MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (1981) The Madrid producers hoped their translation of Evita would become the standard one for all Spanish-speaking countries, but it didn't. When the show went to Mexico City, a completely new translation was done. Out of the entire libretto, only one line remained the same, "No llores por mi, Argentina." The translator, Marco Villafan, hesitated even using that line because, "the word 'llores' for cry here means a tear from your eye. But in English, cry also means suffer, worry, as well as cry." Other idioms caused problems, particularly Che's comment on Eva's manipulation of Magaldi for her own purposes, "Do all your one-night stands give you this trouble?" Villefan explains: "'One-night stand' has no meaning here. First I tried a line that means, 'That happened to you because you are cusco--a man who goes looking for whores'--but that didn't work. Then I came up with a line that means 'Now you have learned to make a tango.' Tango means the music but also a situation. 'Don't make a tango' means don't make a fuss and people laugh about that, because he is a tango singer and here we have Evita showing him how to make a tango." All linguistic and cultural problems were not solved so easily. Prince's associate, Ruth Mitchell, directed the show for four weeks, then Hal came in for the final week, making sure the show was identical to the London and American productions. But the portrayal of Che caused a great deal of trouble, particularly where he sings, "The shooting sticks of the upper class," and wiggles his hips as he mimes sitting on one. Villafan said, "Che Guevara was hero in Mexico; many youngsters have his poster on their walls. That line has no meaning here, and the meaning of that movement is different. I don't want the people of Mexico City to see Che--our hero, a legend--swiveling his hips. As soon as Mr. Prince leaves, we will change that." Villefan also says the audience and critics had trouble understanding Che as a narrator: "Che is a very strong and serious thing for us. They don't understand because they know it isn't real. I tell people he is a symbol of Argentina who was against the political regime, and that nobody in the play sees Che; he is a shadow." The Mexico City production played 12 performances per week, and had two complete casts of the principals. One of the Evas, Valeria Lynch, was the first woman born in Argentina to play Eva Perón. Her father was a peronista and she found the whole thing very exciting. She said she particularly enjoyed meeting Libertad LaMarque--the beloved Argentine film actress Eva had thrown out of the country--when she came to see the show. The Mexico City and Los Angeles companies became kind of "sister" companies, exchanging posters signed by all cast members and Valeria went to L.A. during a break to see the show there and fascinated the cast after the show for an hour doing numbers from the show and telling them about Argentina. The Mexico City version of Evita toured in Central and South America. Paloma San Basilio came from Spain to do it in Chile, and there has been a production in Brazil, done in Portuguese. No production is scheduled for Argentina. This commentary is actually continuous, though relevant parts have been placed under each production's section. To read the entire commentary straight through, use the buttons below: This material is strictly the opinion of the author of this website. © 2000