Just ‘Che,’ not Che Guevara

Backstory, Lea Salonga’s column on Thursday, carried the headline, “A charming Ricky Martin as Che Guevara.” It was about the 2012 Broadway revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical, “Evita.”

Throughout her piece, Ms Salonga referred to Martin’s character in the musical as, simply, “Che.” The Entertainment desk had inserted “Guevara” in the text and head, conforming to a long-standing impression that the legendary Argentine revolutionary figure was the role’s model.

Mandy Patinkin played Che in the exact image of Guevara—bearded, in military fatigues. (He won the 1980 Tony for that.) So did many other actors who tackled the role, including Cocoy Laurel in a 1986 Philippine version.

As it was Billboard.com and latimes.com heralded Martin’s “return to Broadway as Che Guevera.”

Seems they didn’t get the memo, either. According to a statement from the 2012 production, as quoted by playbill.com, website of the US mag for theatergoers: “The… role of ‘Che’ is reverted to the way it was written for the original (1976) concept album—as an ‘everyman’ of the lower/working class, serving as the voice of the people; not Che Guevara. Using Che Guevara as inspiration for the role was a choice made by (director) Hal Prince when staging the original West End (1978) and Broadway (1979) productions.” We stand corrected.