Patti just commands attention and we gladly give it to her. She has remarkable stage presence and a self confidence that doesn`t so much ache to be noticed but knows its being noticed and she is just delighted to show it off. God, I love that woman. I also love how she didn`t take the role so damn seriously and often delivered her lines with a twinkle in her eye or in shameless melodramatic fashion. Went perfectly with the overall tone of the show and the audience GOT it.
Incredible how many folks here simply dismiss Elaine Paige. Let's not forget she created the stage role long before Patti. I suspect the reason people don't rate her as highly is because there is no filmed record of her in the part. Also, I suspect an awful lot of the people posting here are from the USA. But trust me, Paige is a force to be reckoned with. I saw her in Piaf - another punishing belter of a role - and trust me, she was incredible.
Patti LuPone will forever be my Eva of choice. It took me many years to warm up to Elaine’s version. After hearing others in the role , I do find Elaine stands out well above them. It’s too bad her Eva was hampered by a heavily edited “highlights” album. Her highlights would have been A New Argentina which included none of the main song and her belts. I just discovered her version from a bootleg recording a couple of years ago and even though the slower tempo is reminiscent of the concept album, I really enjoyed hearing her belt it out. I also think Elaine, after discovering some video of her performing High Flying Adored and Rainbow High, benefits from actually watching her perform the role then just listening to her on the album. On a side note… I’m so jealous you got to see her in Piaf!! I would have loved to have seen that and think that’s a totally under appreciated and little known role of hers!
No one compares to Patti, but, I saw Nancy Opel as her understudy when we thought we were going to be seeing Patti and was so sad....until the curtain rose and she was sublime! Excellent. Historically I would have loved seeing Patti and Mandy together, but Nancy hit a home run. And Mandy was amazing!
Patti, no question about it. She attacks those high notes and belts them out without fear. I have seen at least six productions of Evita including Elena Rogers and Loni Ackerman and Patti's performance outshines all of them.
I disagree. I think Florence Lacey was a far better Eva then Patti lockdown was. Her rendition of Don't Cry For Me Argentina on the closing night of the Broadway production is unsurpassed
I agree,you can hear more of them in the Phantom and Les Mis comparisons.I saw Celinde Schoenmaker as Christine in Phantom nearly four years ago and she was wondeful.Her voice is beautiful and she can act which is more than be said for the much vaunted Sarah Brightman.
Obviously we all love Patti LuPone but one thing that bugs me is when they call her the original Evita. She was the original BROADWAY Evita (and brilliant!)
Wishing I was alive to see this with Elaine Page and Patti Lupone. When I was 12 I seen the debut of the 20th Anniversary US Tour when it opened in November 1998, at the Masonic Temple Theatre in Detroit, MI. This production of Evita starred Natalie Toro and Raul Esparza. The production also had an all Latin ensemble for a more authentic show. It was aimed towards Broadway. However, it never made it.
I got to see that production also! It was really good and nice to see the original staging/ costumes/ choreography which far surpasses the awful, boring “new” staging that is too reminiscent of the movie.
I love Madonna and LuPone, but Eva has always been LuPone LuPone LuPone ... watching this though I was impressed with Madonna's phrasing (I believe though the music was transposed for her ... which is my biggest problem with Madonna in Evita, she truly sounds lovely but it's very very careful and almost polite and I prefer my Evas really brassy) ... I also have to echo that the alternate for the Bway revival Christina DeCicco was impressive. Had I known, I would have tried to catch her on the nights she was on.
So many of my favourite musical theatre women here and such a crazy vocal range too. Any of the girls keeping this in their chest voices get my full praise. I'm a baritone and find the higher 'belt tricky sometimes.. Caroline Bowman is stunning as are so many others. Though I'm proud to say a lot of the UK girls are really up there too.
I don't know why they insisted on Elena Roger. I thought she was dreadful in London. I was hoping they would recast for the Broadway transfer. Then again, the whole production was so misguided, unimaginative, and uninspired!
