With music by Webber and lyrics by Rice, the musical was released as a concept album in , before the show debuted on Broadway in The show centers on the final days of Jesus Christ's life some 2, years ago, when Jesus was being hailed by many as the messiah. The Passion story, including Jesus' crucifixion and death, is told mainly from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, the apostle who eventually betrays Jesus and turns him in to the Jewish and Roman authorities.
He is Everyman. We all make bad choices or make a decision which we should not have made. The show earned five Tony nominations. An all-black cast version of the show is a rarity, Kellum said. Also welcoming the opportunity is Kory Danielson, who, along with Tom Vendafreddo, is co-musical director and conductor for the show. Together they will lead a piece rock band and the member cast. This is Vendafreddo's 12th musical with the Paramount, and Danielson was the assistant musical director and associate conductor on 10 of those shows.
Tom and I were brainstorming about different ideas for the show, so it made sense to have more creative input. Although the two musical directors may have planned much of the show ahead of time, the rehearsals are handled differently. It is satisfying to do a piece like this that speaks to me personally.
Randall Mielke is a freelance reporter. Before I knew it, the film had ended. But, being VH-1, it naturally started up again. So I watched it a second time. I was hooked. It was Judas. Watching Jesus Christ Superstar the first time, you expect you pretty much know how things are going to turn out.
But what struck me was, there were surprises. The Romans here dressed in purple vests and tight pants. They carried machine guns and had tanks! There were jet fighters, and drug dealers and more. Jesus was a guy full of doubt and prone to bouts of anger.
Some of those surrounding him were fanatical revolutionaries and prostitutes. And Judas was the most intriguing of all—a man torn by inner turmoil, personal jealousy, human frailty and a desire to actually do good.
Out to do good? As I sat there watching the Gospel tale set to rock opera amidst dancing and swaying bodies out of a commune, I realized this was something else entirely. The film, directed by Noman Jewison, takes place among the hot and dusty backdrop of Israel the less populated parts and other sites in the Middle East. The role of Jesus was played in the film by singer Ted Neely. As Jesus, he mirrors the image much of the modern West has gotten used to—a bearded, blonde guy with watery blue eyes and a serene countenance.
In the original play, the actor chosen to play Jesus was similarly blonde and blue-eyed. This has raised more than a few eyebrows. One thing you notice in both the Broadway production and the film is its diversity, reflecting the afterglow of the social transformations of the late s. Yet this Jesus remains startlingly similar to something out of a Baroque painting.
It could simply be that this was an accepted image of Jesus of the day. Indeed, the Jesus we are presented with is the one that adorns our popular art, books and churches. This Jesus is sown with doubt and struggles with the popularity the super stardom into which he has been thrust.
He feels misunderstood by his followers, who badger him incessantly. When in a dream the blind, the lame and lepers surround him, begging for aid, he has a panic attack. If he has to die, he begs perhaps even demands that God show him why. What will be his reward? Will his death be in vain he asks fearfully?
Will his legacy his super stardom be assured? His greatest fear seems to be that after all this sacrifice, he might be forgotten. Near spiritual exhaustion, he tells God to get on with it then, before he changes his mind. But if the casting of Jesus in the film raised eyebrows, the actor playing Judas stoked its own controversy. In the film, black theater actor and singer Carl Anderson played the role of Judas. You heard that right. Jesus in this flick is a blonde haired and blue-eyed dude.
Judas is black. With a fro. Blonde Jesus, Black Judas. Say that five times fast. Needless to say, this has not helped me win over fellow black folks to this play. More than a few film critics noticed as much in the early s. When a group of African-American Baptists charged racism over the casting of Anderson as Judas, studio producers insisted it was not a matter of race but aesthetics.
Not all productions of the play portray Judas as a black man. And numerous plays have been made worldwide where he is played by non-black people. He is the gold standard. The film begins with Judas Carl Anderson breaking away from the others—a continual loner set apart; in some ways, much like Jesus. Dressed in all red with his chest out, he sits atop a crag of rock surveying Jesus and the other disciples. This, Judas laments, the Romans will not take lightly. Has Jesus forgotten how put down his people are by the Romans?
Nor does Judas buy into the adoration of the crowds. Super stardom is fleeting he says critically. This Judas is tormented, angry and scornful—but with reason. He is disgusted not only with the popularity he sees swirling about Jesus, but that Jesus as well buys into it—even seems to promote it.
He questions the claims of divinity and sees Jesus instead as just a man, who in the end will lead both his followers and his people into a destructive confrontation with the Romans. After Jesus angrily attacks the money lenders in the temple who sell everything from sex to military artillery Judas comes to believe his leader has lost his mind. Sitting in contemplation, he watches a set of Roman tanks. Seeming to visualize what could happen were the full might of the Roman Empire brought to bear upon them, he decides Jesus has to be stopped.
The climax in the conflict between both men is intense. For a brief moment, the two men clasp, and you remember they were once companions, a teacher and a pupil, comrades in a struggle. There are other supporting figures of note. China and the Hawaiian islands are a long ways off from the Middle East. But guess what? Because the producers wanted her to be. For his part, Jesus keeps her close, declaring with content that only she knows what he needs right here and now.
Uhhh huh. She also serves as a foil for Judas. The other main characters in the film are undoubtedly the Pharisees. Often bare-chested and clad in all black with mops of black curly hair no less , the priests and scribes conspire in secret cabals and stand around menacingly on fences glaring disapprovingly at Jesus and his followers.
Appearing to give credence to the troublesome popular notion of Jews as those who orchestrated the death of Jesus, it was a depiction that drew swift criticisms. It can be argued however that even here the Pharisees get some nuance, albeit of the minor sort.
And it is they, in the end, who set him up for the fall. When they finally get their hands on Jesus they twist his words, and turn the crowds against him. Pontius Pilate actor Barry Dennen also gets a touch up in the film version. Here, Pilate has a troubling dream that foreshadows his encounter with Jesus and the blame that history will heap upon him. Desperate to foil this prophecy, Pilate appears to go out of his way to keep Jesus blood from his hands.
This more sympathetic portrayal also problematically places the Pharisees back into the center of the main plot against Jesus.
He sends Jesus away to a foppish but tyrannical Herod where we get a hilarious dance number , only to have him returned. Wince worthy. To this, Pilate declares Jesus a fool. He cries out he would save Jesus if he could and seems overwrought by guilt.
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