• Jesus Christ Superstar Live

4/12/20 (Sun)

Andrew Lloyd Webber has opened up his catalog for free streaming over weekends during this irritating coronavirus plague. I missed the previous week’s opening, Joseph…, not realizing that the download expired after the weekend. So I made sure to tune in for the next biblical pop opera, Jesus, by Sunday, which was after all Easter. I’d never seen this in any version and would normally have preferred to wait and see it in a theater. But this was a live unedited film of a 2012 production, so it’s the next best thing. Plus the price was right.

The show interestingly revisits the last days of Jesus through the eyes of Judas, the kind of back-story approach pioneered by Rosencrantz & Guildenstern… and mined most profitably by Wicked. Judas, it seems, wanted Jesus arrested for the latter’s own sake, fearing that the fanaticism of his followers and Jesus’ own growing belief in his godliness could lead to severe repression by the authorities. He didn’t realize that this would mean Jesus’ death; he betrayed him here in order to save him, only to be betrayed himself by the Romans. Actions by Judas that might appear callous from the standard perspective came in actuality from his concern for the poor, such as his criticism of Mary Magdalene (for using wastefully expensive oils) and his acceptance of the 30 pieces of silver (to give to the needy).

The Bible leaves plenty of room for interpretation, so this Judas kiss-up works as well as any other reading. The music is overwrought and, with few exceptions (Mary’s ballads, Herod’s number), does not seem to be written for specific characters. Jesus and Judas in particular could easily screech the other’s numbers without anyone noticing. There are some effective tunes buried in there, but it gets wearing after a while, especially in this all-singing format. The lyrics can be overly obvious and should be ditched for dialogue in many spots, though Tim Rice’s quirky phrasing (“Hosanna, Hey-sanna”) can be fun.

The production was lazily updated to the 21st century complete with tattoos, dreadlocks, punk outfits, businessmen and cell phones, showing a lack of imagination in an attempt to make the content “relevant”. I wonder if directors really believe that we don’t get it unless it’s in our time zone or if they just want to show off. In any case, this production is more about the director than about the material. The choreography was largely random movement designed to fill the massive space, more on which below. As mentioned, I had never seen the show before, and I feel that I still haven’t. I wish directors like this would go write their own shows. I wonder what the NBC Live production was like.

The show was performed in a vast rock stadium, which makes sense musically given the pop score. But as I found at the Hollywood Bowl, it overwhelms the individual actors, rendering their facial expressions and any nuanced acting virtually invisible. They try to make up for this with massive screens and dynamic projections that mix video close-ups with inventive imagery, which was in itself hugely impressive. In a venue this large, though, such images naturally tend to distract from the action since they’re easier to see. For those in the audience, the actors must have looked like dots and dashes on a graph.

Fortunately, television viewers don’t have that problem. The camerawork was jumpy and often missed the big picture, but the close-ups do help distinguish the many characters from one another. The sound was also clear and the lyrics, for better or worse, largely understandable. I found Tim Minchin one-dimensional as Judas, though maybe that was a function of the close-ups (his performance was widely praised). Ben Forster, chosen apparently from a television talent show, was appropriately brooding as Jesus, and pop star Mel C was passable as Mary. The Pilate and Herod were easily the best acted roles.

Despite the sameness of much of the music and some grating lyrics, the show at least had a fresh approach to a familiar story that offered food for thought. In an unusual reversal, I’m glad to have seen this overproduced version on film rather than on stage. In the unlikely event that I do see the show again, I’ll make sure it’s a more conventional production, maybe when Japan’s Shiki Theatre revives its popular version.