- Aspects of Love
- Bombay Dreams
- By Jeeves
- Cats
- Evita
- Jesus Christ Superstar
- Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
- Love Never Dies
- Song and Dance
- Starlight Express
- Stephen ward
- Sunset Boulevard
- Tell Me on a Sunday
- The Beautiful Game
- The Likes of Us
- The Phantom of the Opera
- The Sound of Music
- The Wizard of Oz
- The Woman in White
- Whistle Down the Wind
Evita
The result of a visit to Argentina in February 1974 by Tim Rice, and the subsequent reunion with Lloyd Webber – their first collaboration since the double-album of Superstar was unleashed upon a largely unimpressed British public in October 1970 – is Evita, the story of Juan Peron’s first wife, Eva.
Like its predecessor, Evita began life as a two-record set embracing all manner of popular music styles. Like Superstar, it had already produced a smash-hit single, ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’, which, much to the delight of Tim Rice, would have people ‘walking into the theatre whistling the tune’.
There are over 100 cover versions of Argentina, which was written “on the spot”, says Rice, “and which neither of us thought would be a hit. After all who wants to buy a song about a country you’ve hardly even heard of?”
Dispensing with the non-too-happy prefix ‘rock’, Rice and Lloyd Webber simply called Evita an opera, with the infinitely varied score reflecting the increasing maturity of their composition.
The £400,000 musical directed by Harold Prince opened at the Prince Edward (formerly Casino) Theatre on June 21st 1978 amid unprecedented publicity, as a joint production between the authors and Robert Stigwood.
As Rice wrote in his introduction to their own book about Evita, “mere words from critics hold no terror for me”.
Lloyd Webber re-vamped much of the orchestrations for Evita, so making suitably ethnic his and Rice’s study of Eva Peron, “easily the most unpleasant character about whom I have written”, says Lloyd Webber, “except perhaps Peron himself”.
John Coldstream From the Original London Production Programme
Visit the official Evita website
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2013
March 14, 2013
Andrew Lloyd Webber: 40 Musical Years
An evening of show-stopping performances, one-off collaborations and insights from Andrew on his extraordinary career.
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2012
May 2, 2012
Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar Tony nominations
Broadway revivals of Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar nominated in Tony Awards.
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2007
October 20, 2007
Andrew helps the Dutch find their Evita
Andrew assists on the Dutch search for Evita.
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2006
June 21, 2006
The 2006 revival of Evita
Michael Grandage’s revival of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1978 classic Evita opened at The Adelphi Theatre in London on 21st June 2006.
