She has been called whore, feminist, tyrant and saint. According to the men who immortalized her legend in a hit Broadway musical, she also sang like an angel.

Eva Peron was the beautiful and ambitious actress who rose from poverty to become the powerful first lady of Argentina. To millions of her country’s poor, Evita was a savior. To her husband’s political enemies, she was a monstrous dictator and the puppeteer who pulled the president’s strings.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice told Peron’s story in their 1976 hit “Evita.” It won many awards, but the lead role is so demanding vocally that community theater companies rarely produce it.

The Grand in Ellsworth is an exception. Its production of “Evita” opens tonight with Elena DeSiervo performing the lead role. The 31-year-old Orono native starred in the Grand’s production of “The Scarlet Pimpernel” earlier this year and played Eliza Doolittle in Bangor Community Theater’s 1994 production of “My Fair Lady.”

The soprano, who has a 31/2 octave range, also sings classical opera. DeSiervo played Adelle in “Die Fledermaus” at the University of Maine in 1996 and soloed with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in May. She also has won several regional and national vocal competitions.

Yet, DeSiervo said that singing Webber and Rice’s complex music and lyrics was not the most difficult aspect of the role. The main challenge was figuring out who she thought Eva Peron was.

“You can go to the library and read about 100 different books about her and they’re all biased depending on whether the author liked her or not,” said DeSiervo last week. “Some thought she was a saint, others thought she was the devil. I think she had a good heart. I want the audience to have sympathy for Evita, but remain almost neutral about her.”

DeSiervo sings all or part of every song in the show but one. They are either at the high or low end of her vocal range and “the rhythms are crazy.” What makes Evita so exhausting a character, said the actress, is the age and emotional range the part demands.

“She goes from dead to crazy teen to politician to this sacred icon and back to dead again,” said DeSiervo. “It’s the most tiring role I’ve ever had.”

It’s also the last Maine performance DeSiervo plans to give for a while. She’s moving to New York City next month to pursue a career on Broadway or at the Metropolitan Opera.

She has the talent and the voice to succeed there, according to Ann Mills, DeSiervo’s voice teacher. Eventually, however, her former student will have to choose between opera and musical theater, Mills speculated. For years, DeSiervo has moved successfully in both worlds in Maine.

“God knows that voice of hers is more beautiful than others singing at Met,” said Mills of Lincolnville Beach. “That voice is so spectacular. She needs to have good luck and make good choices to succeed. But this is one girl with a genius for performing.”

Robert Bahr, musical director for “Evita” and the executive director of the Grand, said DeSiervo was one of three finalists for the role. He said that she brings a lot of energy to every production she’s in and seems to infuse that into the entire cast. In community theater, everyone grows together, said Bahr, so when one individual such as DeSiervo grows in a role, the entire cast rises together with that performer.

“Her voice has a tremendous dexterity and color,” observed Bahr. “If she needs to be sweet and lilting or harsh and satirical, she can use her voice to express a full range of emotions. But her real gift is her ability to tell a story through song … using diction and accenting to bring out certain words and phrases. When I listen to her sing, I’m listening to her tell a story. That’s important since there are no spoken words in this show. Evita’s story is told entirely in song.”

DeSiervo said that she learned to pace herself in high school, when she lost her voice once from “singing too hard.” She laughed recounting the time a college professor told her she had steel vocal chords, but DeSiervo credited anatomy for her singing ability.

“My mother said I screamed a lot and very loudly as a baby,” she said. “She said I was either going to grow up to be an opera singer or a truck driver. Until I was about 14, I wanted to be truck driver.”

Now, DeSiervo is determined to make her living singing. She said that while she could have stuck out for New York a decade ago, she was not ready vocally for that level of professionalism. More importantly, according to DeSiervo, she wasn’t ready emotionally for the intense competition.

DeSiervo said that she now understands the business and networking sides of show business. She estimated that she needed to get her resume in the hands of 600 individuals to begin to get noticed in New York. Once they hear her sing, however, Mills believes that voice will make a lasting impression.

“The uniqueness of her voice is very hard to describe,” said Mills, “but it’s all about tonal beauty and you can’t teach that. … What’s remarkable is that her voice is one in a million. It’s clear, pure, vibrant, very expressive and very obedient to her psyche and feelings.”

DeSiervo was blessed with fine tonal quality. But, what has allowed her to develop that gift, according to Mills, is the way she lets it be guided by her heart, mind and spirit.

“Evita” will be performed at 7 p.m. today through Saturday, Oct. 26, and from Oct. 31 through Nov. 2, at the Grand in Ellsworth. Matinees will be performed at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 27 and Nov. 3. For information, call 667-9500.