Evita: The Movie and Soundtrack

After all the publicity hoopla, Evita finally had its grand premiere in Los Angeles in December 1996 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, which Madonna and Carlos Leon attended together. She wore a magenta Eva Perón – inspired dress designed by John Galliano, a feathered chapeau and veil, and sexy strapped shoes by Manolo Blahnik. Looking confident and smart, she was flanked by bodyguards as she made her captivating entrance in a bedlam of police, limousines, klieg lights and fans, almost 2,000 of them. Truly, she was in her element as the lights played on her while the entourage of reporters and photographers yammered for her attention. Madonna’s smile stretched wide. Exultant, she laughed, waved and posed as the paparazzi flashed their lights and reporters jotted down notes.

“Yes, it was such fun,” she said to one reporter.

“No, I have no plans for another movie,” she explained to another, “but if you know a producer, tell him to call me,” she added with a laugh.

“See the movie,” she enthused to one on-camera commentator. “It’s my proudest achievement, besides my daughter.”

Once inside, she chatted with Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith, seeming genuinely happy even though she was facing emergency root canal surgery the following day. Then, there would be another star turn when she would fly to London with her baby for the Evita premiere there.

The $56-million extravaganza was a quick commercial success; generally, the movie’s reviews were favorable. Time magazine’s Richard Corliss wrote: “It’s a relief to say that Alan Parker’s film, which opens on Christmas Day, is pretty damn fine, well cast and handsomely visualized. Madonna once again confounds our expectations. She does a tough score proud. Lacking the vocal vigor of Elaine Paige’s West End Evita , Madonna plays Evita with a poignant weariness. She has more than just a bit of star quality. Love or hate Madonna-Eva, she is a magnet for all eyes. You must watch her.”

It’s true; Evita is a spectacularly produced film. The direction and art direction are superb. The supporting cast is excellent, the sets breathtaking, the costumes captivating . . . all of which adds up to a visually beautiful movie. The film is always entertaining and, at times, moving. But what of Madonna’s performance as its star?

There is no denying that she is a magnificent entertainer. In her pop videos and stage concerts she has a magic that, at its best, dazzles and electrifies. Perhaps, had she brought some of the flash and trash sexiness of her video persona to her role as Eva Perón (as she did in her first movie role, Desperately Seeking Susan), her interpretation might have been a smashing success. Her choice, though, was to downplay Eva Perón’s ferocious hunger, her desire to succeed, her need to excel. Her determination to portray a more sympathetic image for the character — and for herself — ultimately strips Evita of her undercurrent of urgency. In the end, Evita’s masterful manipulations become sweet suggestions; numbers that should burn with intensity instead take on a certain pallor. For example, Madonna’s coy interpretation of the seduction called “I’d Be Surprisingly Good for You,” dilutes what should have been a tour de force and makes it sound weak and whiny.

Madonna dances expertly and looks lovely in the period costumes (although she appears too old for early scenes when — filmed in deep shadow — she plays Eva as a teenager). But always we are aware of Madonna as a performer working extremely hard at a role. We never feel that she and the role become one. She is so calculating — just as she has always been in her work — that there doesn’t appear to be one truly organic moment for her as an actress in the entire movie. The viewer can almost hear her mind working: click — look this way, click — feel this way, click — time to cry.

During the times she is weakest, there are pleasant distractions. For instance, her performance on the much-anticipated “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” scene on the balcony of the Casa Rosada seems wooden and disaffected, especially considering all she did to secure that location. Yet, it is somehow boosted and lent power by sweeping camera angles, dramatic lighting changes and especially by her supporting players. Antonio Banderas’s sly looks of admiration and contempt, Jonathan Pryce’s proud bolstering from the sidelines, and the strong emotions on the faces of the extras playing Evita’s supporters all lend power to the scene that Madonna — for all her strained neck muscles — cannot seem to muster.

Whereas there may be ambivalence from some quarters about her work as an actress in the film, as a singer Madonna could not have been more wondrous. When the two-disc soundtrack album to Evita made its debut, the resulting performance made jaws drop. Madonna performed with a sense of technical and emotional discipline and depth seldom heard or seen in her acts, and a commanding familiarity with the work that allowed her to get inside the Webber/Rice songs in a way that seemed even deeper and more convincing than her on-screen transformation into Evita.

As Evita Perón, Madonna is responsible for singing on most of the songs in the musical, alone or with her co-stars. When she makes her first appearance on the soundtrack — as the wistful voice of Evita, reflecting from her grave during the sad passage of “Oh What a Circus” — she is supple and strong, and doesn’t sound at all out of place. She then sounds even more self-assured during “Eva and Mafaldi/Eva Beware of the City,” a movement with complex and conflicting tempos. Bigger voices than hers have certainly sung the festive, determined “Buenos Aires,” one of the production’s signature tunes, but Madonna also made it her own.

In the end, Madonna sang her way through a full musical’s worth of what was unquestionably the most challenging material of her career. She didn’t simply get through it, as some other singers-turned-actresses might have — but gave a performance that was, at times, captivating. Who can deny that her voice has remarkable and unmistakable presence when heard during “You Must Love Me”?

Two singles from the soundtrack, the aforementioned “You Must Love Me” and “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” reached Number 18 and Number 8 on the Billboard singles chart respectively, while the soundtrack itself in 1996 went to Number 2 on the trade magazine’s album chart. The soundtrack sold five million copies stateside, and eleven million internationally. With this collection, she added just one more triumph to a world-class résumé already brimming with accomplishments . . . and she also silenced a good deal of snickering in the process.

If nothing else, the interest that surrounded Evita — the film and the soundtrack — should have given Madonna more opportunities to star in big-budget movies. The Golden Globe, given by the Foreign Press Association, acknowledged her by giving her the award for best performance by a female in a musical or comedy. Certainly, this award was a well-deserved honor symbolizing a year of extraordinarily hard work, dedication and commitment on the part of Madonna. Sadly, no other offers were forthcoming, at least none that she felt were worth her time and energy. Also, she was snubbed at the Oscars, though “You Must Love Me” did win one for Best Song (and the award went to song-writers Webber and Rice).

“I’m patient,” she concluded in one interview. “Roles for women are not easy to come by, especially good ones. I’d like to say that the way I handle my career is by being smart about it, but then how would I explain Body of Evidence? When the right role comes along, maybe I’ll know it. Maybe I won’t. I’m not a genius. I just do the best I can do.”