Latest news with #EvaPerón
Time Out
30-07-2025
- General
- Time Out
Mataderos: a neighborhood away from the classic tourist circuit that you need to know
Some neighborhoods are aspirational, like Palermo. But others stand out for their identity traits, customs, century-old traditions, and architectural icons. Identity traits that can turn a neighborhood into a republic, as the nickname well earned by this area — part of Commune 9, west of the Buenos Aires map and bounded by Emilio Castro, Escalada, Eva Perón, and General Paz avenues — shows. Here is 'the Republic of Mataderos,' as locals call it, the neighborhood with the most attended fair of all, an intense cultural life, and a gastronomic scene that features both classic staples and new proposals. Why is it called Mataderos? Its name originates around the meat industry, when the first slaughterhouses began to be built in 1889. However, before the now former Livestock Market — which operated there for 122 years and supplied meat to the entire city — the official name of the neighborhood was Nueva Chicago. Historians say this was due to the resemblance some notable figures saw in the area, like Dr. Carlos Malbrán, a pioneer of medicine in Argentina, to one of the most famous North American cities in Illinois, where meat activity also predominates. Finally, in the early 20th century, with the former Livestock Market as the epicenter, the neighborhood changed its name to Mataderos. A little over three years ago, the market grounds closed permanently and livestock commerce operations moved to a new site in Cañuelas. Since then, the more than 32 hectares and their surroundings were left abandoned, until last April when works began to recover Mataderos' historic center. So today, anyone visiting the fair on a Sunday and walking around will find ongoing construction, which in different phases — according to the Buenos Aires Ministry of Public Space and Urban Hygiene — aims to recover and enhance Mataderos' historic center. More green spaces, wider sidewalks, new streetlights, and trees. When is the Mataderos Fair? This year the fair celebrates its 39th anniversary. It runs every Sunday and national holiday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Lisandro de la Torre Avenue and Avenida de los Corrales. It's one of the best Sunday antidotes, always crowded with tourists and locals. Among the 500 stands at the fair, you can find everything: artisans selling mate gourds, knives, textiles, typical leather goods, and silverware. There are also free workshops in folk dancing, guitar, weaving, and a food market where you can try everything from the best grilled meat cuts to regional dishes like locro, tamales, and also choripanes and pastelitos. People dance in the street; guest artists perform live on the iconic fair stage. There's plenty of space to dance and move, and spontaneous guitar sessions are among tourists' favorite gatherings. Another feature of the fair is the friendly vibe in a relaxed, no-pretense atmosphere. To get there, about a dozen bus lines serve the area. By car, the best route from downtown Buenos Aires is via the 25 de Mayo Highway to the Escalada street exit. What is Mataderos like when there's no fair? It's a quiet neighborhood, and although most buildings are low-rise, the real estate boom has reached the area and is changing its look. Besides mostly low buildings, more and more commercial premises are opening, many dedicated to gastronomy. Fun fact: when Nueva Chicago, the football club founded in 1911, plays, Mataderos is covered in green and black flags and jerseys — the club's colors — and naturally, the neighborhood's calm changes. What to do in Mataderos? Here's a list of some places worth visiting on a weekend tour: Criollo Museum of Los Corrales. Sundays are ideal to visit it combined with the fair. This museum, declared a National Historic Monument, is close to the sculpture 'El Resero' and is key to understanding the expression of criollo culture within the neighborhood. It has 6 rooms with exhibits of gaucho garments, military uniforms, weapons, and stuffed animals. You can also see an old pulpería (rural tavern), a chapel, the stable, and the well courtyard. Eat pizza at El Cedrón. Another neighborhood emblem, a bastion of pizzeria gastronomy with 90 years