This Day in History September 25, 1979

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This brings back old memories since I am telling you about music history today.  On this date in 1979, the musical Evita opened on Broadway.  This musical was the third and final collaboration between Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.  Their previous works included Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  I never have seen this musical live, but I saw the movie version with Madonna and Antonio Banderras.

This musical is the story of Eva Peron, the former first lady of Argentina who died of cancer back in the 1940's.  This is a musical that Argentina refuses to acknowledge claiming that it is not a true representation of the life of the revered Eva.  I have not researched the story of her life enough to make a judgment call, but I would say that there has to be some truth to the story.  The musical is a rock opera--told almost entirely through song and dance.  Patti LuPone was the original Broadway Eva Peron. I had no idea of this when I watched her short-lived TV show Life Goes On about a boy with Down's Syndrome (I absolutely loved that show and wished it had not ended so soon!).

In total, the show ran 1567 performances ending June 26, 1983.  While I know that it does deal with adult themes and has some language issues, I don't see either as being something that keeps me from watching it.  The language is very mild, and thankfully there are no sex scenes. If you ever get a chance to see the movie, I would recommend it.  I am not a Madonna fan, but I liked her in this film.

For more information, check out these sites:
http://www.rnh.com/show/34/Evita
http://broadwayworld.com/bwidb/productions/Evita_4426/



And my favorite: