Evita

Not so much a review as a comparison...

We saw this on (the West End - I love saying that) stage in January with Graeme's mum and her partner when they were here in January. I didn't love it as much as some of the other things we've seen, but it was still good. Having now seen the 1996 film version (as in, I started composing this while it was finishing), I think part of the problem was that I can be a very detail-oriented person and the whole thing moves so fast that its hard to follow at times and I got caught up trying to work out what was going on exactly. So, the first advantage to the film: instead of only being able to rely on stage elements - costume changes, set, lighting - there are clips of the events going on rather than just being described, plus the ability to fade between scenes gives a wider feel to the story - I actually felt like I understood what was going on the whole time. The film also has Antonio Banderas, who is just fantastic as Ché, the voice of the people - great voice, beautiful pronunciation (despite the accent, which is very important, considering he basically tells the story) and the right mix of passion and criticism. But then, it also has Madonna - and as much as she was praised for this role, I didn't love her. She looks too old throughout the film, especially considering she is supposed to start out as a 15 year old, and I definitely wasn't sad when she died.

I think probably if I had seen the film first, or at least had a much firmer grasp on what the story was actually about, I would've really loved the stage version. The girl playing Eva in the stage version was great and I would much rather see people singing and dancing in real life than on a film. Because basically, other than the extra film clips that help to tell the story, it is the same show - same songs, similar scenes, different actors.