Yep, sure signs of Easter. Daffodils, Hyacinths, Jesus Christ Superstar on PBS…
I had never seen it. Well, actually, I saw about 5 minutes of a very 70’s film of it. Lots of big hair and gauzy wraps.
So, I watched it last night. It was a recent (2000) British production.
It was pretty good, I just had a difficult time reconciling the homo-erotic Roger Daltry looking Christ wearing a tank top and cargo pants.
The pre-crucifiction scene with Judas as some sort of intrusive reporter left me a bit confused, too.
I now open this to the floor.
Did anyone else watch it? Whatdja think?
I have seen (and performed) in this opera before. I love it so much, but if you had the music stuck in your head for three months straight before you could expunge it from your brain, you too would go insane. And I was only 15 years old. And I had to play the part of Jesus(and several other parts), only because we had 3 girls and 1 guy. I swear that there are too many guy parts in this opera.
Anyway, I have seen it both on video and stage. The stage version, was, how shall I put it? Interesting. Tim Neely(you know, the guy in the 70s version movie) portrayed Jesus. King Herod was very, very interesting. Ask me why; I dare you. The 1970s video was way too, well, 70-ish for me. Hippies running around everywhere. Ughh.
The 2000 video was very well done, except for the few instances where I thought Jesus and Mary Magdalene were a little too close to eachother. Judas seemed little put off by this, and not for religious reasons. Simon (I think it was him)was kinda cute. The guy who portrayed Jesus was not very good. Not very believable and I hated his voice; pure screaming. The temple scene was too chaotic and heated for me. Sex, drugs, and gambling. Whew!
This video was definitely done for the here and now. I was not expecting this at all. A fresh perspective. I like that. I like the the way the apostles were portrayed as a kind of gang. It seemed a little bit more revolutionary. I loved the costuming. It gave the audience something to relate to instead of robes and long hair all of the time. OOOOOO! I love the spikey hair. And there were not just caucasian actors. A nice mix of many different heritages.
As you can tell I cannot make nice paragraphs,but I still like telling you my ideas. 
Hello my name is Cindi and I’m an Andrew Lloyd Webber addict.
I saw the movie when it was in the theater about 4 times. Of course I have the original cast soundtrack and still listen to it often. Of course I have the movie on tape and have seen it dozens of times. During this time I have grown quite fond of the actor’s voices and faces. I began to watch this version with more than a little trepidation because I was afraid I was going to be disappointed. I’m glad to say I was not.
There were differences but mostly it was very well done. The movie version was superior in the fact that it was filmed in Israel and you could imagine that the events were actually taking place as they had 2 thousand years before.
This version focused more on the music and not as much on the dancing which I enjoyed in the movie version. Judas was very good, but he ain’t no Carl Douglas. This Pilate was absolutely stunning–great voice and truly menacing appearance which the movie version lacked. I also liked the fact that his “dream song” had him in his bed as if just waking up from a nightmare. Glenn Carter was a very convincing Jesus and he sang his part as written, which was a lot of screaming. The high priests were menacing and bufoonish at the same time. I thought King Herod was a hoot portrayed as a lounge lizard.
I was disappointed by this version of Simon and the Zealots, I loved the dancing in the movie version and the singing was better too.
The 39 lashes were absolutely brutal and terrifying.
All in all, I loved it but I prefer the movie version to all others.
I whole heartedly agree about the lashes. Well done. I also liked the “modernized” interpretation. Pilate was wonderful. The bald priest reminded me of pin-head, but all were concentrated evil.
Hey, this is like a real discussion! Hey, mods, do we have to take this to another forum now?
I saw about the last half. I came in just before Mary Magdeline’s song - the “I don’t know how to love him” bit. I enjoyed this version very much, but I like the original movie better. I’m from that era, it resonates with me. I’m going to have to rent it again someday.
Still, the music from this version was great, the costuming mostly wonderful. Caiaphus was a bit weak, but Annas, the younger, bald pharisee, was pure concentrated greed and evil. I especially liked the scene of the pharisees streaming past Judas soon after the betrayal. They were all backlit, all dressed alike, all anonymous wraiths, streaming away into the night. And Pilate as a leather-clad jackbooted stormtrooper was teriffic.
Dlgirl, tell us - what interests you about Herod?
<hijack>A friend of mine was acting in NYC when the original stage play was being cast. He was asked to come down and try out for the play. He didn’t get it, though. </hijack>
Well, as I said, Herod was interesting. I was only 16 at the time that I saw JCS on stage. Many things about the show had changed from the original production(I have seen pics from the original), especially the costuming. When my friend and and I saw King Herod, he was in a bondage suit and his butt was sticking out. Of course, being immature as I was, I didn’t know whether to laugh or just sit there looking at the guy’s butt. All I did was sit there with a look of surprise on my face. :o That was the funniest part of the show though.
It’s on in the background, so I don’t have to look at anything but have an opportunity to listen to how much Judas sounds like David Bowie and MORE than enough of Jesus’ girly high notes.
Wife isn’t home, so:
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I can have it on without her making veiled objections to its theology (which doesn’t sound all that objectionable to me; maybe she’ll like it better now that she isn’t a Methodist) and
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It’s cranked. I have long thought that, if you didn’t like some music, you probably didn’t have it on loud enough. Especially this version, which is arranged much better than the movie. Still a little '70s funky in places, but…
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Still prefer our music director’s recitative of the Passion according to Mark. Somewhere between JCS and a Calvin Klein ad. Icy cool, in a dorky '70s way.