Reflective Journal

When I first picked a topic for the independant unit, I chose the topic of children stories and the meaning behind them. I realized, as we were getting closer to the presentation date for this unit, that because I had so much school work to do, that I should kill two birds with one stone by changing my topic to musical theatre because this way I could obtain research for both Advanced English and Advanced Music. I also thought that musical theatre would be a wise choice because I have a background in musical theatre, have studied musical theatre all of my life and therefore felt that I would not have to do much research for the project.

I realized that the topic of musical theatre, in general, is far too broad and I needed to narrow it down. Lately, I have discovered, within myself, a passion for world history, politial science, and global issues. I discovered this passion after completing Mr. Melanson's Histoire Planataire course. I decided that I should specify my topic by picking a specific musical that has interesting setting and historical background so that I could tie in my two loves which are musical theatre and history.
I chose the musical Evita because it is set in Argentina and has an interesting historical background about the civil war in Argentina and about the famous Eva and Juan Peron.

I discovered that the research process on this musical was not that easy because there was a lot of information to go through and to comprise into one presentation. I am, however, glad that I chose my topic of Evita, the musical because I own the movie, it is one of my favorite musicals and the research component was very interesting and enlightening.

Actors / Actresses

Madonna - Eva Peron
Antonio Banderas - Che
Jonathan Pryce - Juan Peron
Jimmy Nail - Agustin Magaldi

The Music

Andrew Lloyd Webber is the composer for Evita. Andrew has composed music for many other musicals such as: The Phantom fo the Opera, Jesus Christ Super Star, Cats, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Aspects of Love, Whistle Down the Wind, Sunset Boulevard, The Woman in White, The Sound of Music, Bombay Dreams and many others.
In the musical Evita, the most famous song is entitled "Don't Cry for me Argentina". Eva Peron sings this to her followers/ the people of Argentina on her death bed. The musical was highly successful and ran for ten years.

Director, Alan Parker

Alan Parker was born on February 14, 1944, in London England. Before becoming a film maker, Alan was noted as London's most taleneted coypwriters. In the 1970's he began directing his own t.v. scripts in the basement of his house. He and producer, David Puttnam formed a partnership in the 70's. Alan Parker makes musical movies, mostly and a lott of his films end with the main character dying. Some other movies he has directed are: The Life of David Gale, Angela's Ashes, Mississippi Burning, Midnight Express and many others.

The Real Juan Peron

Juan Peron was an Argentina dictator during the 1940's.
He was born on October 8, 1895, in Lobos, Argentina. He enrolled in the Argentina military at the age of 16. In 1926, he became captain and moved to Buenos Aires. Juan participated in the coup of 1930, which was an attack on Buenos Aires by an extremist group against the president.

In 1929, Juan married his first wife, Aurelia Tezon, who died of cancer in 1938.

On January 15, 1944, there was an earthquake in Argentina, killing six thousand people. Juan Peron established a fund raiser to help the victims. He held an artsitic festival to raise money, where radio and film actors could attend. It was at the festival that Juan met Eva Duarte.

By 1945, Peron was becoming the most powerful man in the government. On October, 1945, Peron was arrested out of fear and jealousy from others in the governement. 350,000 people gathered in front of Argentina's government house and demanded that Peron be released from prison. Their wish was granted.

Peron married Eva Duarte on December 9, 1945 and in 1946, Peron was elected president and Eva became the political voice of Argentina and would later braodcast her political opinions on the radio.

Juan Peron died on July 1, 1974.

The Real Eva Peron

Eva Duarte was born in Argentina and when she married she made up the date of May 7, 1919 for her date of birth on the marriage certificate. She grew up in a place called Junin. Her father was a wealthy rancher and since her mother and her father never married, Eva was not allowed to attend her father's funeral when he died when Eva was very young. This is because her father was married to someone else and eva's mother was his mistress. Eva and her family were very poor and because Eva was conceived out of wedlock she was considred an illegitimate baby and her birth certificate was destroyed.

Growing up, Eva was very much involved in drama and music at her school, where she developed a love for acting. In 1935, at the age of 15, Eva moved to Buenos Aires in oder to pursue her dream of becoming a famous actress. She traveled to Buenos Aires with her mother.

Eva struggled once she arrived in Buenos Aires, financially but finally started getting involved in local theatres and working her way up to the top. In 1936, Eva toured with a theatre group, worked as a model and acted in a few low budget films. By 1942, Eva became financially stable when she landed a role in a soap opera for t.v. Later that same year, she signed a five year contract withn a local radio broadcast and she later came to co-own the radio company.

Eva Duarte met Juan Peron in 1945. After the two were married, Eva became a huge political figure to the people of Argentina. She was a symbol to them of hope in their time of poverty.

In 1945, Eva went on a tour across Europe called "The Rainbow Tour". On her tour she met with important people like the pope and Francisco Franco, the Spanish head of state at the time. She supposedily went on this tour for politcal reasons. Eva was welcomed in Spain but was not welcomed in other countires, in Europe. This was because she was not accepted because of her poor background.

In 1948, the Eva Peron foundation was created. It was a charitable foundation for social welfare.

On July 26, 1952, Eva Peron passed away. She died of lung cancer and was given an official state funeral. The film/musical depicts her death quite accurately, in that, Argentina was literally sent into a state of hysteria over the death of their first lady.

Synopsis for Evita

The main character of this film is named Eva Peron. She depicts the life of the real Eva Peron who was a political leader and the most famous and controversial first lady during the 1940's. Evita was originally a highly successful musical on Broadway and was then made into a film, in 1996.

Eva Peron, in the musical / film is born in Argentina into a very poor family. Eva has high ambition and so, determined to leave Argentina and make something out of her life, she befriends a musician, who is an older gentlemen and who is quite famous aruond Argentina, in hopes that he will make her a star. She convinces the musician to taker her to Buenos Aires so she can start off her career in the arts amd the media. The musician ends up betraying her and leaving, a young naiive girl, on the streets to fend for herself. Eva uses her feminine charm to work her way up the social ladder of entertainment, eventually becoming a well paid radio and film actress.

Being at the right place at the right time, one night Eva meets a well-known politician named Colonel Juan Peron. The two of them hit it off from the start. Eva encourages Juan's plans to become a dictator for the country of Argentina. On October 17, 1945, Juan is elected president but it is obvious that Eva, being the beautiful, talented actress that she is, posseses the real love of the people.

Eva becomes a voice for the people and a real political leader. In a short amount of time she is the most loved but also the most despised first lady in history. She is adored by the poor civilians and is nicknmamed Evita by her followers but is despised by the aristocrats and people who are high up in the social classes because Evita has no past; she is from a poor family.

Evita gives to the poor, helps the needy and promises to release the people of the nation from their poverty. She is truly looked upon as a savior to the people of Argentina.

Evita is diagnosed with terminal cancer and dies towards the end of the musical/film. She is 33 years old when she passes away. A funeral is held in her honour with seven million attendants as Argentina is left is a mourning hysteria.