NewsVINTAGE PLAYBILL: Evita, 1979The original Broadway run of Evita closed on this date 31 years ago. The Playbill Vault looks back at the musical's opening on the Great White Way.
By
Megan Dekic
June 26, 2014
Following a successful premiere in London's West End, Evita opened at the Broadway Theatre Sept. 25, 1979, to mixed reviews. New York Times critic Walter Kerr praised Harold Prince's direction, but claimed one would leave the theatre "wondering why the authors chose to write a musical about materials they were then going to develop so remotely, so thinly."
The musical defied mixed reviews and received 11 Tony Award nominations. Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin won Tonys for their roles as Eva Perón and Che Guevara, and Harold Prince won for Best Direction of a Musical. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice received Tonys for the score and book, and the show took home the top honor of Best Musical.
Patti LuPone, who created the role of Eva Peron on Broadway, earning Tony and Drama Desk awards for her performance. The production opened on Broadway this date in 1979.
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Martha Swope
Patti LuPone in Evita on Broadway (1979)
Martha Swope
Patti LuPone in Evita on Broadway (1979)
Martha Swope
Patti LuPone and Bob Gunton in Evita on Broadway (1979)
Martha Swope
Patti LuPone and Bob Gunton in Evita on Broadway (1979)
Martha Swope
Patti LuPone in Evita on Broadway (1979)
Martha Swope
"A New Argentina"
Martha Swope
Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin in Evita on Broadway (1979)
Nilan was an award-winning writer, director, actor, producer, educator, and arts leader whose work centered on intersectionality, queer life, and the multiplicity of human experience.
