONIO BANDERAS) **
A New Argentina (MADONNA / ANTONIO BANDERAS / JONATHAN PRYCE)

Disc 2:

On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada 1 (JONATHAN PRYCE)
Don’t Cry for Me Argentina (MADONNA)
On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada 2 (MADONNA) **
High Flying, Adored (ANTONIO BANDERAS / MADONNA)
Rainbow High (MADONNA)
Rainbow Tour (ANTONIO BANDERAS / GARY BROOKER / MADONNA)
The Actress Hasn’t Learned the Lines (You’d Like to Hear) (MADONNA / ANTONIO BANDERAS)
And the Money Kept Rolling (In and Out) (ANTONIO BANDERAS)
Partido Feminista (MADONNA) **
She Is a Diamond (JONATHAN PRYCE)
Santa Evita
Waltz for Eva and Che (MADONNA / ANTONIO BANDERAS)
Your Little Body Is Slowly Breaking Down (MADONNA / JONATHAN PRYCE) **
You Must Love Me (MADONNA) **
Eva’s Final Broadcast (MADONNA)
Latin Chant **
Lament (MADONNA / ANTONIO BANDERAS)

** Unique to soundtrack.

Singles/Hit Songs:

Don’t Cry for Me Argentina (JULIE COVINGTON) ^c (11/12/76) #1 UK
Another Suitcase in Another Hall (BARBARA DICKSON) ^c (2/7/77) #18 UK
Don’t Cry for Me Argentina (SHADOWS) ^c (12/78) #5 UK
You Must Love Me ^s (11/2/96) #18 US, #10 UK, #15 AC, gold single
Don’t Cry for Me Argentina (MADONNA) ^s (12/28/96) #8 US, #3 UK, #21 AC
Another Suitcase in Another Hall (MADONNA) ^s (3/29/97) #7 UK

Click here for the chart codes for singles/hit songs.

Review:

Like they had with Jesus Christ Superstar, Andrew Lloyd Webber presented Evita first as a studio album and then developed it into a stage production. It wasn’t a monstrous hit in the U.S. like the studio version of Superstar had been, but in the UK, it spawned a #1 hit with Don’t Cry for Me Argentina and a top 20 hit with Another Suitcase in Another Hall. ^R-C

For the opera based on the real-life Eva Peron, 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.” ^R-C For his part, 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.” ^R-C He used “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.” ^R-C

“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.” ^R-C

Twenty years later, Madonna took the lead in the film version. She gambled on it establishing her “as a proper movie star and respected actress.” ^R-S She “gives a startlingly accomplished and nuanced performance,” ^R-S but it “is impossible to listen to her without getting the impression that she is trying really hard to be credible.” ^R-S

As such, the soundtrack “remains curiously unengaging,” ^R-S although it is “an exquisitely produced and expertly rendered” ^R-S “audio document of the entire film, since there is no dialogue in the movie.” ^R-S “Even with the faults, Evita has its merits, including the written-for-film ballad You Must Love Me, and is worth investigating. It just isn't the definitive work that it wishes to be.” ^R-S