Tuesday, January 21, 1997
Evita (1996)
Cast: Madonna (Eva Peron), Antonio Banderas (Che), Jonathan Pryce (Juan Peron)
For complete cast info, see IMDb's Evita page.
In my opinion, the movie Evita contains the best overall cast of Evita ever. Yes, Mandy Patinkin was a better Che, but the accent Antonio Banderas brought to the part really helped make Che seem more authentic and beneath Eva. They did take out my favorite lyric in the musical, but they didn't alter too much and did an amazing job putting this musical on film.
Although some are upset that the mistress's part was almost complete cut out (since Madonna asked to sing "Another Suitcase in Another Hall"), how can anyone who's heard the song blame Madonna? It's one of my favorites from Evita and she sings it beautifully.
The lowering of some of the notes in "Rainbow High" bothered me quite a bit (as a soprano who used that song in auditions), but it worked in the show and it's still a great song.
I decided to see the movie before deciding if I needed to buy another version of Evita on CD (I owned the American recording already) and I've decided that I need the movie soundtrack, since it's such a great cast.
Grade: B+Labels: 1996, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Antonio Banderas, drama, history, Madonna, Mandy Patinkin, movie, musical