of history. If you go to Mataderos, this is a must-visit, so much that it was declared a site of cultural interest. It's always busy but worth the wait. At El Cedrón, waiters greet you, shout orders, and come and go with trays of pan-style pizzas. The mozzarella pizzas are the most popular and generous. But for several years now, the place at Alberdi 6101 has also become famous for its vegetable pizza, which became a hit. If you want something sweet, go for a slice of ricotta pie. Before El Cedrón occupied that corner, the place at Alberdi and Murguiondo was called Primera Curva, a bodegón named after the tram curves in that Mataderos area. Notable Bars. The oldest is Bar Oviedo, founded in 1900, but there is also Bar del Glorias, so named because it operates within the Club Glorias Argentinas, where volleyball is a top sport. Bar del Glorias organizes tango shows with a busy calendar, and the kitchen is highly recommended. The dishes are homemade with generous portions, and you can eat very well for less than 10,000 pesos including a drink — a true luxury in Mataderos. The bar's atmosphere is another plus, with a tango vibe and walls covered with paintings and newspaper clippings featuring famous visitors. With some patience and curiosity, you can even find an article with a photo of a young Willem Dafoe, confirming that the actor who played Spider-Man's villain once visited the place. Alberdi Shopping Center. 'Shop in your neighborhood.' Plain and simple. That's the social media motto of this commercial center where locals shop. Along several blocks of Alberdi Avenue, there are shops in various categories, with good prices, selling clothes, accessories, bazaars, jewelry, tech, and also studios offering drawing, dance, and astrology classes. Watch a show at Cine Teatro El Plata. The Mataderos cinema theater at Juan Bautista Alberdi 5765 is part of Buenos Aires' Theater Complex programming, and was restored by locals after 24 years abandoned. Today, it is a cultural heritage and a source of pride for the neighborhood. There is also music with 'Milonga en El Plata' on Friday, June 27, in the cinema lobby, where locals and tourists can come to dance. Grills and bodegones. Plenty of places to sit down with family or friends for a tasty asado or good bodegón dish. There is La Ochavita, where El Tano and Mariana invite you to try homemade food. A must-try on the go is their milanesa sandwich, said by social media users to be 50 centimeters long. One of the stars is their clay oven, where dishes like osso buco are cooked slowly for more than seven hours and served with ham and cheese sorrentinos in a casserole. Open Wednesday to Saturday 8 p.m.–11 p.m., and Sundays 12 p.m.–3 p.m. Reservations recommended. Address: Piedras 1399. Another option is Corrales restaurant, open every lunch, offering seafood, pasta, grilled dishes, and chef's specialties. We recommend hearing the story of Jorge, its owner, and trying the daily specials. One of the most popular places is Los Cabritos, a grill proudly flying the Argentine cockade. 'Founded in 1979, it became one of the most representative businesses in the Republic of Mataderos,' reads a social media statement. 'In 2015, when the employer abandoned the business, the workers formed a cooperative to defend and recover our jobs.' In May, the cooperative celebrated its 10th anniversary. To add another meat specialist, visit Los Tulumbanos grill, with cuts like asado, entraña, tenderloin, offal, and quick dishes — all perfect for sharing. Burger, snacks, and beer on Emilio Castro. Over a dozen options stretch along Emilio Castro Avenue, bordering Liniers, where in recent years breweries, restaurants, cafés, and pastry shops have opened. Names like Cervelar, Kurz, Naón Argentina, Ayulem, Tostado, Rusticana Bar, Taco Box, and Prieto Naón, among many others, offer plenty to choose from. The birthplace of Justo Suárez. Mataderos has legendary names, like the Argentine boxing world champion nicknamed 'The Little Bull of Mataderos' because of his origin. In his honor, there is a street, a small square, and a social housing neighborhood bearing his name. There's also a bust inside El Cedrón pizzeria, and among the greatest Argentine literature figures, Julio Cortázar was inspired by him to write the short story 'Torito.'
