Jesus Christ Superstar

[hudebnik]

Last night, after two weeks of intermittent efforts, I was finally able to stream the recent NBC production of "Jesus Christ Superstar", and with the aid of a recently-purchased ChromeCast wifi receiver ($35), I was able to show it in real time on the big-screen TV downstairs. It's an interesting production. Judas and Jesus are both played by black actors, which gives new currency to lines like "Listen, Jesus, do you care for your race? / Don't you see that we must keep in our place? / We are occupied / Have you forgotten how put down we are?" Both actors have gorgeous voices, although I was less impressed with some of the other singers. The show's organizers evidently told the audience to "go bananas whenever Jesus comes on stage," to bring out the "superstar" trope, and much of Jesus's time on stage is spent glad-handing and hugging either the company or the audience. This worked, I thought. After Judas's opening number and an all-company song-and-dance, the back wall splits open and Jesus (cast as a physically small, unimpressive figure in a soft house-coat) walks out, heavily backlit as though his fame and glory are much bigger than he is. Likewise, at the end of the show, the back wall splits open both vertically and horizontally to form a cross, again heavily backlit, and Jesus-on-the-cross is pulled back through this cross of light until he disappears into the foggy distance. The back wall itself is decorated with faded, medieval-looking religious frescoes, overlaid with modern graffiti, and the intentionally-obvious industrial scaffolding all around the stage not only holds the lights and the musicians but is a frequent location for major-character business (including Judas hanging himself, presented just off-camera as a ladder being kicked away). And of course the music, largely in 5 or 7 time, is compelling and haunting as always; I hadn't heard most of the tracks since I was a teenager, but I still know them.

This morning, singing in the shower, I was suddenly moved to wonder whether anybody's ever cast Mary Magdalene as a man; I could easily see a gamin boy-toy singing "I don't know how to love him". Or, for that matter, Jesus and/or Judas as women; that would bring a completely different feel to the whole show.

Comments

[cellio]

I, too, found the choice to cast black actors for Jesus and Judas to be effective with some of those lyrics and themes. And yes, nice voices!

It's been quite some time since I've seen a production of this show, but Pontius Pilate seemed more three-dimensional and sympathetic than I was expecting. And Judas felt more nuanced somehow; my feeling when seeing this show is usually "Judas is right; why don't you listen to him?", but he's not always right and that came out more for me this time.

I noticed -- and often I don't -- that the company/crowd scenes were usually well-staged. The scene where Jesus is being mobbed by people wanting healing and he can't handle it felt pushy, claustrophobic almost, like it should.

A gender-flipped production would be interesting, but I'd probably say that for most shows. Too much musical theatre, at least the stuff of earlier years, is almost all men with one token soprano. As a non-soprano woman who likes to sing, I object. :-)