Return to ‘Evita’

Why is Harold “Hal” Prince, certified Broadway legend, directing the bus-and-truck tour of “Evita,” which arrives at the Spokane Opera House on Wednesday?

As he told us by phone from New York, it’s because his first time around with “Evita” in 1978 “represented one of my better experiences” in theater.

That’s saying something. Few have had as many good theater experiences as Prince (see story on page F4).

Yet a special place remains in his heart for the original version of this Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical, which he directed in London in 1978 and on Broadway in 1979.

“We were flying blind,” said Prince. “The whole show was flying blind. And when it worked in front of an audience, we were all so proud of it.”

“Evita” became a monster hit – it ran nine straight years in London and nearly six on Broadway – and Prince won a Tony for Best Director (one of 20 in his lifetime).

In the years since, “Evita” has been staged by many other directors, with many other interpretations. The movie version, starring Madonna, hit the screen in 1996.

“The movie, more than anything, probably caused people to think they saw ‘Evita,’ ” said Prince. “And they didn’t.”

It wasn’t his favorite movie version of one of his musicals.

“So when I heard they were doing another (tour), 25 years later, I wanted to duplicate it down to the smallest detail,” said Prince. “I wanted a new audience to see something they hadn’t seen.”

He cast it, staged it, rehearsed it and, as the posters say, “supervised the entire production.”

The tour has been on the road since November, but Prince continues to keep tabs on it. He and original choreographer Larry Fuller spent Feb. 12 in Wallingford, Conn., catching a performance, taking notes and doing some tune-up rehearsals.

“I thought it was in quite good shape,” said Prince.

Nobody, with the possible exception of Sir Andrew himself, has a keener eye for this material.

Prince became involved in this project in the mid-1970s when Webber and Rice, fresh off the success of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” asked if he would be interested in taking a recording about the life of Eva Peron they had just made with the London Symphony and turning it into a stage show.

“I was immediately hooked by the opening, which has 200,000 people at Eva Peron’s funeral,” said Prince. “I thought, ‘How the hell do you do that?’ “

Prince was intrigued enough to write a “long exegesis on the material” and sent it off to the composers. Meanwhile, the album version of “Evita” came out and became a No. 1 European hit. A year or so later, Webber and Rice showed up unannounced in Prince’s office carrying a copy of the record and saying they were ready to get cracking.

“So I said, ‘OK,’ and went to work,” said Prince. “I took the slip of paper they put inside an album, which had only the lyrics, and I transformed those lyrics into what looked like a play script.

“I picked venues and came up with various and sundry ideas and I even came up with a hole in the storytelling where a new number ought to be written, introducing Juan Peron. I said, ‘I see five colonels and generals in rocking chairs, rocking back and forth. Could you write me a number and we’ll play musical chairs until we have no one left but Juan Peron?’

“They wrote a sensational number, something called ‘The Art of the Possible,’ and I was able to stage it exactly as I described it.”

The show debuted in London and was a hit from the first preview performance.

“And I have to tell you, the very first preview performance was the last time I changed anything,” said Prince. “The only alterations have been accommodate the different personalities of the actors. … You jimmy things to take advantage of their strengths. But beyond that, that’s the show.”

And that’s the show that audiences will see when this touring production hits town on Wednesday.

Maybe you weren’t in London’s West End in 1978 – but that doesn’t mean you can’t see “Evita” the way Hal Prince intended.