Forbes
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Madonna's Soundtrack Album Returns With The Help Of A Young Hollywood Star
Madonna's Evita soundtrack reenters the Official Soundtrack Albums chart in the U.K., aided by a ... More West End revival and a hit song from that production. E 371313 03: Madonna In The Movie "Evita", January 17, 1997. (Photo By Getty Images) After becoming the biggest pop star in the world in the early 1980s, Madonna set her sights on the film industry. For nearly two decades, the singer-songwriter starred in feature after feature, but she never found the same level of success as an actress that she quickly earned as a musician. While some of her movies were commercially successful, only a few allowed her to incorporate the musical talent that made her a household name in the first place. Perhaps most memorably, Madonna took on the role of Eva Perón in the film version of Evita. The project remains one of her most important movie roles, and the accompanying soundtrack is still adored by fans – mostly of the singer herself. This week, it becomes a chart win once more. Evita Returns to the U.K. Chart Evita returns to the Official Soundtrack Albums chart in the United Kingdom this week. The full-length, credited solely to Madonna, reappears at No. 50 on the ranking of the bestselling soundtracks across the nation. Evita hasn't been spotted on the Official Soundtrack Albums chart for more than half a decade. The last time it landed on the list was in December 2018, when it resurfaced at No. 42 before disappearing again. Evita Has Logged Over 100 Weeks on the Chart Over the years, Madonna's Evita has spent a total of 109 weeks somewhere on the Official Soundtrack Albums chart. In all that time, the project has cracked the top 10 only once, and just barely. The full-length reached No. 10 in August 2006, and it hasn't returned to that competitive region since. The Evita Revival Played a Big Role Evita is back on people's minds as a revival of the show performs well on the West End in London. West Side Story actress Rachel Zegler leads the production, and this week, she and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber hit No. 1 on several charts in the U.K. with a new take on "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," perhaps the most famous tune from the show. Another Madonna Hit Returns as Well As Evita returns to the Official Soundtrack Albums chart, one of Madonna's earliest hits — one not connected to the film — also rebounds. "Erotica" becomes a top 20 smash once more on both the Official Vinyl Singles and Official Physical Singles tallies, reentering those lists at Nos. 12 and 17, respectively.
Telegraph
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
‘Horrible stains, heaven only knows what filth': The grisly saga of Eva Perón's corpse
Our obsession with Evita, aka Argentina's former First Lady Eva Perón, shows no sign of waning. This week, the much-talked-about West End revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's musical opens at the London Palladium – although many have already gotten a sneak peek thanks to star Rachel Zegler controversially performing the most famous song to members of the public from the theatre's balcony. But as riveting as the show's depiction of Perón's rags-to-riches tale doubtless is, there's an even more dramatic, and far more horrifying, story that you won't see in the musical. It begins after her life came to an end, and it involves a secret embalming, necrophilia, rabid conspiracy theories, and the enduring legend of this divisive figure. Such was the outpouring of public grief following Perón's death in July 1952 that crowds surged dangerously towards her body as it was being moved to the Ministry of Labour building. More than 20,000 people were treated for crush injuries and eight died. But that was only the beginning of the peculiar, violent and lurid exploits surrounding Perón's cadaver, which together combine political power struggles, grisly medical drama, a post-MeToo reckoning, and a spooky riff on the Curse of the Mummy. Perón's was an extraordinary rise from ignominious beginnings – born illegitimate, and raised in poverty and shame – to international icon. She reinvented herself in Buenos Aires as an actress, before taking on the role of a lifetime: wife of her country's President, Juan Perón, and a vital propagandist tool for his regime. She toured Europe, extolling the virtues of Perón, and he in turn gave her the moniker 'Spiritual Leader of the Nation'. Many revered her as a revolutionary champion of women and the poor; others saw her as cynical celebrity cover for a brutal fascist dictatorship. Eva was treated, unsuccessfully, for cervical cancer, including a radical hysterectomy and chemotherapy – the first-ever Argentine to undergo the latter. She died at 8:25pm on July 26 1952, aged 33, and her passing was announced on radio broadcasts throughout Argentina. This, at least, we know for certain. But what happened next is the source of feverish speculation. In some ways, her power only grew after