Earlier, I did a post examining some of the reasons why NBC’s “Jesus Christ Superstar Live” won primetime on Easter Sunday night (and how that relates to the success of “Roseanne” and “I Can Only Imagine”). Now I’m going to tell you 10 reasons why I loved it.
Ten: As I said in the other post, the producers didn’t mess with the music or the book. They didn’t try to make it more “inclusive” or “intersectional” or whatever other buzzword baristas are tossing about these days. They just did Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music and Tim Rice’s lyrics.
Nine: It was generally well-cast. I prefer a more rock ‘n’ roll voice for Jesus, but crooner John Legend acquitted himself well. He’s no Ted Neeley from the 1973 movie, but like any role played by many people, you tend to always love your first best.
“Hamilton” cast member Brandon Victor Dixon had the musical’s real showcase role, that of the tortured Judas — and he ripped it up. There really wasn’t a true weak link in the cast. Norm Lewis hit notes lower than the floor as Caiaphas; and Jin Ha, as Annas, had more range than a Montana cattle rancher.
It was great to see the musical side of Ben Daniels from Fox’s “The Exorcist” — from a haunted Catholic priest to a haunted Pilate. The irony.
With her delicate, very non-Broadway voice, Yvonne Elliman set the standard as Mary Magdalene on stage and in the ’73 movie. Sara Bareilles also has a folk-y quality to her voice as NBC’s Magdalene. Sometimes she seemed to be doing her best Elliman impersonation, and that’s a good thing.
Oh, and Alice Cooper as Herod. Seeing the Christian-revert grand old man of shock rock, a true Prodigal Son in real life, was worth the price of admission.
Even though the crowd and the music overshadowed the voices on occasion, it was a treat for anyone who loves great singing.
Eight: Singing, lots of singing. Not rap, not half-talking, just real, full-throated singing. Can I get an Amen?
Seven: Costumes. Legend was fashionable in pale-earth-toned natural fabrics and a plunging-necklined tank. It didn’t say Jesus so much as owner of high-end aromatic-oils shop, but, it flattered him. That aside, Judas had a slick leather vest; Bareilles floated around in luscious melon and sandals; and the Japanese-inspired coats of the Sanhedrin were to absolutely die for.
The costume designer managed to go modern-hipster-tribal-tats, without totally losing the musical’s hippie roots. Neat trick.
Six: Rock ‘n’ roll and lots of it. Electric guitars, bass, drums, electric violins — man, I miss rock, even the Andrew Lloyd Webber-musical variety. I know NBC is doing “Rent” next — meh — but I’d get really excited it someone tackled The Who’s “Tommy.”
Five: The staging was spare but evocative, without tipping over into the too-precious minimalism that you see sometimes in theater. I especially liked the use of a big wooden cross on the floor as the table of the money-changers in the Temple. After all, through the Cross, Jesus tore down the Temple and rebuilt it in three days. Don’t know if that was in the set designer’s mind, but, you never know.
Four: Feel free to quibble about “Superstar’s” theology (it’s got its issues), but I enjoy its imaginative and psychologically plausible takes on both Mary Magdalene — as maybe having a crush on Christ (but nothing more than that is ever indicated), and acting as the Apostles’ den mother — and Judas, as someone who wanted Jesus to be one thing, only to see Him becoming a terrifying something else.
Judas also asks God why he had to commit His “bloody crime.” It’s an intriguing question: did Judas really defy God (at Satan’s behest, as the Gospels hint), or was what he did part of the great plan?
But it is a little unfair for the musical’s Jesus to call Judas “you Judas” before he even did the Judas thing. On the other hand, He did know ahead of time (which confuses Mary Magdalene, who still has some learnin’ to do).
Three: It wasn’t too long. ‘Nuff said about that.
Two: This is The Greatest Story Ever Told. It can be done badly, and it has been, but when it’s done well, it lives up to its nickname.
One: That Ending. Oh, Lord, that ending. In a cavernous armory in Brooklyn, N.Y., Legend, lashed to the Cross, is lifted up … well, a writer from Vulture described it better than I could:
Jesus’ ascension goes on a short list of the most visually astonishing final images I’ve seen in anything: the stage-bloodied Legend was somehow affixed to a cross and then raised upward as the back of the stage split vertically, making it seem as if Christ were being beamed up to Heaven in a shaft of bright light, as the camera slowly zoomed up and out. When he passed a certain point, the back of the stage split again — horizontally this time — letting more white light in and creating a cross-within-a-cross effect. This shot played out for a very long time without a cut as we watched the hero move slowly backward into the frame until he was finally swallowed up in the light from whence he came. (The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away.)
Like “The Passion of the Christ,” “Superstar” hits you right in the solar plexus, makes you feel the anguish, fear and pain of all involved. Jesus is more vibrantly alive here than He is in many depictions, and more dramatically dead. It’s a very human depiction of Jesus. It may not be Bible-perfect, but, dang, it hits you where you live.
As the icing on top, to get up on Easter Monday morning and see glowing reviews throughout the mainstream media of the Passion narrative — that’s some New Evangelization right there. Who knows what seeds were sown on Sunday?
I’ve watched “Superstar” twice already — you can, too, if you have Hulu — and I’m up for more. I’d love to see it every Easter, right up there with “The Ten Commandments” and “The Passion of the Christ.”
All I ask is, please, no “Godspell.” We’re on a roll; let’s not mess it up.
Image: Courtesy NBC
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