Deconstructing Elaine Paige in EVITA!

[@russellwright1324]

I don't always love Elaine Paige (Chess-Yes, Reno -Re-NO! )but her take on Evita is so ferocious and theatrical that if you compare to her. There's a wildly delightful over-the-topness to her performance. I do wish she had been able to repeat the real on Broadway. Especially since Ms. Lupone says it was the worst professional experience of her life. I love the original Julie Covington as well. Elaine's take is definitely like a wild untamable stage animal. The awesome thing is when I listen to bootlegs of her live she seems even more determined and gutsy. Thanks Seth for your deconstruction!

[@AndrewGriffiths]

Seth, did you also notice the introduction to "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" is the same tune as "Rollin', rollin', rollin"? Was doing the show for a year before I noticed!

[@natalianat5736]

"I won't dissapoint them " is fantastic

[@David-pt8ge]

Good to hear Ms Paige in her prime. Strange to think that she is about to start her farewell tour.

[@blairthomas4358]

This video is amazing and I'm so glad someone else recognizes all the little parts that I love so much about this song. Especially the elaine riffs

[@gioPHL]

I absolutely adore your videos. I learn so much and hear things differently after watching. What a gift. Thank you.

[@dohaperson1]

The part at the beginning shows how strong the Evita score is: the music sung by Eva to declare that she will take on Buenos Aires is repeated (though slightly modified) for her charge towards Europe. It's very clever.

[@madalyn_]

I love a great Paige riff!

[@GeoffBarone]

Thanks for the analysis on the intro. I never noticed that either. Mind blown!! ;)

[@jeffreyschoenberg8003]

I've been a fan of Paige since I saw her in a bit part in the show "Billy" in 1974. She let's you see what she's doing by just listening to her. Such a glorious, huge instrument in such a tiny person. Even after-her-prime Paige is better than many others.

[@JaredGoerke]

I didn't even realize the beginning of the song being the same! I was in the show and listen to it religiously yet I still didn't realize that!

[@CJ-hg9cs]

I've probably commented on this deconstruction a few times but I don't care....The way Elaine sings "I'm theeeeeeerrrreee Saviour!!!!" to me....is one of the best and unique belts I've ever heard. It's just delicious to listen to for me 🤣 Seth I bloody adore you and your energy and reviews. Truly entertaining and informative 👌

[@DistantCousin]

Yes, she truly IS amazing! Was great fun and a thrill to listen!!

[@ChrisChanningChannel]

...Good evening :_)) just commenting as I watch ... scooping - she goes up to her head and down to her toes. and the Machiavelli pronunciation is just the way we say it (over here) and the way they say it where I usually live, in Italy. You're probably used to it with an H - Mah-chiavelli - , American style. I went to the third night of Evita. The original album had been worn down in the dormitory at my school and we got weekend passes for the Saturday night to see the stage show just after it opened the Thursday before. We were sort of disappointed it wasn't going to be Julie Covington ...but of course, It was quite amazing. Essex as Che - Joss Akland as Peron ...and this tiny vulnerable looking thing (as was Eva Peron herself) as Eva. Wow! I'd loved Paige in Billy! with Michael Crawford three years earlier. I expect you have the Billy! album, recently put on CD. It's a lovely, very British score by film composer John Barry ("Best British Musical since 'Oliver!'" etc) ... Paige is great in a sweet trio for Billy's girlfriends and in a duet with Gay Soper (another singing actress often in the West End). x

[@hefinrosser8685]

It's amazing to think there were no personal Mike's back then. When Elaine was in the musical BILLY she definitely didn't wear a personal Mic. Patti Lupone and Elaine Paige are both divas in their own rights and are both AMAZING XXX

[@katrineGIRL]

I’m honestly obsessed with your analysis of this version. LOVE this video!!

[@markbaker2826]

LOVE LOVE LOVE this have watched a million times !!

[@ryanbrown7440]

so late but the beginning is in A New Argentina too! don't think I don't think like you I often get those nightmares too, they always take some swallowing

[@ChrisChanningChannel]

This is such a perfect example of great Music Theatre acting. It's really good to hear it again. In short bursts we get her drive and her putting the bull-headed determination of Eva P into the play. That startling woman who ate her detractors for breakfast and spat out their bones with full blooded spite ... only to be felled by a physical weakness she could do nothing about. Unlike other dictators and the people who drove them, there was nothing in the Perons of "the banality of evil" and Paige showed us that.

[@peterroberts6933]

Yep. We do have a short ‘a’ in Machiavelli. Have you heard the full sound desk recording? It’s even better.

[@vivajay]

It's funny both Elaine and Patti both were in "Anything Goes" (Lauren Bacall me)

[@brettmastema7056]

Ive always loved this show for its wonderful use of the same bits reused in other songs. I love how its shows that Eva is being manipulative. I feel that the when they added "you must love me" which sounds very different than her other songs. I too didnt notice that beginning of Rainbow high is a call back to those other two songs. I also never thought about how weird her pronunciation is with "Machiavelle me" even americans say it with the "ah" sound. I love seth. Hes been great for keeping me entertained staying at home.

