LOS ANGELES - Director Alan Parker always knew Madonna was the perfect match to play Evita Peron. And as he arrived for the premiere of "Evita," Parker realized he wasn't the only one that felt that way.

Some 2,000 fans crowded in a bandstand near the Shrine Auditorium, where the film debuted Saturday. Teen-agers squealed with delight, adults were awed, and everyone was antsy to catch a glimpse of the pop diva. One banner read: "The Oscar goes to Madonna for Evita".

"Oh, what a circus. Oh, what a show," said the film's co-star Antonio Banderas, his slick-backed hair gleaming as a wide smile spread across his face.
Other celebs were psyched too. "I've been a Madonna fan ever since she first surfaced in those rubber bracelets and belly-baring outfits," said an enthusiastic Jennifer Tilly.

Eventually, the star arrived, gliding her way past the crowd in an elegant, scarlet Givenchy dress. "I feel like Cinderella," Madonna said amid the roar of the crowd. "I feel like it's totally surreal right now".

"Evita," which opens Christmas Day, is a screen opera about the life of Eva Peron, the daughter of a poor farmer who rose to power as the first lady of Argentina's President Juan Peron in the 1940s. To the working class, Evita is a saint; the elite view her as little better than a prostitute who wielded too much power.

The movie is woven around the songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and includes no spoken dialogue. Lloyd Webber, on hand for Saturday's gala, said he would "say a prayer" in hopes the musical would be a hit.

Those who were lucky enough to attend the premiere applauded Madonna and the others for their performances.
Grace Jones, decked out in a violet headdress, simply sang out "Don't cry for me Argentina," the opera equivalent of two thumbs up.

Actress Glenn Close loved the film. "It's one of the great musicals. The music is just mind-boggling, very emotional, very beautiful. It's a wonderful coming together of the character and musical". But not everyone was happy. Outside the auditorium, members of the animal rights group PETA, upset that Madonna wore a fur during the movie, angrily denounced the film.

Source: CNN News

Smaller Evita banners (red backgrounds, gold block letters) are slapped on most other flat surfaces. If you didn't know better, you'd think Buenos Aires had been airlifted to Southern California.

And the crowd! Unbelievable. They have come to see their idol, make no mistake. Banners proclaiming "Viva Madonna!" and "An Oscar for Madonna!" are boucing up and down over the heads of the screaming, very young throng. In the real world, they'd all be on heavy doses of Ritalin, but here, tonight, they are being encouraged to let loose.
Deejays from local radio stations are holding Madonna sing-alike contests (most of the crowd should keep their day jobs) and winners are snagging Evita baseball caps and T-shirts.

Source: E! Online

Prime Minister John Major arrived with his wife, Norma, and the Duchess of York turned up with Robert Stigwood, co-producer of the film.
Jonathan Pryce, one of the film's stars, was there, as were actress Theresa Russell, singer Rod Stewart and wife Rachel Hunter, and Ewan McGregor, star of the film "Trainspotting".

Evita tells the story of Evita Peron, whose husband, Juan, was the president of Argentina in the 1940s and 1950s. She championed the causes of women and the poor, and led demonstrations, for which she was much loved by Argentinians. She died from cancer at the age of 33.

Source: Associated Press

LONDON - British fans wept and cheered pop singer Madonna's title role performance in "Evita" Friday at the first public showing of the film in London.
The audience responded with spontaneous applause as the credits rolled at the end of British director Alan Parker's lush screen adaptation of the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical.

"It's brilliant, just brilliant," said Sally, a London photographer. "I loved it and I'm the fussiest person in the world. I'd always hated Madonna, but not after this. I've never seen people just naturally burst out clapping at the end of a film."

The public reception indicated the raunchy singer may have succeeded in her make-or-break attempt to re-establish herself as an actress after a string of film failures.
Student Jo Tanner said: "She'll wipe the floor at the Oscars ... I've still got a tear in my eye."

Madonna already has received a Golden Globe best actress nomination, often an indicator of success at the more famous Academy Awards in February.

Fellow student Glenn Meades agreed. "I'm a Madonna fan, so I am biased. She played the best film part she has ever done."
"Wonderful, just wonderful," was the verdict of Australian Robert Joseph.
The critics were less fulsome, but acknowledged that by surrounding Madonna with the talents of Antonio Banderas as the sardonic Che and Jonathan Pryce as Evita's husband, the Argentine dictator Juan Peron, Madonna is able to shine.

"It's hard to talk about acting when dialogue becomes a cross between recitation and song," said The Guardian's Derek Malcolm. "Performance would seem a more apt term, and there's no question that Madonna's edgy portrait, always well sung, is the best thing she's done on screen," he said.
"The all-singing, all-dancing Evita could make musicals fashionable again," The Guardian said.
Christopher Tookey of the Daily Mail allowed that the film had its moments, but found it tailed off toward the end. "The best moments are welcome reminders of how powerful big-screen musicals can be, but these decrease in frequency as the leading lady fails to engage our sympathy and the point of view gets foggier," he said.

For Madonna, who said before the film opened that she hopes to be nominated for an Oscar, Evita provides an opportunity to do what she does best, sing and look glamorous.

The film allows Madonna to parade in stunning 1940s costumes looking uncannily like the historical Eva Peron.
But Madonna's fur coats drew noisy protests from animal rights campaigners when she appeared at the celebrity premiere Wednesday evening.

Source: Giles Elgood - Reuters/Variety

Madonna, wearing dark glasses and a headscarf, held three-month-old Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon in her arms as she emerged from Rome's Ciampino airport into the glare of television lights and photographers' flashes.
The child was hidden from view behind a white shawl. Screaming fans waiting for the star outside Rome's Hotel Hassler were acknowledged with a smile from Madonna but not a glimpse of her baby.
"My daughter is not a public figure", the Material Mum, 38, has said. The father, Carlos Leon, is the star's personal trainer.

Friday night's premiere was one of a series in Europe for Evita, which was released last Saturday in Los Angeles and is already spawning talk of Oscars.

Madonna plays Argentina's late Eva Peron in the film, a screen version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
Also in town for the showing were co-star Antonio Banderas, who plays Che, and director Alan Parker. Banderas arrived in Rome with his wife, the actress Melanie Griffith. She carried their daughter, Estela, in her arms.

Source: Reuters