 By the late 20th century , Eva Perón had become the subject of numerous articles , books , stage plays , and musicals , ranging from the biography The Woman with the Whip to a 1981 TV movie called Evita Perón with Faye <unk> in the title role . The most successful rendering of Eva Perón 's life has been the musical production Evita . The musical began as a concept album co @-@ produced by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1976 , with Julie Covington in the title role . Elaine Paige was later cast in the title role when the concept album was adapted into a musical stage production in London 's West End and won the 1978 Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Musical . In 1980 , Patti <unk> won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her performance as the title character in the Broadway production . Nicholas Fraser claims that to date " the musical stage production has been performed on every continent except Antarctica and has generated over $ 2 billion in revenue . " 