[@AtLastOnTheGround]

HAHAHA your reading into the Machiavelli/Bob Mackey possibility is RICH!

[@fshepinc]

I always assumed “Machiavell-me” was riffing on Prince Matchaveli, a big cosmetic and perfume designer from that period. It’s in line with the other designers mentioned in the lyric.

[@stvp68]

I thought LuPone was right about Evita being unsingable until I heard Page sing Buenos Aires and realized the song shouldn’t be belted but needs a lighter, more-mixed tone

[@Caio0_057]

But the score for Evita is needlessly difficult not for benefitting the songs or the story like for ecample Finn or Sondheim do, but because of Webbers stubborn insistence on writing melodies that have giant jumps from note to note, which are not really needed. I once played my music teacher the barebones of Eva's part in A new Argentina on the paino and asked her if it's singable. She just shook her head and laughed.

[@dianaelisa9261]

@@Caio0_057 IMO Goodbye and Thank You is a song that is made worse by being made harder. In the stage version, on “who hasn’t an eye on, in fact they rely on...” Che sings the melody (which goes up to a high C) while Eva sings the harmony above (which goes up to a high F). In the movie, they have Eva sing the melody and Che sing the harmony down the octave and it sounds SOOO much better. And this is coming from someone who generally thinks it’s a lame cop out that they brought down all of the songs for Madonna.

[@Fiestacat12345]

I love the way Elaine did Evita.

[@Mtchem13]

Brava to Paige and Rudetsky, but I'm surprised you didn't point out her insane mix on RainBOW high. She has a mean belt, but she definitely sounds like she's invoking some head voice on that top note everytime. Still sounds great, but I just know you to be a stickler about head and chest voice.

[@ChrisChanningChannel]

You should worry! I saw this show on the first Saturday after it opened on the Wednesday. Not only that but I had the concept album already. It was only last week I realised 'Oh What a Circus' is the same melody as 'Don't Cry for Me'. Doh! :_))

[@stevenshipman650]

Love it, love it, love it! I’ve always preferred Elaine over all others and your deconstruction really illuminates why.

[@keatondj]

The best Rainbow High I've heard yet is Caroline Bowman; her placement on "High" is breathtaking. But dang, Paige is really holding her own here.

[@zac613]

Amaazing seth. Now please deconstruct patti lupone' s version of rainbow high.

[@whatdoyousuppose]

OMG Seth have you ever heard Loni Ackerman in the LA cast of Evita?? There are a few videos online, but check her out if you haven't because she is fantastic! I love Elaine's riffs here, so so good!

[@miamiracer]

I always thought that "maquiavel me" was referring to maquillaje or makeup in Spanish not to Machiavelli the Italian Renaissance philosopher.

[@drwitz]

Thanks for this. I only ever know the Lupone version. Where can you get the whole recording? Would be great to have...

[@chocolatesouljah]

At Amazon. Keep in mind the London recording is more abridged than the American. www.amazon.com/Evita-Original-London-EVITA-O-L-C/dp/B00000B9FS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1503804274&sr=8-2&keywords=evita+london+cast

[@musicaltheatergeek79]

I had that original London recording. It's just highlights.

[@thomassutherland7032]

Please deconstruct the AMAZEBALLS soft belting in Heathers done by Barrett Wilbert Weed in the songs Dead Girl Walking, Seventeen and the end of Beautiful and Jessica Keenan Wynn in Candy Store!

[@idkgiana3202]

Ugh love you seth.

[@gerryogilvie9294]

Beautifully observed ..you are the tops - as Cole Porter would say to YOU !!

[@morganelizabeth3214]

I thought rainbow high was referencing renaissance writer Machiavelli's, The Prince

[@anthonyhenrysmith]

Machiavelli is morphed into a "verb" mode for the lyric.....so Machiavell-me, make an Argentine Rose! and the British pronunciation indeed is pronounced differently to how it is in the USA. it is pronounced: (mack-e-a-vell me)

[@netsirk6]

I need that soundtrack

[@fictionalreality5131]

Anyone know where i can get this recording...the original london production on itunes isn't the same one..or at least i don't think it is.

[@fictionalreality5131]

AHH thank you so much!! I'll look into the link.

[@czahnie]

Julie Covington growls that last verse like no one else.

[@musicaltheatergeek79]

I must be in the minority, but I truly hate Covington's interpretation. I don't care if she was the first. She sounds very lifeless and half-hearted throughout the album. It's very telling that she outright refused to do the stage version when she was given first dibs to originate the role in the original West End production. Furthermore, her constant mispronunciation of descamisados as day-camisados is abysmal, especially when everyone else pronounces it correctly. It's like the didn't care about the project at all and was only doing it as a favor to a friend.

