On This Night of a Thousand Stars Lyrics – Evita

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Review

This medley pivots the show from small-town fantasy to capital-city ambition, fusing a crooning tango-bolero pastiche for Magaldi with Che’s sardonic asides and a propulsive scene change into “Eva Beware of the City.” What lands is character revealed through action: Magaldi’s schmaltz, Che’s bite, and Eva’s forward thrust collide in under five minutes. The arrangement eases from serenade to street-level bustle, and the lyrics trade sugar for steel as Eva rejects suburbia for B.A. That contrast is why the moment still plays - the song lets us hear the makeover begin before we see it. Call it foreshadowing you can hum. By the time Eva hits her refrain, the lyrics have already moved her suitcase to the station.

Highlights

1. Magaldi’s torch-song opener paints soft focus, then Che punctures it with deadpan commentary - a classic Webber/Rice polarity that keeps sentiment honest.
2. The groove shifts toward milonga-tinted 4/4, with guitars and dance-band orchestration cueing a Buenos Aires we’ll meet head-on in the next number.
3. Eva’s “big apple” wordplay plants showbiz mythos onto a city that doesn’t use that nickname, underlining her outsider bravado.

Creation History

The piece first appeared on the 1976 concept album, sung by Tony Christie as Magaldi, before the score moved to the stage and then Broadway in 1979. The Premiere American Recording was produced in Los Angeles in July 1979 and remixed in London in July–August 1979, released by MCA (catalog MCA2-11007). On film, Jimmy Nail carries “On This Night…” in the 1996 adaptation before the scene breaks into “Eva and Magaldi / Eva Beware of the City.”

Song Meaning and Annotations

The point of the scene is blunt: Eva will trade safety for altitude. Che opens with the clinical inventory of disadvantages, then Magaldi croons a borrowed romance to distract us. Eva listens, but she’s already writing the script.

Eva is finally in a position of power where she can make actual change and is unwilling to be discouraged by anyone who feels threatened by her position of power as a woman.

The rhythm tells on everyone. Magaldi’s tango-lite sway promises eternity, while the chorus of friends needles him and Che keeps time with a skeptic’s two-step. When Eva answers, the diction sharpens, the cadences tighten, and the music accelerates toward the train platform we don’t see but absolutely feel.

Agustin Magaldi was a well known performer in Argentina of this time. His actual relationship with Evita is disputed.

That last sentence matters because biography is messy. Most historians agree she moved to Buenos Aires at 15; what’s contested is whether Magaldi brought her. Several accounts note no reliable record of him playing Junín that year, which the musical knowingly bends for theatrical economy. The fix makes sense onstage: one song, one man, one ticket out.

There are no records of Magaldi, ever performing in Junín, when he was said to have first met Evita.

Tim Rice’s “B.A. - Buenos Aires - big apple” wordplay isn’t local slang; it’s showbiz mythology pasted over a city that calls itself Baires or simply Capital. That’s the joke and the character note: Eva is speaking the language of fame before she has it.

The emotional arc runs clean: starry-eyed invitation, public heckle, private warning, then a refusal that sounds like destiny. When Eva sings of birds flying out, she’s channeling a 1939 standard about lifting off toward a better life. Not an accident. She’s been studying how songs sell dreams.

Instrumentation and style

The opener leans on guitar and crooner strings, tipping its hat to tango-milonga textures; the reply sections tighten with percussion and ensemble, anticipating the city’s bustle in “Buenos Aires.” It’s a crafty hinge between small-room serenade and urban spectacle.

Character dynamics

Che’s running commentary keeps the scene unsentimental, a Brecht-flavored conscience who measures every promise against cost. Magaldi, meanwhile, is a useful decoy: he offers a fantasy Eva accepts only long enough to steal the spotlight.

History vs theatre

The show compresses years and controversies into a few verses. It isn’t a documentary. It’s a parable about appetite and reinvention, and this number is where Eva chooses velocity over permission.

Key Facts

• Artist: Mark Syers, Patti LuPone, Mandy Patinkin
• Composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Lyricist: Tim Rice
• Producers: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice
• Album: Evita (Original Cast Recording) - Premiere American Recording
• Release Date: 1979
• Label: MCA Records, catalog MCA2-11007
• Recorded/Remixed: Produced in Los Angeles, July 1979; remixed in London, July–August 1979
• Length: 4:52 (OBCR medley)
• Track #: 3 on the 1979 Broadway cast album
• Genre: Musical theatre, rock opera with tango/milonga inflection
• Language: English
• Mood: Seductive, sardonic, then defiant
• © Copyrights: © 1979 MCA Records, Inc.

Questions and Answers

Who sings what on the original Broadway cast cut?

Mark Syers leads “On This Night…,” with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin entering as Eva and Che when the scene turns into “Eva and Magaldi / Eva Beware of the City.”

Was Magaldi really the man who took Eva to Buenos Aires?

Probably not. Reliable sources note no record of him performing in Junín in 1934; the show uses him as a dramatic springboard.

Where does the film version place this number?

Early in the 1996 film, Jimmy Nail sings “On This Night…,” which segues into “Eva and Magaldi / Eva Beware of the City” with Madonna and Antonio Banderas.

Is “big apple” a common nickname for Buenos Aires?

No. Locals use Baires or Capital. The line reads as deliberate showbiz slang from Eva’s vantage point.

What recording came first?

The 1976 concept album, with Tony Christie as Magaldi, predates the stage premiere and the 1979 Broadway cast recording.

Awards and Chart Positions

While this specific medley was not a standalone hit, its parent production swept major honors: at the 1980 Tony Awards, Evita won Best Musical and Best Original Score; the 1979 Premiere American Recording later earned the Grammy for Best Cast Show Album. On screen, the 1996 soundtrack featuring the number climbed to no. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Additional Info

• Jimmy Nail’s film take on “On This Night…” sits right before Madonna’s Eva pulls the scene into the city - a neat cinematic echo of the stage transition.
• Tony Christie’s 1976 Magaldi set the crooner template many productions still reference.
• Historically, Magaldi died in 1938, so the musical relocates him into later events for theatrical clarity.
• Eva left for Buenos Aires at 15, an age that frames Che’s warnings in the song with extra sting.