"Oh What a Circus" is a song from the 1976 musical Evita, which had lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was recorded by English singer David Essex and released as a single on August 19, 1978, by Mercury Records. Essex played the character of Che in the original London production of the musical, and the song is sung from his point-of-view. Produced and arranged by Mike Batt, "Oh What a Circus" is a mid-tempo song, comparing the musical's title character Eva Perón's life with a circus, and calling her actions fraudulent. The song is a contrafactum, and shares its tune with the better known "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from the same show.
"Oh What a Circus" was a commercial success for Essex, who had been dropped by his previous record company due to his declining sales. The song reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, and the top-30 in Belgium and Netherlands. In subsequent productions of the musical, "Oh What a Circus" has been sung by numerous performers, including Mandy Patinkin, Ricky Martin and Scottish rock musician Marti Pellow. In the 1996 film adaptation of the show, the song was sung by Antonio Banderas and American singer Madonna, and received critical appreciation for its flamenco-infused composition.
Background and release
"Oh What a Circus" was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice while they were developing Evita as a musical in between 1974 and 1976. Rice was extremely intrigued by the stories surrounding the life of Eva Perón while researching her during the mid-1970s. The duo were also on the lookout for various actors to play the part of the narrator for Evita.
In the meantime, English singer David Essex had completed his work on Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, and was interested in theatrical productions. He received a call from Rice and Webber, and immediately accepted the part. Evita had already generated interest with its concept album of the same name, as well as the commercial success of singer Julie Covington's released single, "Don't Cry for Me Argentina". Essex met director Hal Prince and talked about the character of Che, an Argentine everyman narrating and commenting on the events, including the vision that Rice and Webber had about him. Due to his Romany ancestry, Essex had the characteristic laconic nature and idealistic looks needed for the role of Che.
Evita was a success from its opening night, with Derek Jewell of The Sunday Times praising Webber's score, as well as Essex's portrayal of Che as a "brooding, enigmatic" character. Meanwhile, Essex had released a cover version of the Lorraine Ellison song, "Stay with Me, which reached number 45 on the UK Singles Chart, thus CBS Records cancelled their contract with him. Essex's manager started looking for a new record deal for him, and signed one with Phonogram Records, who suggested that he release one of the songs from the Evita album as his single. They decided to release "Oh What a Circus", with another of Che's songs, "High Flying, Adored" as its B-side. The song was released on August 19, 1978, under the Mercury subsidiary of Phonogram in the United Kingdom.
Composition and reception
Musically, "Oh What a Circus" is a contrafactum, and shares its composition with the better known "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from the same show, but has a faster tempo and completely different lyrics. The song includes a choral chant in Latin, based on the Catholic anthem "Salve Regina". Alternative lyrics to "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" appear as a prelude to the song from Act 2, sung by a young girl characterizing Eva's younger self. The version of "Oh What a Circus" present on the Evita concept album was sung by Colm Wilkinson. However it was not used, instead Essex recorded a new version which was arranged and produced by Mike Batt, in the style of Phil Spector. A video for the song was filmed at Clifton Cathedral in Bristol and showed Essex singing the song as a crowd moves around inside a building carrying candles.