“I'm better in my skin at 50”​​​​​​​
The Australian Women's Weekly|July 2018

Tina Arena has been performing since she was a six year old and has seen it all – Harvey Weinstein, loss, love and superstardom in Europe. And now back in Australia with her partner and son, she’s finally ready to take on the most challenging and thrilling role of her career, she tells Juliet Rieden.

 

Juliet Rieden
“I'm better in my skin at 50”​​​​​​​

She’s the tiny Italian-Australian with the vocal cords of an orchestra and a fiery Latinate passion, so it feels entirely appropriate that Tina Arena would be cast as Eva Peron. Eva, the Argentinian pauper-turned-actress-turned-FirstLady whose emotional speeches championing women’s suffrage had some of her people in raptures and showgirl pizazz had others baying for her blood, seems made for Tina.

Evita is probably Andrew Lloyd Webber’s most powerful and demanding musical. The melodies lift and soar with a vocal range few can master. Madonna famously tried in the 1996 film version but her voice wasn’t up to it. Tina Arena, however, is a different proposition. “Andrew is punishing as a writer, absolutely, for a vocalist, without doubt, and I say that with the greatest of compliment. These songs are gruelling,” she explains.

Over the years Tina says she’s been approached often. “I don’t think I was ready in my 30s to play Eva Peron at all. I just didn’t feel ready emotionally,” she says. “Playing the role of Eva Peron now, at 50, is much more suited to the life experience that I’ve had.”

Tina is back in Melbourne and when we meet she’s surrounded by what she claims to be organised chaos at the tail end of renovations on the newly purchased house she and her partner, French artist Vincent Mancini, and their 12-year-old son Gabriel are settling into. It looks pretty sorted to me, but Tina’s neatness standards, I suspect, are more exacting.

The family has been dividing its time between France and Australia, “going backwards and forwards for about five or six years. Gabriel was born in Paris but schooled between France and Melbourne, up until grade five. Grade six, which was last year, he stayed in school the entire year here in Melbourne.”

この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の July 2018 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

この記事は The Australian Women's Weekly の July 2018 版に掲載されています。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。

THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLYのその他の記事すべて表示
Hitting a nerve
The Australian Women's Weekly

Hitting a nerve

Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.

time-read
5 分  |
July 2024
Take me to the river
The Australian Women's Weekly

Take me to the river

With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.

time-read
4 分  |
July 2024
The last act
The Australian Women's Weekly

The last act

When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?

time-read
8 分  |
July 2024
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
The Australian Women's Weekly

MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN

When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.

time-read
8 分  |
July 2024
The wines and lines mums
The Australian Women's Weekly

The wines and lines mums

Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.

time-read
10 分  |
July 2024
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
The Australian Women's Weekly

Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?

Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.

time-read
10+ 分  |
July 2024
Growing happiness
The Australian Women's Weekly

Growing happiness

Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy

time-read
8 分  |
July 2024
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
The Australian Women's Weekly

"Thank God we make each other laugh"

A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:

time-read
7 分  |
July 2024
Winter baking with apples and pears
The Australian Women's Weekly

Winter baking with apples and pears

Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.

time-read
10+ 分  |
July 2024
Budget dinner winners
The Australian Women's Weekly

Budget dinner winners

Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.

time-read
5 分  |
July 2024