@@isaiahbaston in my opinion the revival was terrible for the sole and only reason of Peronist Elena Roger wanting to portray a manipulative dictatress as a saint. Yes, she’s a rounded character, and the audiences must see “both sides”, but everything Ms Roger did (from her “oh yes” in “I’d be suprisingly good for you”, her everything but fierce Rainbow High, to her feeling of Don’t Cry for Me Argentina as a “real speech” and not the ironic discourse Tim Rice and Hal Prince viewed it as; made Eva Perón, one of the most corrupt, manipulative and authoritative politic figures in Argentina, seem to the audience that she was a perfect saint. Grandage’s awful direction didn’t help either, turning scenes where the real populist propaganda and the persecution opponents had to face into mere balls and “representations of the Argentine life”. This happened especially with Money Kept Rolling in, A New Argentina (the blocking for “and no dissent within” is disastrous) and Perón’s Latest Flame. I do agree with making Che an “Everyman” instead of the “ghost” of the homophobic revolutionary Che Guevara, and think that the new orchestrations are way better. The choreography was also wonderful. The sole problem, as I said before, in my opinion, was Roger’s shrieky, uncontrolled and out of place vocals, and, especially her interpretation of the character as a saint (making the audience see how Peronist Ms Roger is in real life and how much of her political views she wanted to incorporate into her character), that, sadly, her alternates had to follow, and so had to the Evas for the US tour. Yes, the staging was nice, so was the choreography. But it’s not a show about “daily life in 1940s Argentina”, but, the rise to power of a poor girl through manipulation and love, and the rise of Peronism, an ideology that turned Argentina from one of the most prosperous nations in the world, into a place full of injustice and with a dictatorial government.
I take issue with Lupone's (and others') comments about ALW's writing implicating him as a sadist. If certain other composers decided to push the boundaries of the vocally-possible, I suspect it would be heralded as "essential to the musical integrity of the character". In an interview, Lupone also criticized the lowering of the keys for Madonna's performance in the film version, reasoning that it does in fact undermine the character. If the original score is indeed 'sadistic', then please may we have more sadists writing musical theatre scores. The vocally-unsuitable need not apply to perform them.
She disappointed me. I was very surprised she lowered the key on the belty part. Of all singers, I totally expected her to do that bit justice so it was jarring to hear her go down a whole octave. Maybe it was just that one night. I hope so.
1. Elaine Paige Um she is Granada fit of the role but we are not going to see her in the role 2.Gunilla backman She is top notch but there isn’t a video of her singing this 3:liz callaway Pretty good but she has it in every different way 4:Nancy opel She is singing top notch but I am gonna rate it a 4 5:Andrea McArdle She was fit for the role but she sings perfectly 6:Daphne Rubin-Vega She sings in a very different way but she sings this in a different key 7:Patti lupone She sings in a good way she was belting and singing 8:loni Ackerman She is very good she was also belting she was also singing 9:Gemma atkins She sings really good she was the 2nd uk tour alternate Eva peron 10:Gemma wardle She was fit for the role but she sang really good 10:Shanice She was also fit for the role but she sang in anger she was like FOR HE LOVES YOU UNDERSTANDS YOU IS ONE OF YOU she was not good at all 11:jenine desi She was fit for the role she also sang in anger she was also not good 12:madalena Alberto She sings the song really good but she belts 13:Natalie toro She sings really good but she belts
For me the best one were Elaine Paige and Madonna. Very natural both and not overacted as the other ones. But, I saw the play in London with the argentine Elena Roger and of course she was much better that all of them since she knew very well the character and gave Evita the correct character and personality.
its amazing to think back when Evita was first done, there were VERY few women who knew how to sing that. NOw i feel like most girls coming out of conservatory can do it. Kinda like Defying Gravity or baritones singing high A's. The voice can stretch if you teach it to do so.
