RtS: Jesus Christ Superstar

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Rank the Swank - Theater and Movies


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Jesus Christ Superstar
Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza

Thousand Oaks, CA
March 14, 2007



The Lowdown
Jesus and Company sang amazingly but the rest went to hell.

__________________________________________________

The Scene
Jesus Christ: Superstar wasn’t so super.

I was lucky enough to get an extra ticket for the show playing at the TO Civic Arts Plaza last night and I was really disappointed. Disappointed to an extent in the fact that the vocals were absolutely astonishing but the music, story and set were really terrible. Ted Neely, who I understand was in the movie, was just a force of nature with his vocals and the guy playing Judas was really great. Judas was played by the lead singer of a band from the 80’s called “Living Colour” if you remember them.

I don’t know how it was on “Broadway” and I haven’t seen the film, but other than the vocals by everyone in the cast, it was just plain boring. Everyone kind of loitered around stage. The set was nothing more than a bridge and some stairs. I had seen other shows with simple sets, like Man from La Mancha which was just a wall and a main stage and more was done with that set than the one used in JC:S.

The other problem I had was the “Who is that” factor. Ok, Mary I get, although she didn’t act much like a mother. Judas, I understood who he and Jesus were. The others in the cast, I had no idea who they were. It was just a bunch of people hanging out with JC and I suspect had I not known he had 12 apostles, that Mary was the mom and such, I would’ve been lost.

The heckling factor was pretty high especially near the end when he’s in his adult diaper on the cross. “Jesus Christ… pooped his pants…”

So, who else has seen the show?

[Ponine]

I have not seen this tour company, but we get them down in SD soon.

My two comments.... Ted neely, bless his heart, has/had a good voice, but imo he's a bit long in the tooth to play this role.

Mary, unless I remember incorrectly, I dont think that ALW intended for us to view Mary as a mother in this telling. I dont remember if that is ever stated in the libretto, but I bet that LSPE knows.

Though I have questions....
Tell me about Herod and Pilate.

The last time I saw a tour group they had Pilate as a over the top quasi cross dresser in leather caps and a bare a$$, that was "getting off" when Jesus was being whipped.

I didnt care for that 'take' on the show, or at least that portion.

I've seen the show about five times since '87, and by far, the best was an Orange County community theater production that I saw in about '90 or '91.
They set the show in an 'authentic' time period, and had some strong performers.

The venue wasnt huge, and they included the audience in a great many numbers. Meaning, there were cast members in the aisles for any large company number.
If I remember right, Kirby Ward was up there in the role of Herod, and I havent seen a better tap number in a while.

[flippyshark]

The character in this show is Mary Magdalene, not Mary the mother of Jesus. (Mary, or Mariam or Miriam, was a very common name in that time and place. There is also the Mary of "Mary and Martha," two sisters visited by Jesus.) Jesus Christ Superstar follows the notion (not supported by scripture) that Magdalene was a reformed prostitute, and in this case, suggests that she's in love with Jesus, which I suppose means that Andrew Lloyd could follow this up with a DaVinci Code musical someday.

It sounds like the staging you saw was close to or identical to the London and Broadway revivals of the late 90's. I disliked the over the top leathery camp elements in that version as well. (This staging is preserved on DVD, for the curious.) I'm actually very fond of the 1973 movie, which certainly shows its 70's origins all too clearly, but it is conceived and directed with some dignity, it has a total powerhouse in Carl Anderson's Judas, and Ted Neely, though pretty green at the time, and not yet in posession of his full vocal abilities, comes off well. (Also, porn star Paul Thomas is in it, as the apostle Peter, credited as Philip Toubas.)

It's a shame that Jesus' nappies caused laughter during what should most certainly not be a comedy highlight. Anyway, I suggest giving the '73 movie a try, with the caveat that it's a product of its time.

I saw Ted Neely touring with this show (with the now-sadly-late Carl Anderson) 15 years ago, and he was a better Jesus then than he had been back in 73. I'm glad to hear he's holding up, but yeah, he is getting a little old for playing a guy who only lived to the age of 33.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Ponine - I didn't see any leather chaps, so that might've been nixed. No tap dancing either.

Neely had a voice, no doubt. I think maybe he's aged into the heavy vocals. I used the bino's to look at the stage for a moment. Neely did look a bit "old" for the part upclose. "Jesus Christ... needs hair plugs." ;)

[Ponine]

A blessing that the leather is gone this time. I wasnt a fan. :p
Though, I might have pictures.

Tap - I bet that depends on the Herod. That song lends itself to tap.

But yes, Ted Neely, imo, is there to draw in the crowd because of his name.
Talented, but not the end all to end all.
Borieo, do you have any cast recordings?

[Morrigoon]

What? No buttless chaps? Oh Bornieo, you have NOT seen JCS then!

I saw it many many years ago at the Universal Amphitheater and they had a huge inflatable Jesus head and hands for one of the crazy marketplace scenes, and the obligatory (I thought) buttless chaps for the Herod scene, etc. The one you saw sounds worse than the one PanTheMan and I were in back at Diablo Valley College. We at least had buttless chaps! (even if the butt part was covered in skin-colored nylon - the niceties must be observed on public campuses, after all).

Oh, and I thought the 70's film version sucked big hairy donkey balls. I liked it better when someone explained that the reason they were doing it on friggin scaffolding in the middle of the desert is that they were attempting to perform it in the actual locations the scenes are believed to have taken place, but I still didn't like it much. I've got the more recent filming on my Netflix list, I'll let you know if it's any better.

[Ponine]

I saw it many many years ago at the Universal Amphitheater and they had a huge inflatable Jesus head and hands for one of the crazy marketplace scenes, and the obligatory (I thought) buttless chaps for the Herod scene, etc.

Yes, yes... same touring company. No doubt.

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Damn, I guess I"m out of luck with the ass-chaps. Oh well, my loss I guess.... NOT!

P- The only "cast" recordings are Phantom and Les Miz.

[mousepod]

I love the movie, and saw the Neely/Anderson version when it played at Madison Square Garden's Paramount Theater about 15 years ago. While Carl Anderson was amazing, I was disappointed by Ted Neely, even back then. While I did think that he was a little old for the part even back then, the thing that really bummed me out about his performance was the country twang in his voice that he brought to the part. A quick and panicked perusal of the playbill revealed that he had become a country singer in the years after the movie. Blah.

The Jesus in a diaper didn't bug me nearly as much as the cruciform Neely rising up off his cross and into the heavens. I understand what it was supposed to represent, but it seemed a little too "Peter Pan" for me.

I'll take the '73 movie any day, but I have no desire to ever see it on the stage again.

[€uroMeinke]

No buttless chaps?

I have nothing to add to this conversation, but if chaps had butts, would they not be pants?

[innerSpaceman]

I've seen a few really good productions of JCS, the best of which was at the Long Beach Civic Light Opera, where our front row seats added to the sheer pleasure of seeing the original Broadway Pilate and Judas peform their famous roles.