How the musical was written -- Jesus Christ Superstar (3 of 5; Episode 26)

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There is a new show out there, and this one is, boldly enough, a re-telling of the story of Jesus Christ from the perspective of Judas.  That, by itself, is likely to be controversial.  And to take on this sacred topic the cast prepares itself by…covering the body of performer playing Christ and having the castmates lick it off of him, to get “closer to Jesus.”

The stage crew is pulling together the props and set pieces to make the show work which include… plastic tambourines, fish, enormous protozoa-like creatures, representations of the man in the moon, strings of beads hanging from poles, boulders, and a gigantic set of false teeth.

Jesus will need to be crucified, and for that the actor playing Jesus will be wrapped in what one reviewer will call an “auto-erotic silver artichoke.”  He’ll be followed around by his conscience, which will be represented as a group of performers dressed in puffy suits that look like the stay-puffed marshmellow man.

Do these seem like typical staging choices to represent the final days of Christ to you?  And this is definitely NOT a parody; this is miles from Monty Python’s Life of Brian.  None of these are attempts to make fun of, or deconstruct, the story of Jesus.  They are legitimate efforts to enhance the story.  Why are they so weird?  Why were they there?  Did they propel the show to success or did they have to be overcome for the production to become the very first to run for 8 years in London and serve as the protype for both rock operas specifically and megamusicals overall?  Our sermon will be begin shortly, no this episode of THM.

[Footnotes in episode 24]

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