The first Broadway revival of Evita, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Tony-winning musical about the life of Eva Peron, opened on Broadway April 5, 2012, following previews that began March 12 at the Marquis Theatre.
The through-sung musical follows Eva Duarte, an illegitimate young girl from Los Toldos, who rose from anonymity to become an actress and eventually the First Lady of Argentina before her tragic death from cancer at the age of 33.
READ: Rainbow High at the Casa Rosada: A Glossary of Evita Lyrics
Michael Grandage directed the 2012 revival with choreography by Rob Ashford. The production originated in London and arrived on Broadway with its leading lady Elena Roger, a native of Argentina. She was joined in New York by Grammy winner Ricky Martin (who had made his Broadway debut in 1996 as a replacement Marius in Les Miserables) as Che, Tony winner Michael Cerveris as Juan Per贸n, Tony nominee Max von Essen as Magaldi, and Rachel Potter as the Mistress. Christina DeCicco played Eva at select performances.
The revival featured all the songs from the original staging, such as "Don鈥檛 Cry for Me Argentina," "Buenos Aires," "Rainbow High," and "High Flying Adored," as well as "You Must Love Me," which was penned for the 1996 film adaptation.
Although Roger received an Olivier nomination for her performance in the London revival (she won her Olivier a few years earlier for her performance in the title role of Piaf), her reception on Broadway was somewhat less enthusiastic. In his New York Times review, Ben Brantley wrote, "I very much enjoyed [Roger's] early scenes as the young Eva Duarte, a scrappy, mousy girl who is set apart from the crowd only by pure force of ambition. (Rob Ashford鈥檚 smooth choreography, which presents every possible variation on the tango, is at its liveliest here as well.) But as she morphs into Eva the diva, growing blonder with each scene, Ms. Roger never gives us much by way of character definition beyond that same grimly focused determination."
The creative team also included scenic and costume designer Christopher Oram, lighting designer Neil Austin, sound designer Mick Potter, wig and hair designer Richard Mawbey, projection designer Zachary Borovay, and music supervisor/director Kristen Blodgette. Orchestrations were by Lloyd Webber and David Cullen with dance arrangements by David Chase.
The revival received Tony nominations for Best Revival of a Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Michael Cerveris), and Best Choreographer (Rob Ashford).
When it closed, the Evita revival played 26 previews and 337 regular performances (by contrast, the original 1979 Broadway production played 17 previews and 1,567 regular performances). A subsequent national tour co-starred Caroline Bowman (now on Broadway in Smash), as Eva and Josh Young as Che. Martin has not been back on Broadway since Evita but his hit song "She Bangs" inspired a touching monologue in the Sanaz Toossi play English that ran on Broadway in January 2025.
Evita originally premiered as a two-LP recording in 1976 starring Julie Covington in the title role and Colm Wilkinson as Che. Harold Prince staged both the original London and New York productions of the musical, which made stars of Elaine Paige in London in 1978 and Mandy Patinkin and Patti LuPone the following year on Broadway, where it won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Lloyd Webber and Rice had previously collaborated on Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ Superstar. Evita would mark their last major collaboration together.
Madonna, Antonio Banderas, and Jonathan Pryce starred in the 1996 film version of Evita. Though 2012 was the last Broadway revival of Evita, there has been attempts to bring it back to the Main Stem. The most recent New York production, staged at City Center in November 2019, featured Solea Pfeiffer and Maia Reficco splitting the titular role under the direction of Sammi Cannold. That same production was then staged in Washington, D.C. and Cambridge, Massachusetts鈥攖hough future plans have not materialized.
Meanwhile, the next major staging, directed by Jamie Lloyd鈥攃urrently enjoying success with the acclaimed Broadway revival of Sunset Blvd.鈥�will open in London this summer starring Rachel Zegler in the title role. Lloyd is revisiting the property after a successful engagement at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Will the Rainbow Tour come back to Broadway? We won't cry if it does.
Learn what other theatre milestones happened on April 5 by visiting the 半岛体育 Vault.
Look back at the Broadway revival of Evita in the gallery below.