[@spencer757200]

I have been an " Evita " fan my entire life and I agree with you. I have ben and a fan and cast in National Tours of Evitaand she by far the worst Eva ever recorded

[@chocolatesouljah]

I like Julie Covington as Eva. I prefer her "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" above all others. I saw "Evita" preBroadway as a teen. Lupone and Patinkin were fresh and hungry and amazing. Years later I heard Ms. Covington's version of "Argentina" and that's my personal fave of that song. Just sayin' some people dig Ms. Covington. I even use her version for demos with my musical theatre students.

[@anthonyhenrysmith]

The Paige-isms as in scooping up to notes etc are indeed very cute n endearing in her early years, but in her later work can become unnerving!

[@ChrisChanningChannel]

+Anthony Smith the scooping ... as a stylistic affectation and dramatic embellishment it also came in handy for some pitching at a time when it wasn't actually needed - then later when age makes pitching and range slightly more problematic it can become a tool. Moral of the story : learn to pitch everything dead centre from the very start of your working life (then later add your fluffy bits) so that later when you are working with diminished apparatus you'll have the technique deal with said apparatus.

[@anthonyhenrysmith]

very good comment

[@zazuzazz5419]

Anthony Smith I’m not a fan of this type of show swooping and scooping on the part of these performers. Very grating, extremely distracting. Julie Covington and Patti Lupone are superior. Her “Rainbow High sounds like “Annie-vita”. Very forced. And Che? Pa leez.

[@journeybymoonlight3216]

Did you work with Rosie?

[@Sweeney541]

Love these deconstructing videos :) Please do one of Michael Ball at some point - maybe from the Sweeney Todd cast recording

[@davidadams2395]

I am glad you suggested he do Michael Ball, for I'd love to see Seth deconstruct his vocal style.

[@markdipaolo3771]

Oh Seth, I wish I would have met you in college. We would have been great friends.

[@czahnie]

She learnt that growl from Julie Covington

[@batshevamormarcovich3878]

🙏

[@anthonyhenrysmith]

nothing to do with Bob Mackey more to do with Machiavellianism - "the employment of cunning and duplicity in statecraft or in general conduct"

[@musicaltheatergeek79]

No shit. He was making a lame joke, because she pronounced the 'Machi-' like Bob Mackie's surname.

[@anthonyhenrysmith]

i am so gullible ha ha

[@ecceben]

machiavelli --> mackie-avelli -- love it. just for the record, lupone/buckley/paige ... concert tour of the c e n t u r y. just sayin'. would love to see a deconstruction of 'i was here' from 'the glorious ones', a la patti lupone. seen her perform it live a couple of times and, in an (adverbial) word, luminously powerful. thanks for the clips --

[@charlietrone4761]

Vitto Machiavelli...Luxury Fashion designer

[@ReeLuvsWicked]

'Machiavelle me' said the way she says it is just an English accent ;) lol

[@amyclarke41]

OK

[@BottleConcreteBlond]

I've always heard Machiavelli pronounced that way. In fact the dictionary pronunciation is that, not Mok-i-a-vel-i.

[@conductenor]

I knew that. Lol (I’ve MDed the show twice)

[@DistantCousin]

Correct pronunciation of Leicester - very good!!

[@Stoni_Mitchell]

Rainbow High doesn't work at such a slow tempo

[@DistantCousin]

LaVieEnRose It's the original tempo. It was only on Broadway it was sped up

[@Stoni_Mitchell]

Haha just because it was the original tempo doesn't mean it's better

[@RuffDuddie]

LaVieEnRose It definitely does work

[@chocolatesouljah]

Something I keep in mind is that the recording session can be in the hands of the recording producers and the session musicians. Some tempos in the recording session may be different than the live version. Which varies from performance to performance anyway. For all we know the Broadway version may be faster than when it was normally done. BTW: I'm fine with both versions.

[@anthonyhenrysmith]

....added information, i think also Paige does her Paige-isms .... i'm their Saviour, that's what they call me, so Lauren Bacall me, ANYTHIING GOES! exist and help her through her high notes and mask some of her shortcomings!(side alert! Paige actually Produced "Anything Goes" years later n starred as Reno in the same exact Prince Edward Theatre where she got her break as the Original stage-Evita! Having said that she couldn't hit the final big note as LuPone did on Broadway and Geraldine Turner did in The Australian Production of the self same Lincoln Center Prod in the Act 1 closer of the title Song "Anything Goes!" evidence of which is on the West End Cast Album!)

[@genevitale7974]

Here's me as Peron - I'm just sayin!

[@michaeljj43]

you are adorable!!!!!!

[@chrisbradshaw1335]

Evita is nothing less than a celebration of fasciscim. And should be as such

[@vivajay]

Wait a minute, I thought Susan Boyle was the Queen of British belting

[@MadameCorgi]

Yet out

[@jacquelineedwards4140]

Biggest load of pretentious claptrap I have ever come across.

[@jacquelineedwards4140]

A load of Ill informed nonsense.