Cabaret Scenes Theatre Review - Jesus Christ Superstar

“What’s the buzz?” Broadway is blazing with Biblical glitz, glitter and star-power in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar, which was first released as a concept album in 1970. If you want a choice between different versions of the last days of Jesus Christ, there is the trippy flower-power ambiance of Stephen Schwartz’s Godspell, just blocks away from the Neil Simon Theatre, and Jesus Christ Superstar. Both musicals originated in the early ’70s, but, for those more caught up in the energizing sung-through rock score and flesh and blood characters than in traditional religious wrappings, Lloyd Webber and Rice’s variegated score still resonates and Des McAnuff's production rocks.

Taking a secular look at the straightforward story and its characters, the message proceeds crisply, heightened by its Times Square electric flash of videos and an LED ticker counting down the days before the crucifixion. Choreographed by Lisa Shriver, the rabble-rousing followers of Jesus are athletic, their energy never lagging, although their loyalty to Jesus wanes and ebbs. One of them, Judas (Josh Young), Jesus’s right-hand man, passionately challenges Jesus, warning him that the dream is over, the group is in danger and that the authorities, constantly hounding them, will crush them. Judas is a stirring presence and his interaction with Jesus in Act II is vibrant with blame and fury.

The songs drive the seven days of narrative and color the characters. Young relays his message with a potent voice, while Paul Nolan’s Jesus appears restrained. He is typically portrayed as an ethereal-looking man with hair paler than the that of rest of the cast, and piercing eyes that focus into the audience. He is becoming depleted, angry at those who assail him and it is not until the Temple scene that he finally explodes with an inner strength, tearing across the stage in fury, white robe flying. He reaches his emotional peak in Act II, with, “Gethsemane,” pleading to God for understanding of why his end must come.

Mary Magdalene, portrayed by Chilina Kennedy, is a waiflike busy buffer between the skeptical Judas and the increasingly aloof and intractable Jesus. Her devotion to Jesus is so abject that it is hard to imagine her sordid prostitute past. Always steps behind him, with a hobo bag over her shoulder, she carries his folding stool, ready for when he stops to rest. Kennedy has an eloquent vocal tone, fluid in her soothing "Everything's Alright," and later, while Jesus sleeps, she admits, "I Don't Know How to Love Him."

Jesus’s enemies reflect persuasive menace. Caiaphas (Marcus Nance), statuesque in black, is sinister with his trenchant bass-baritone as he decides, “This Jesus Must Die.” Tom Hewitt proves a strong and convincing Pilate delivering “Pilate’s Dream.” Bruce Dow’s flaccid and decadent King Herod, offers a campyerodKing Herod “Herod’s Song” ero”Heroishortly before the end, taunting Jesus to perform some miracles. The emotional core builds into the shocking whipping of the anguished Jesus by the Romans and the suffering on the cross.

Director McAnuff (The Who's Tommy, Jersey Boys) is theatrical with a solid point of view, linking Jesus with both Mary Magdalene and Judas. Robert Brill’s stark staging shifts rafters around the stage, and Howell Binkley’s lighting adds drama. Paul Tazewell designed predictable costumes for Jesus and his followers, but most striking were his bad boys in black.

After a run at Canada’s Stratford Shakespeare Festival and the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, Jesus Christ Superstar opened on Broadway during the Passover and Easter season. It focuses, however, on the human, rather than the traditional religious viewpoint. The story is timeless, while this production is expressively contemporary.

(Pictured: Chilina Kennedy and Paul Nolan; photo by Joan Marcus)

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
March 27, 2012
www.cabaretscenes.org



	Jesus Christ Superstar Neil Simon Theatre New York, NY
“What’s the buzz?” Broadway is blazing with Biblical glitz, glitter and star-power in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar, which was first released as a concept album in 1970. If you want a choice between different versions of the last days of Jesus Christ, there is the trippy flower-power ambiance of Stephen Schwartz’s Godspell, just blocks away from the Neil Simon Theatre, and Jesus Christ Superstar. Both musicals originated in the early ’70s, but, for those more caught up in the energizing sung-through rock score and flesh and blood characters than in traditional religious wrappings, Lloyd Webber and Rice’s variegated score still resonates and Des McAnuff's production rocks. Taking a secular look at the straightforward story and its characters, the message proceeds crisply, heightened by its Times Square electric flash of videos and an LED ticker counting down the days before the crucifixion. Choreographed by Lisa Shriver, the rabble-rousing followers of Jesus are athletic, their energy never lagging, although their loyalty to Jesus wanes and ebbs. One of them, Judas (Josh Young), Jesus’s right-hand man, passionately challenges Jesus, warning him that the dream is over, the group is in danger and that the authorities, constantly hounding them, will crush them. Judas is a stirring presence and his interaction with Jesus in Act II is vibrant with blame and fury. The songs drive the seven days of narrative and color the characters. Young relays his message with a potent voice, while Paul Nolan’s Jesus appears restrained. He is typically portrayed as an ethereal-looking man with hair paler than the that of rest of the cast, and piercing eyes that focus into the audience. He is becoming depleted, angry at those who assail him and it is not until the Temple scene that he finally explodes with an inner strength, tearing across the stage in fury, white robe flying. He reaches his emotional peak in Act II, with, “Gethsemane,” pleading to God for understanding of why his end must come. Mary Magdalene, portrayed by Chilina Kennedy, is a waiflike busy buffer between the skeptical Judas and the increasingly aloof and intractable Jesus. Her devotion to Jesus is so abject that it is hard to imagine her sordid prostitute past. Always steps behind him, with a hobo bag over her shoulder, she carries his folding stool, ready for when he stops to rest. Kennedy has an eloquent vocal tone, fluid in her soothing "Everything's Alright," and later, while Jesus sleeps, she admits, "I Don't Know How to Love Him." Jesus’s enemies reflect persuasive menace. Caiaphas (Marcus Nance), statuesque in black, is sinister with his trenchant bass-baritone as he decides, “This Jesus Must Die.” Tom Hewitt proves a strong and convincing Pilate delivering “Pilate’s Dream.” Bruce Dow’s flaccid and decadent King Herod, offers a campyerodKing Herod “Herod’s Song” ero”Heroishortly before the end, taunting Jesus to perform some miracles. The emotional core builds into the shocking whipping of the anguished Jesus by the Romans and the suffering on the cross. Director McAnuff (The Who's Tommy, Jersey Boys) is theatrical with a solid point of view, linking Jesus with both Mary Magdalene and Judas. Robert Brill’s stark staging shifts rafters around the stage, and Howell Binkley’s lighting adds drama. Paul Tazewell designed predictable costumes for Jesus and his followers, but most striking were his bad boys in black. After a run at Canada’s Stratford Shakespeare Festival and the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, Jesus Christ Superstar opened on Broadway during the Passover and Easter season. It focuses, however, on the human, rather than the traditional religious viewpoint. The story is timeless, while this production is expressively contemporary. (Pictured: Chilina Kennedy and Paul Nolan; photo by Joan Marcus) Elizabeth Ahlfors Cabaret Scenes March 27, 2012 www.cabaretscenes.org

Jesus Christ Superstar

Neil Simon TheatreNew York, NY

Neil Simon Theatre
New York, NY