death. As Tomás Eloy Martínez, author of the 1995 novel Santa Evita (which blends fact and fiction), puts it: 'No other corpse has meant so much to a nation than Eva Perón's to Argentina.' He received explosive information from a number of informants, such as members of the intelligence service, which formed the basis of his book. Decades on, they wanted the truth to be known. Yet the truth is almost unbelievable. It begins with Juan Perón paying an eye-watering $100,000 for physician Pedro Ara to embalm his wife's body, replacing her blood with glycerine to preserve her organs (which are normally removed) and tissue – a delicate process that took several years. The intended effect was 'artistically rendered sleep'. There is no record of Eva requesting this embalming. Perón also had grand plans to display his popular wife's body, to feed the growing myth around this saintly figure and encourage continued worship – and maintain his own rule. He wanted to build a monument that would dwarf the Statue of Liberty, prominently featuring a descamisado (literally 'shirtless' – a member of the working class, and the Peróns' fervent supporters). Eva's body would be enshrined in a glass coffin at the base of the monument, like Lenin's body in Moscow. But before he could complete the project, Perón was ousted in a coup and escaped abroad – leaving Eva's body behind. 'That woman', as the anti-Perón faction called her, was now their problem, and still a dangerous lightning rod for potential revolutionary action. As Martínez chronicles, the new regime feared that rebels were planning to steal the body, place it in a boat full of flowers, sail it down the river and use it to spark an uprising. The vice-president ordered that the body be made to disappear. 'Turn her into a dead woman like any other.' But how? She must not be burned; the body should be buried in Christian ground, since she had made a last confession and died in God's grace. Colonel Carlos Eugenio de Moori Koenig was charged with this gruesome task. He studied the embalmer's report, trying to decide the best course of action, and here Martinez conveys the bizarre fetishisation of Eva's body. The Colonel read that Evita's skin looked as taut as a 20-year-old's, and that even though her body was now full of formaldehyde, paraffin and zinc chloride, it smelled like almond and lavender. She had such an ethereal loveliness that her husband had even tried kissing her lips, as if to rouse her like Sleeping Beauty. The Colonel tracked down the embalmer, Ara, and demanded the body's release. 'Whoever has the woman has the country in the palm of their hand,' the Colonel stated. In fact, there was already more than one of those powerful symbols. Eva's mother, Doña Juana, recalled the nightmarish moment when Ara showed her the eerie twin of her daughter's corpse lying on a slab, another lounging on black velvet pillows, and a third sat in an armchair apparently reading a postcard. Ara proudly told the horrified woman how he and an Italian sculptor had made the copies out of wax, vinyl and fibre glass, with indelible dye for the veins. When the military came to remove the body, Ara planned to give them a replica and keep the real one for himself. He offered the grieving mother a copy to bury. Her succinct reply: 'Go to hell.' The Colonel, meanwhile, had begun receiving threats: sinister phone calls and strangers coming to the house, warning him to leave the 'señora' alone. But he persevered, burying the three copies in identical coffins at different sites around Buenos Aires, and storing the real Eva in a truck parked next to the Intelligence building under guard. But her fans soon found her and started leaving flowers and candles. According to Martinez, the body was moved around several military locations: storerooms, battalion cellars, mess kitchens. She also spent time at the city waterworks and behind the screen at the Rialto cinema: a peculiar return to the cinema for the former actress. Her next resting place – though not exactly restful – was with Major Arancibia, who became obsessed with Eva. Horrific reports suggest that he sexually defiled it, and that when he was discovered by his pregnant wife, Elena, he shot her in the throat. His defence was that he'd mistaken her for a burglar. Elena's sister Margot testified to a military judge that there were 'horrible stains, heaven only knows what filth' on the body: 'Eduardo has been with the cadaver for all those weeks.' The case was hushed up. Eva's corpse resumed its nomadic wandering, with the firm stipulation that it be kept away from the Intelligence building, but the Colonel – by now, per Martinez's account, driven mad by his task and in the grip of a necrophiliac passion – took back possession of the body. In a rage, after berating Eva for not returning his love, he ordered his officers to urinate on her. He also chopped off one of her fingers, to prove it was the real corpse. The Colonel was imprisoned. And what of Eva's body? The government finally succeeded in smuggling her out of the country – supposedly with covert