Eva Duarte, jeune campagnarde de l'Argentine profonde profite du passage d'un chanteur de charme, Augustin Magaldi pour le suivre à Buenos Aires. Larguant Magaldi, elle devient modèle, puis animatrice de radio, puis finalement actrice. Grâce à son nouveau compagnon, le colonel Juan Peron, elle rentre dans les hautes sphères du pouvoir et va l'aider à accéder à la présidence de l'Argentine.
Devenue l'icône de l'Argentine à l'étranger et la cheffe spirituelle de la nation, elle crée le fond "Eva Peron" pour aider les pauvres, et devient aux yeux de son peuple une sainte, la Santa Evita.
Elle se prépare à son tour à se battre pour la présidence, mais freiné par sa maladie, elle finit par abandonner et demande à son peuple de réélire son mari. Elle meurt d'un cancer, le 26 Juillet 1952 à l'âge de 33 ans.
Parallèlement, dans la première version, on suit l'histoire fictive de Che, jeune chimiste Argentin, ayant mis au point un insecticide révolutionnaire et qui va tenter de profiter du capitalisme Argentin tout neuf pour faire fortune, mais en vain. Dans les versions pour la scène, tout ce rôle sera modifié pour devenir Che Guevara,

Synopsis complet

 London Version (1978)
 Broadway Version (1979)
 London Revival Version (2006)

Dans un premier temps, Evita est reçu avec méfiance. L'Argentine fasciste des années quarante ne semble pas passionner les gens, et l'album ne reçoit qu'un succès mineur.

Le single Don't cry for me Argentina sort en décembre 1976, à son tour sans grand succès, mais il entame une montée lente mais régulière dans les hit-parades, et au printemps/été 1977, il est numéro 1 dans de nombreux pays, entrainant avec lui le double album qui sera finalement un énorme succès.

En 1978, ils décident de monter Evita à la scène et revoient certains aspects de leur œuvre. Ils changent complètement le personnage de Che, abandonnant l'idée du jeune chimiste pour utiliser une autre icône de l'Argentine: Che Guevara. On réécrit donc pratiquement tous les textes de Che et la chanson The lady's got potential est carrément abandonnée.

Julie Covington (Eva sur l'album) ne voulant pas jouer le rôle sur scène, le rôle est offert à une jeune débutante, Elaine Paige, qui va se révéler largement à la hauteur.

C'est également là que date la nouvelle rupture entreTim Rice et Andrew Lloyd Webber. Tim Rice tombe amoureux de la nouvelle Evita alors qu'il est marié et leur relation ne plait pas à Andrew qui reproche cet écart de conduite à son ami. Andrew Lloyd Webber pourtant, connaitra le même genre de situation quelques années plus tard, lorsqu'il tombera amoureux de la jeune chanteuse Sarah Brightman, et après quelques années de brouille, les deux compères sauront se pardonner et collaboreront souvent, même s'ils n'écriront plus jamais de comédie musicales ensemble.

1 Evita peut-être considéré comme un Top musical

2 Evita peut-être considéré comme un mega-musical.

3 Evita s'intéresse à un personnage historique important: Eva Peron.

In 1972, Robert Stigwood proposed that Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice develop a new musical version of Peter Pan, but they abandoned the project.

The source material for the musical that made Rice intrigued about Eva Peron was a brief radio play he heard whilst driving his car, but more importantly the TV film Queen of Hearts by Argentine film director Carlos Pasini Hansen that Thames Television produced and had aired in the UK on the 24th of October 1972.

Tim Rice had missed that showing but an executive of CIC (Cinema International Corporation) in London who was a mutual friend of Rice and Pasini introduced them and Pasini arranged for Tim to see the film at Thames Television which he did "at least twenty times" saying also that "by that time I had seen Pasini's superbly researched film, I was hooked." Rice then heard a radio play about Eva Duarte de Perón and approached Lloyd Webber with an idea for a musical collaboration based on her life. The more Rice investigated Eva Perón, going so far as to travel to Buenos Aires to research her life, with many documents and contacts that Pasini had supplied, the more fascinated he became by the woman; he even named his first daughter after her. The idea of writing a score including tangos, paso dobles, and similar Latin flavours intrigued Lloyd Webber, but he ultimately rejected the idea. Lloyd Webber decided instead to collaborate with Alan Ayckbourn on Jeeves, a traditional Rodgers and Hart-style musical based on the P.G. Wodehouse character, which proved to be a critical and commercial failure.

Lloyd Webber returned to Rice, and they began developing Rice's proposed musical. The authors of the 1996 book Evita: The Real Life of Eva Perón claim that the musical was based on Mary Main's biography The Woman with the Whip, which was extremely critical of Eva Perón.

Though Rice praised the Main biography, it was never officially credited as source material. Rice suggested that they create a character known as Che to serve as a narrator and Greek chorus. It was not his intention to base him on Che Guevara, but when Harold Prince later became involved with the project, he insisted that the actors portraying Che use Guevara as a role model. In the 1996 film adaptation, the character returned to his more anonymous roots. This was also the case for the 2006 London revival.

As they previously had done with Superstar, the songwriting team decided to record Evita as an album musical and selected actress and singer Julie Covington to sing the title role. Released in 1976, the two-disc set included Paul Jones as Juan Perón, Colm Wilkinson as Che, Barbara Dickson as Perón's mistress, and Tony Christie as Agustín Magaldi. When the project began to take shape, Pasini wrote the dialogue in Spanish of the first scene of the musical "A Cinema in Buenos Aires" for the first recording of the album in which Julie Covington plays Eva. In this recording Pasini plays the part of the actor in the soundtrack of the "1952 movie that grinds to a halt" and also reads the official communique of Eva's death. In the brochure that accompanied the album that dialogue appears translated into English and the first "thanks" are to Carlos Pasini when the recording was first presented to the press in Andrew Lloyd Webber's country home. The visual presentation was organized by Pasini and his colleague Anton Furst using all the photographic material provided by Pasini.

