After watching the movie and listening to the soundtrack over and over, I finally thought: Who exactly is this Ché character? Narrator would be the best description, but sometimes he interacts with the other characters, other times he seems invisible.
I think Ché is supposed to represent the spirit of the Argentinian people, or something like that.
LL
Che Gueverra (sp?) was a very famous revolutionary guerilla. He was active throughout much of the Americas. IIRC he had no role in Argentina. If you do a search for him by Google, you will doubtless find a great deal.
picmr
Ernesto “Ché” Guevara. The subject of the most reproduced photograph ever with beret. The photograph was taken by Cuban photographer Alberto Díaz (Korda) and rejected by a Cuban magazine. He casually gave it to an Italian photographer who sold it and made millions. The Cuban author never received a penny.
http://spin.com.mx/~hvelarde/cuba/ernesto.che.guevara/iconografia.htm
http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~dkrook/guevara.html
Ernesto “Ché” Guevara was born in Argentina in 1928 and his nickname “ché” is a common expression in Argentina (but not Cuba). He was with Fidel during the Cuban revolution and is a national hero there. He was killed when working with the guerrillas in Bolivia to spread the communist revolution.
His figure has become an icon and a myth, both in the communist world (the little there is left of it, in Cuba he is everywhere) and in the capitalist countries where he is seen as a sort of rebellious James Dean figure.
Search the Internet and you’ll find plenty about him.
Am I the only person who sees the title as “Chao” (“a” has an umlaut over it, the “o” is a copyright mark)?
He also wrote a book about traveling through South America by Motorcycle, according to my father. (Guevera, not Antonio Bandaris)
In the play, he’s supposed to represent everyman, the joe on the street.
Mojo, your eyesight is OK. The OP just couldn’t get the é
Another site:
http://www.fringeware.com/subcult/Ernesto_Che_Guevara.html
mojo, you’re correct that the title says Ché, but I would guess that there was just a problem in the ASCII codes or the control keys when AWB typed in Ché.
I have always figured that the reason Che was inserted into the play was that the author couldn’t think of any other Argentinians that the U.S. audience might recognize.
Considering that Evita died when Ché was 24, that his politics and hers were not at all alike, and that he never even hung out in Argentina after he became a revolutionary, his presence has long been considered a distraction by a lot of viewers. (His lines don’t even contrast his politics against hers. He’s just there.)
In Spanish, Che means “guy.” The character was
originally just “Che,” representing every man. He is a commentator. IN the movie, je never interacts
with Evita till she is knocked out having her
operation for ovarian cancer. The character was
never suppose to be interpreted as Che Guevara.
Lyrist Tim Rice used “Che” as a commentator for
Evita, just as in Superstar he used Judas as
a commentator for Jesus.
I’m not sure what you mean by this. Both of the times I’ve seen it staged and in several of the reviews I read of the (pre-movie) play, Ché was identified as Guevara. Was there a change between the original scripting and the first (or later) productions?
Exactly. In the movie programme, Che is described
as “the narrator throughout, the sardonic Brechtian
everyman…” On the original concept album, he was
just “Che.” The CD is worth getting. It starred
Julie Covington as the first and best Eva, and
an unknown C.T. Wilkerson as Che. He later went
on to be know as Colm Wilkerson, star of Les
Mis and Phantom of the Opera.
Annie quote:
Nope. Ché does not mean guy in Spanish. Ché is a vocative expression (like “hey!” in English) common in Argentina and certain parts of Spain. Ernesto Guevara was given that nickname in Cuba because of his use of that expression which is not common in Cuba.
I have not seen the play so I cannot comment on that but I will make a general statement that movies and musical plays are not required by law to adhere to strict historical accuracy and are therefore unreliable sources of history.
He was shot and killed in Bolivia. Check out these photos of his dead body. because his eyes are not shut you would think he looks alive (and almost well).
http://www.celebritymorgue.com/che-guevara/
This just appeared in the news
http://www.msnbc.com/news/447238.asp