I've seen several interviews from her during and soon after the run of Evita where she is not saying anything remotely resembling the experience she says she had now. Of course she could have absolutely been saying what she thought people wanted to hear, what she should say to keep working... ALW and Prince were two of the most powerful men in the biz (well, Hal... Webber not as much as that point, but still a big writer). But she also would say over and over how she's an actor's actor, an actor first, how she approached it as a play not a musical, how she doesn't care about or even want fame she just wants to work hard and give a good performance for that evening's audience... etc. It never sounds like she's the actress who's learned the lines they'd like to hear, to quote Eva. But who can say! Not only can no one know for sure but her... she is not the same Patti today that she was in 1980 or 1990, etc (no one is)... so she may feel very sure her current feelings and memory are accurate, and they may contradict what they were then. Who knows.
But either way, there are observable truths about the situation of her as an actor at that time, of Hal, of her in the show, of the show... and of what the show is saying about politics, society, Eva herself, as well as the reaction to it (the Times review by Kerr is not bashing it for glorifying a dictator who hid nazis, or forcing a girl out of her element to sing a score she can't sing... it is a mixed review with plenty of good (including about her), criticizing mainly the generally dramatically inert narration and "talk don't show" most of the show is written in.... and adore it as I do, and as great as it is as a score or concept album, as a musical this is not an unfair criticism, and that is why Prince's production is the only one I've seen that works, and why the movie and revival absolutely do not despite that on the surface they kind of seem like the do. Which isn't to say all productions should copy his staging, but they should consider the *intentions* behind Prince's direction (vision/concept/staging) as part of the writing of the show.) |