It's just standard repertoire requirements now. Very few popular roles are written for baritones or true sopranos anymore in the theatre. The belter makes a more versatile performer, having low notes and high notes, often in unfathomable range (like Evita). Baritones should at least have a G. An A is pushing it but isn't out of reach. With guys like Jeremy Jordan being vocal role models for many of us guys, were trying to get solid B's and C's now because they make it seem so effortless.
you left out Derin Altay who was the SECOND Eva in the US after Patti. Patti definitely has the bigger chops but in all fairness the clip you chose is her lip synching to her album on the Tony’s.
That's not true. A lot of people say that because of a literally 2 second delay on a couple of words, which was the result of technical issues. The Evita Tony performance was 100% live and you could tell because it is very different sounding than the cast album, where Patti sings that song in a much more subdued fashion. On the Tony's she belts the crap out of it.
@@lamisere8337… Yes! Anyone who has listen to the OBC album more then once can tell that the Tony performance is NOT a lip synch of the album. They are totally different!
The footage you have used for Elena Roger is from the 2006 London Revival, not the subsequent Broadway revival, as stated. This is evident due to Philip Quast playing Peron.
Some of these got a really low quality audio it kinda hurts my ears even if they re all good (its a really difficult role ya know) btw I ll go with Patti and the Dutch ladies
You're joking with us, right? You want us to compare apples to oranges to bananas. The live stage is only as good in quality as the camera audio can render. Madonna's is recorded in a studio, not on a live stage. Some language versions are incomparable. Patti Lupone's version on stage is okay, but compare it to the studio version against Madonna and any of the others. I'm not saying all these stage versions are unworthy, but I know from experience, watching and hearing the music live is the best way to judge (to be fair)
All are great singers to even get the role. You're all right, Patti has some pipes on her! All good though - Madonna didn't scream in her version and her words were clear!
Perhaps that was because hers 1. Was pre- recorded 2. Was lowered 6 semitones 3. wasn't sung live with a full orchestra to compete with. Anyone off the street could've sung it 'well' under those circumstances.
Entertainers are so full of themselves... Madonna’s version...I could actually hear the words. It didn’t sound like screaming. I’d like to hear Miss Patty Labelle sing it with all her flare?
Pleased with Florence and Susan Carl George. Patti is just......so unlikeable at times......she has phenomenal presence on stage and is a vocal powerhouse.......but she is just so EXTRA.
Madonna ugh. Even that much lower and with the help of an entire studio couldn't sound half as good as any of these other women. Patti and Elaine rule.
*Christian Dorey* believe it or not, many people who aren't into musical theater prefer Madonna's rendition. It's intelligible and easy on the ears. To many, the belting style can be off-putting, especially the way it's done in EVITA. To them, it sounds like Patti (or whoever) is screaming.
rabid rabbitshuggers being a huge musical theater nerd, Madonna’s voice is the least annoying and honestly the best. but that’s also probably because i’m a fan of hers
Amy Baker But patti doesn’t. You can understand if you listen. I understand it isn’t the easiest to understand but she was doing the notes how the writer wanted it. Get use to Broadway.
It wasn't just because Madonna couldn't hit the high notes. Acting on film is different from acting on stage. In the theater, you need to project loudly so that the back row can hear you. But film is more intimate. No one wants to be screamed at (which is how belting comes across on film) while watching a movie. I think the way Madonna sang worked well for the film. I would certainly be disappointed if any actress playing Eva performed that way on stage. But it's forgivable and works better on film.
@@musicaltheatergeek79 The days when you had to scream to make yourself heard at the back are over.They wear microphones so they can be and should be more subtle.
Amy Baker Not necessarily. Microphones can only pick up so much, so they still have to be loud enough for the mic to pick up their voice. Some theaters/directors (not as often with broadway, but more with smaller theaters and seating sizes) will actually not use the mics because 1, to show off actors with voices that can naturally fill the room, and 2, because depending on the mic’s quality, it can cause a weird reverb sound that can be distracting.
i tried to watch all of this, but that is one awful song.. wdv thought julie covington as she did such a beautiful job of dont cry for me.. but still an awful song nonetheless.. :D
I know that Elaine Paige was the first to play Evita on stage and she was disappointed not to go to New York ,but listen to her,she crucifies these songs.