Lloyd Webber and conductor Anthony Bowles presented the musical at the second Sydmonton Festival before making the recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.[6] Prior to its release, they played it for Harold Prince and invited him to become involved with the eventual staging. Prince agreed, commenting, "Any opera that begins with a funeral can't be all bad", but he advised them that he could not take on any new commitments for the next two years.[7]

In Britain, Australia, South Africa, South America, and various parts of Europe, sales of the concept album exceeded those of Jesus Christ Superstar; in the United States, however, it never achieved the same level of success. Covington's recording of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (originally titled "It's Only Your Lover Returning")[8] was released in October 1976. It reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart[7] and enjoyed similar success internationally. Dickson's "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" also became a hit. In the U.S. and UK, respectively, Karen Carpenter and Petula Clark released cover versions of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina". In December 1976 Rice wrote to Pasini, then in Rome, telling him of the good reaction of the English public to the album ("already sold 10.000 copies") and saying that he "promised not to accept any film offers without letting you (Pasini) know".

Lloyd Webber and Rice reworked several elements of the musical before producing it for the stage. Some songs were dropped and some shortened, while others were introduced and some lyrics rewritten. The 1976 album and the stage version featured different versions of the dialogue between Eva and Perón during "Dice Are Rolling." The earlier version concluded with "Eva's Sonnet", during which she reaffirms her vice-presidential aspirations. The stage version of "Dice are Rolling" concluded on a shorter version of the sonnet as Eva collapses due to her worsening illness. Additional lyrics were written for the stage version of "Oh, What a Circus".

Lloyd Webber and Rice approached Prince again, and he told them that he would be ready to start rehearsals in early 1978. When he began working on the project in May, he changed very little, other than deleting Che's rock number "The Lady's Got Potential". Prince requested a song he could stage to chart Perón's rise to power, and Rice and Lloyd Webber responded with the musical chairs number "The Art of the Possible", during which military officers are eliminated until only Perón remains.[9] Inspired by the murals of Diego Rivera, Prince suggested the proscenium be flanked by artwork depicting the struggles of the Argentine peasants. He jettisoned the original monochromatic costumes designed for the chorus members and dancers; instead, he had them go to charity and secondhand clothing shops to purchase costumes.[10]

Evita opened in London's West End on 21 June 1978, and on Broadway the following year.

Génèse complète

Acte I
 A Cinema in Buenos Aires, 26 July 1952 – La foule +
 Requiem for Evita – Chorus
 Oh What a Circus – Che and Crowd
 On This Night of a Thousand Stars – Magaldi
 Eva and Magaldi / Eva, Beware of the City – Eva, Magaldi and Evita's Family
 Buenos Aires – Eva and Crowd
 Good Night and Thank You – Che, Eva, Magaldi and Lovers
 The Lady's Got Potential – Che *
 The Art of the Possible – Perón, Generals and Eva
 Charity Concert – Perón, Che, Magaldi and Eva
 I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You – Eva and Perón
 Hello and Goodbye – Eva
 Another Suitcase in Another Hall – Perón's Mistress and Men's Chorus
 Peron's Latest Flame – Che, Aristocrats, Soldiers and Eva
 A New Argentina – Eva, Che, Perón and Crowd

Acte II
 Entr'acte
 On The Balcony of the Casa Rosada – Perón, Che and Crowd
 Don't Cry for Me, Argentina – Eva
 High Flying Adored – Che and Eva
 Rainbow High – Eva and Dressers
 Rainbow Tour – Perón, Advisers and Che
 The Actress Hasn't Learned the Lines (You'd Like to Hear) – Eva, Aristocrats and Che
 And the Money Kept Rolling In (And Out) – Che and Crowd
 Santa Evita – Children and Chorus
 A Waltz for Eva and Che – Eva and Che
 You Must Love Me - Eva ++
 Peron's Latest Flame Playoff - Soldiers **
 She is a Diamond – Perón **
 Dice Are Rolling / Eva's Sonnet – Perón and Eva
 Eva's Final Broadcast – Eva
 Montage – Eva, Che, Perón and Chorus ***
 Lament – Eva, Embalmers and Che

* Cette chanson est habituellement coupée dans la plupart des versions et remplacée par The Art of the Possible, mais une version modifiée est apparu dans un certain nombre de mises en scène.
** Ces deux chansons sont souvent créditées comme une seule, juste comme She is a Diamond.
*** Les mélodies et la longueur varie suivant les productions.
+ Remplacé par Junin, 26 July 1952 dans les productions japonaises, les revivals de Londres et de Broadway
++ You Must Love Me, écrite pour le film de 1996, a été ajouté dans la la production de Londres en 2006 et plusieurs autres productions depuis; sa position dans le musical varie de juste après Waltz for Eva and Che jusqu’à juste avant Eva's Final Broadcast

 Eva Peron (mezzo) - Rôle principal, jouant un personnage évoluant de 15 à 33 ans
 Che Guevara (tenor) - Rôle principal, jouant un personnage évoluant de 21 à 35 ans
 Juan Peron (bariton) - Rôle principal, jouant un personnage évoluant de 32 à 55 ans
 Agustin Magaldi (tenor) - Rôle secondairel, jouant un personnage évoluant de 23 à 35 ans
 Peron's Mistress (mezzo) - Rôle secondairel, jouant un personnage évoluant de 14 à 18 ans
 Ensemble (hommes, femmes et enfants d'Argentine)

Texte des chansons

 Texte des chansons