EVITA is going back to her roots. The lead role in a West End revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical is to be played by Elena Roger, a singer, dancer and actress and one of Argentina’s biggest stars.

Evita has not been staged in London for 20 years and its creators wanted the lead to be played by a South American who could evoke the star-like quality of Eva, the wife of Juan Peron, the nationalist post-war leader of Argentina.

Eva Peron, who died from cancer aged 33 in 1952, never held political office but was, in effect, her husband’s vice-president.

Rice and Lloyd Webber, whose other collaborations included Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, also wanted an Evita who would appeal to a young audience more used to attending rock concerts than musicals.

Roger, 30, the great-grand-daughter of an Italian count, is better known for her singing and dancing than for her acting. This suits the new production which, while using the same plot and songs, will have a more contemporary feel. It is likely to be more like the 1996 Alan Parker film, starring Madonna, than the 1970s stage show.

Roger’s voice is more rock star than musical diva, although she is a great admirer of the musical Chicago and recently appeared in Les Misérables in Argentina.

In opinion polls Evita is regularly named as one of the top five musicals of the past 30 years.

Lloyd Webber and Rice began work on it in 1974 and in 1976 the first recording of some of the songs was released. The single of Don’t Cry for Me Argentina, sung by Julie Covington, went to number one in the charts.

The musical opened in the West End in 1978 with Elaine Paige, who later became Rice’s girlfriend, and opened in New York in 1979 with Patti LuPone. Both she and the musical won major awards.

The new stage version, with such songs as Oh What a Circus and Another Suitcase in Another Hall, will be directed by Michael Grandage.

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