Evita, redux...

Only weeks since seeing the Village Theatre production of Evita, I have re-immersed myself in the world of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. I broke out my original Broadway cast recording, featuring the cannot be topped Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, the excellent (and underlooked) Madonna and Antonio Bandaras movie version, and the interesting, and still not used to it Elaine Paige original London cast recording. I've even unearthed the icky Marti Webb "Songs from Evita" album (trust me, you really aren't missing anything here). I still have yet to get the Julie Covington (eww...Julie Covington!) concept recording, but until then, I have the new 2006 London Revival Cast recording (Really Useful Records).
I have been waiting for this recording for a few months, especially since the show was garnering favorable reviews from the London critics. Finally, an Eva played by someone who is actually from Argentina!

Anyway, though the show and the recording has gotten favorable reviews from others, I have to disagree and state that this recording is a major disappointment. Che, played here by Matt Rawle, seems to have most of his stuff cut out (this is a highlights disk after all...), so it's hard to hear a definitive sound from him. His voice is a little all over the place, with an occasional Cockney accent thrown in for good (or is it bad?) measure. He sounds fine in some songs, but then there are other songs where I wonder if it isn't the same person. There were too many times where I was saying to myself, "did they give Che's lines to another guy in the chorus? No it must be Matt..." Mandy he is not, but then again, no one else could be. I think if there was a full two disk recording, he would have shined more, but as it is, Che as a character seems more like an afterthought.

Elena Roger as Eva/Evita lays the Spanish accent on so thick and heavy, it sounds almost like my impersonation of a Russian accent at times (I should know, I had a Russian co-worker for two years). There was a stylistic/directorial choice to have her with a heavier accent in the first act (when Eva was young), and the accent is supposed to soften as the show goes on, but on the disk, it sounds like the heavy accent is all through act one, and then, all of a sudden at the beginning of act two with "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (which is the only song where Elena really shines, though I still prefer Madonna's version, or Patti's), the accent suddenly shifts. It's too quick a transition. Elena also seems to have a little trouble sustaining long high notes, and the strain is really evident. It makes me wonder how she could keep up with 8+/- shows a week. Another problem with the English as a second language is that it is very difficult to emote. She may be really charismatic on the stage, but it doesn't come across on the CD.

Phillip Quast, the most seasoned of the performers, comes across the best. His voice sounds almost like Jonathan Pryce's voice, and is probably what Peron in the movie should have sounded like before they changed most of the movie's sung lines to spoken dialogue. Again, Lorna Want as the Mistress and Gary Milner as Migaldi have the unenviable task of singing a song and then disappearing from the rest of the record.

The orchestra sounds lovely, but the retooled orchestrations (I hate it when they try to make the music "fresh for the modern times") are at times distracting. The dance section to "Buenos Aires" is now changed, for the worst I'm afraid. It doesn't have that dirty energy that the original Broadway cast had. The only effective change was for "Art of the Possible," by adding in a little "cat-and-mouse" chase sound with a violin solo, that effectively highlights the political action that the song is about (where the government heads are being picked off one by one).

This recording also has the first recording of "You Must Love Me," outside of the movie, and unfortunately, Elena sings this song with a bluntness and takes away from the emotion and pathos of the song. They also include the pre-finale montage (also found in the Broadway cast recording), which I hate. I don't like little medleys of songs in musicals that recap all the other songs. I don't mind small reprises of single songs, or repeating themes in the underscore, but this just made me hit that fast forward button all too quickly (just like on the Broadway cast recording). "Lament" at the end, where Evita is on her deathbed, also seems longer than usual, like they added in a new verse, which made the death scene drag on a little too long.

My one last gripe is the packaging. Coming with a cardboard slipcase (which was way too hard to get the CD out of on my copy), it comes with a flimsy eight page booklet in the CD case that doesn't actually have many pictures (there is only one picture of Che, and it makes him look like James Blunt playing Enjolras in Les Miserables). There was hope in the included libretto booklet, but alas, a lot of space in the booklet was wasted with repeating poster art interspersed with a wide shot of scenes of crowds outside the Casa Rosada. They could have easily stuck in some black and white pictures of more scenes in the show to go along with the lyrics. As such, most of the pictures of Elena as Eva are of her as young Eva in "Buenos Aires".

So if you like musical theatre, and want to delve into Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's best show, I suggest going back to pick up the original Broadway cast with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin first, and the movie version with Madonna second. Only pick this one up after getting those two first.