Has anyone read Leonard Bernstein's account of how he discovered that "West Side Story" wasn't an opera? He'd written countless different musical interpretations of Maria's final speech, in a variety of styles and musical forms, and none of them had come close to working. The scene was a dramatic climax, and in an opera any such scene would have to be a musical climax as well. But Bernstein realised that for the scene to work dramatically in "West Side Story" the characters would have to stop singing and talk to one another; therefore, "West Side Story" couldn't be an opera.
It's a pity that Andrew Lloyd Webber didn't have a similar epiphany. "Evita" clearly thinks of itself as a grand and serious opera, but it's considerably further from being one than "West Side Story" - despite the fact that there's not a line of spoken dialogue. And spoken dialogue would certainly help. Partly because no character can break OUT of speech INTO song - there's not even an undercurrent of recitative - no song feels like the expression of anyone's point of view but Tim Rice's. Almost all songs are sung by nobody in particular.
I suspect the transfer to the screen has made things worse. The photography is gorgeous - I never saw it on the big screen, where, I'm sure, it was ten times as gorgeous - but it's all wasted: it simply serves to turn "Evita" into one big, long music video. All the spectacular images are in the form of seconds-long illustrations, vignettes, and flashbacks. If only Alan Parker had had the courage to just ONCE give us a single unblinking shot of ANYTHING, even if it was just of a character simply singing... As it is, this is the coldest musical drama you're likely to see. The characters are so remote I'm not sure they're there. I can't see any larger epic structure, either: it takes more than an army of extras to give a movie one of those.
And let's face it: musically, Lloyd Webber isn't up to the task he's set himself. His instrumental music is curiously dead - which, I presume, is why there's so little of it - and even the songs arouse my suspicion. So much artificial respiration: drum machines, modulations, juxtaposition, unmotivated changes of rhythm, choral intervention ... truly memorable material ought to be able to breathe on its own. A film that's going to be ALL score requires a stronger score than this.
I agree with those who praise the cast, though.
It's a pity that Andrew Lloyd Webber didn't have a similar epiphany. "Evita" clearly thinks of itself as a grand and serious opera, but it's considerably further from being one than "West Side Story" - despite the fact that there's not a line of spoken dialogue. And spoken dialogue would certainly help. Partly because no character can break OUT of speech INTO song - there's not even an undercurrent of recitative - no song feels like the expression of anyone's point of view but Tim Rice's. Almost all songs are sung by nobody in particular.
I suspect the transfer to the screen has made things worse. The photography is gorgeous - I never saw it on the big screen, where, I'm sure, it was ten times as gorgeous - but it's all wasted: it simply serves to turn "Evita" into one big, long music video. All the spectacular images are in the form of seconds-long illustrations, vignettes, and flashbacks. If only Alan Parker had had the courage to just ONCE give us a single unblinking shot of ANYTHING, even if it was just of a character simply singing... As it is, this is the coldest musical drama you're likely to see. The characters are so remote I'm not sure they're there. I can't see any larger epic structure, either: it takes more than an army of extras to give a movie one of those.
And let's face it: musically, Lloyd Webber isn't up to the task he's set himself. His instrumental music is curiously dead - which, I presume, is why there's so little of it - and even the songs arouse my suspicion. So much artificial respiration: drum machines, modulations, juxtaposition, unmotivated changes of rhythm, choral intervention ... truly memorable material ought to be able to breathe on its own. A film that's going to be ALL score requires a stronger score than this.
I agree with those who praise the cast, though.