help from the Vatican – and, in 1971, she was discovered in Milan, buried standing up under the false name of Mar í a Maggi de Magistris. The body was exhumed and taken to Juan Perón's home in Spain, where he kept it on the dining room table. His new wife Isabel diligently combed Eva's hair daily, and Juan even encouraged her to lie beside Eva, in the hope that she might absorb some of the charismatic goddess's magic. In an extraordinary comeback, Perón returned to Argentina in 1973 and was elected President once again. When he died in 1974, Isabel succeeded him, and it was she who ordered that Eva's body be repatriated and displayed with her husband's – although she did so mainly to appease the terrorist group Montoneros, who had stolen the corpse of former dictator Pedro Eugenio Aramburu and held it hostage until she complied with their demands. Even then, the strange occurrences continued. The two civil guards who transported Eva's body from her grave in Madrid got into an argument about a gambling debt, shot at each other and crashed. The van caught on fire and both died – although the coffin was unscathed. Then, in 1976, Eva's body was taken from the presidential residence in Olivos to her family's mausoleum in Recoleta Cemetery. Two soldiers were in the ambulance transporting it, carrying rifles with fixed bayonets. The ambulance driver suffered a heart attack, and during the sudden stop, the soldiers accidentally severed each other's jugular veins with their bayonets. They were found in a pool of blood. Finally, though, Eva's long journey was over. She was placed in a fortified crypt, five metres underground, in a marble tomb with a trapdoor in the floor leading to a room with two coffins – and then a second trapdoor leading to Eva's actual coffin. But the legend lives on. Although Lloyd Webber refrained from telling the story of this travelling corpse in his musical, it was related with relish in Pablo Aguero's 2015 exceedingly creepy film Eva Doesn't Sleep, starring Gael García Bernal, and in the 2022 Salma Hayek-produced Disney+ miniseries Santa Evita – the latter based on Martínez's astonishingly successful book, which has sold 10 million copies worldwide. Martinez claimed that this ghastly saga illustrates a wider concern: Argentina's long-standing 'tendency towards necrophilia.' But surely nothing quite matches the profound otherworldliness of Eva's body – whether revered or savaged, viewed as that of a heavenly saint or a cursed monster. Alejandro Maci, co-director of the Santa Evita series, also gave the story a topical gender politics slant, saying in 2022: 'This is a woman who is appropriated in a perverse manner by an infinite number of men, all military. That's now part of our contemporary conversation.' So, too, is a greater understanding of the symbolic power of a beautiful, famous woman who died young – and, in Eva's case, has been frozen in time physically, not just in our collective memory. Now, as she again becomes a dramatic sensation – as well as a lightning rod for debate – thanks to this latest eye-catching West End production, Eva Perón has proved once more that she transcends death. Long live Evita.
The Guardian
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Evita review – Rachel Zegler is phenomenal but Jamie Lloyd's rock show drowns out the story
Director Jamie Lloyd has outraged some theatregoers, who evidently feel short-changed after paying good money to see Rachel Zegler as Eva Perón. In one scene, she wanders off stage and on to an outward-facing balcony to sing a magnetic reprise of Don't Cry for Me Argentina to the gathered crowd outside the theatre. What are these grumps complaining about? Not long ago, Lloyd staged Romeo and Juliet in the West End, but here is a balcony scene like no other. It makes for a sensational moment, when Perón triumphantly addresses the crowd on her husband Juan's election victory. It is 360-degree theatre, for the rich inside (who see it on a video feed) and for the 'hoi polloi' outside – very fitting for Perón given her disdain for the wealthy. It is no less than the director's biggest coup de theatre: the public itself is enlisted for his mise en scene of populist rallies, crowd hypnotism and authoritarian charm. The crowd might represent late 1940s Buenos Aires – or mid 2020s America under the spell of becoming 'great again'. Never mind complaints of a free show – maybe Lloyd should be paying them. Lloyd previously staged this Andrew Lloyd Webber musical (with lyrics by Tim Rice) at Regent's Park Open Air theatre in 2019. Then, it seemed like a dark high school musical, with stairs like bleachers and actors resembling flinty-eyed teens. This iteration has a streak of that but is bolder, more polished and pumped up. Zegler, in her West End debut, is phenomenal. Stripped to undergarments, she is an indifferently exposed Perón, conniving, deliciously villainous, pocket-sized yet steely in the extreme: a consummate ice queen. She strides with hands on hips, louche in her unstoppable ambition. There is comedy in her relationship with singer Agustín