"Evita," Starring Elena Roger, at the Marquis Theater Anyone questioning the veracity of this assertion need only visit the Marquis Theater, where a lavish, worshipful wake is being held for Mrs. Perón (1919-52), the onetime first lady of Argentina. Michael Grandage's revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's "Evita," which opened on Thursday night, is from beginning to end so stately and sober-sided that you may feel out of place if you're not wearing your best black. As it did when it was first staged on Broadway in 1979, this bio-operetta begins and ends with the funeral of its title character. But unlike that earlier incarnation this version by Mr. Grandage (the terrifically talented director of "Red" and "Frost/Nixon") never seems to whip up any human life in the intervening two hours of sung-through flashbacks. Despite the hard work of its spirited leading lady, the Argentine actress Elena Roger - supported by a barely there Ricky Martin and a sterling Michael Cerveris - this musical combination of history pageant and requiem Mass feels about as warmblooded as a gilded mummy. The glacial temperatures may shock theatergoers who saw "Evita" three decades ago. Though critics weren't much impressed by the show then, audiences found their way to it, partly because of Harold Prince's adrenaline-pumping Brecht-meets-Broadway staging and partly because of the white-hot performances of Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin. It was generally acknowledged then that "Evita" showed little depth as either a study in politics or a character portrait. Writing in The New York Times, Walter Kerr memorably described it as "a bold step backward into - of all things - the medieval morality play." But it struck a nerve in a society that was just beginning to view celebrities in the prophetic terms of the pop artist Andy Warhol. The "Evita" of the late 1970s was good looking, groomed to a high sheen, two dimensional and sophisticatedly star struck, just like a Warhol portrait on the cover of Interview magazine. What's more, it seemed to possess something called irony, a characteristic that had yet to grow into the default point of view for young Americans. The show cleaned up at the Tonys, made stars of Ms. LuPone and Mr. Patinkin and, despite a flat-line 1996 film version starring Madonna, is still fondly recalled as an emblem of the days when Broadway had sex appeal. Sexy is not a word that comes to mind with Mr. Grandage's production, which originated in London in 2006. This version is, above all, sincere, even pious. Not so much toward Eva Perón (who died at 33 and, as the opportunistic wife of a dictator, remains a deeply, er, divisive figure) as toward Mr. Lloyd Webber and Mr. Rice's work. Designed by Christopher Oram in a style that brings to mind the Metropolitan Opera at its most traditional, this production accords "Evita" the kind of respect usually reserved for Verdi and Wagner. In other words "Evita" isn't just showbiz, kids. It's art. And as the show (with running commentary from Mr. Martin as Che, the disdainful, socially conscious narrator) follows its heroine's meteoric career in the Argentina of the 1930s and "40s from small-town social outcast to big-city actress and party girl to the most powerful woman in South America, it never cracks a smile. This is true even when Mr. Rice's libretto is sardonically chronicling Evita's upwardly mobile game of musical beds during her early years in Buenos Aires (in the song "Goodnight and Thank You"). And Mr. Rice's lyrics are tough going when they're served without an occasional arched eyebrow. (The young Evita on life in the provinces: "Who could ever get kicks in the back of the sticks?" The older Evita as she prepares for a world tour: "I'm their product/It's vital you sell me/So Machiavell me.") As the show's center Ms. Roger, who was embraced in a bear hug by the London critics five years ago, embodies that unblinking reverence. In looks and self-presentation her irony-free Evita may well be closer to the real Eva Perón than anyone who's played her before. I very much enjoyed her early scenes as the young Eva Duarte, a scrappy, mousy girl who is set apart from the crowd only by pure force of ambition. Rob Ashford's smooth choreography, which presents every possible variation on the tango, is at its liveliest here as well. But as she morphs into Eva the diva, growing blonder with each scene, Ms. Roger never gives us much by way of character definition beyond that same grimly focused determination. In her memoir Ms. LuPone wrote of her early days of rehearsal with Mr. Prince: "I knew Evita had to have a sense of humor. She had to have a wink in her eye, or the audience would not be able to come to her, or me playing her.