Magaldi (Aaron Lee Lambert, who sings On This Night of a Thousand Stars in a brilliant, barrel-like baritone), whom she swiftly, slickly disposes of once she has met Juan Perón (James Olivas). The new couple are well suited, their chemistry apparent in the duet I'd Be Surprisingly Good for You. If a successful musical is simply about the singing, dancing and spectacle, this one soars. The choreography by Fabian Aloise, who has previously worked on three other Lloyd shows, is out-of-this-world imaginative. The ensemble mesmerise with their sexual energy and charismatic aggression. A sinister military figure body-pops and balloons burst every time a gun is fired and detractors are popped off, one by one. These moves, this mood and this conspicuous melodrama would not look out of place in a Lady Gaga or Beyoncé stadium show. Nor would Jon Clark's lighting design and Adam Fisher's sound design: they are thunderous and pulsating. It's hypnotic but the narrative takes a backseat for this rock musical, which is almost entirely sung through, with what feels like thin connective tissue in its story. You see Perónism slipping into authoritarianism but don't quite understand how. In Lloyd's previous staging, the character of Che (Diego Andres Rodriguez, also the singing narrator) wore a Che Guevara T-shirt to let the audience know who he was. Now he is in black, and for those who are new to this story he might remain anonymous. There is an approximation to the characters as a whole, with very little focus on Perón's interiority. Maybe that is not the point, but how then can the audience feel the tragedy of her untimely death – which takes up so much time in the second half of the musical – if they cannot connect with it emotionally? The tone changes after the balcony scene, moving from blingy and bombastic to a quieter, more mournful register. For the first time you glimpse Perón's private emotion, after her great public display, as she sits in her dressing room in tears. It is an illuminating moment but this glimmer is not carried through into something more affecting. So the end bears a vacancy once the spectacle has abated – as if the real show finished some time ago. Don't Cry for Me Argentina, she sings, and you find yourself dry-eyed, although Zegler is a vocal powerhouse, as are the other performers. If you feel denied of the subtleties of story, character and commentary on populist power, you will still have an eye-popping night out. And the balcony scene is a stroke of genius. At London Palladium until 6 September
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First Post
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- First Post
Snow White star Rachel Zegler serenades the crowd for free in a new London production of ‘Evita'
News has spread quickly since the show began previews this week, and hundreds have gathered outside the historic venue in London's West End theaterland to enjoy the free serenade by the 'Snow White' star. read more In a new production of 'Evita,' one of the biggest moments isn't on the stage. Midway through the show, Rachel Zegler, playing Argentine first lady Eva Perón, emerges onto an exterior balcony at the London Palladium and sings 'Don't Cry for Me, Argentina,' to whoever is passing by below. The performance is streamed back on video to the audience inside. News has spread quickly since the show began previews this week, and hundreds have gathered outside the historic venue in London's West End theaterland to enjoy the free serenade by the ' Snow White ' star. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The show's composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber, said that it makes for 'an extraordinary moment' in his musical about a woman who rose from poverty to power and was adored by the masses. 'Within the theater, it's really exciting because suddenly you see her with a genuine huge crowd, which you can't do onstage,' Lloyd Webber told The Associated Press on Thursday. 'I think there will be people who are disappointed that she hasn't sung it live in the theater, but I think it's goinag to be greatly outweighed by the theatricality of using film in that way.' The decision by director Jamie Lloyd has sparked some grumbling from ticketholders who paid up to 245 pounds ($330) for a seat, only for the musical's most famous number to be sung offstage. It's a technique Lloyd has used before. He had a character in 'Sunset Boulevard' perform a song while walking down the street outside the theater, and his production of 'Romeo and Juliet' saw star Tom Holland play a key scene on the theater roof. Theater blogger Carl Woodward told the BBC that he could understand why some theatregoers who'd forked out for a ticket felt 'a bit aggrieved,' since 'a trip to the theater for some is really a once-a-year occasion.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But Lloyd Webber cited an opinion piece in The Times of London noting that the gesture is 'kind of what Eva Perón would have wanted — that people are actually experiencing her big anthem, as it were, for free.'
