I think that the issue is that John Legend is more of a pop singer, and Gillan is very, very rock. JCS really requires more rock than Legend has.
Which isn’t to say he isn’t a fine singer (he is), and that he didn’t perform well at all, because he did. But I’ll say again what I said before: Jesus needs a lot more power behind him, especially when Judas is such a strong performer, than Legend had to give.
My wife and I both agreed that his performance was nearly perfect for the role. I’ve seen both the film and a live production (with Neely in it) and in both of them Herod was too campy and not intimidating at all. Herod should mostly stand still. He is a king, after all.
Yes, but Alice Cooper notwithstanding (ha!), how do you stand still and sing that song?
I disagree, but different tastes…
But what about the skull cane and eye makeup? Was that King Herod - or Alice Cooper?
If you can stand still during Simon Zealot’s song, you have to be deader than Jesus was for three days.I’d forgotten how dancey that tune is.
One of the lead guitarists was the original guitar student from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s current Broadway production of School of Rock: Brandon Niederauer, just just turned 15 in March. I guess Andrew Lloyd Webber likes him!
Listen Jesus to the warning I give
Your acting needs a lot more power to live
See post #104
I had the opportunity to see JCS with Ted Neely and Carl Anderson (they played the roles in the movie). Anderson was amazing, but I will say Neely seems to have been playing Christ too long, everything he did on stage seemed too contrived. I have performed on stage before, and the main challenge to a longer-running show is to try to keep it fresh. You may have said the line 900 times, but there are people in the audience that have never heard it so you need to be able to make it feel fresh.
Still, it was a good show.
I didn’t catch the live one - but will now go look for it. Thanks Dopers!
Thanks, I really enjoyed that.
Discipline. Part of being a professional is knowing when to reel it in. And note he didn’t just “stand still”. He just didn’t bounce around like a circus clown.
I…was kidding. And he did just stand still. The five scantily-clad girls around him moved, which is a time-honored technique used to make boring stage movements look more exciting. He also kept looking at the teleprompter and still managed to get tripped up on the lyrics.
Sorry if you’re a fan; he’s obviously great at what he does, but this was not it. Any number of people could have filled that slot and knocked it out of the park, but in my mind, he did not do that.
Well, you obviously saw a different performance than everyone else. Watch it again. Nothing to make anyone think he used a teleprompter. You do realize he’s done the role before, and that there was a live audience who would have happily called out anyone using a prompter?
Both critics and fans were raving about his turn
His rendition of “King Herod’s Song” was a star turn of the highest order
The King of Shock Rock stole the show last night in true Alice fashion
Alice Cooper’s appearance as King Herod drawing some of the most effusive praise of the night.
I feel like maybe I’m talking to his agent or something. He just didn’t do it for me, you know? I work on Broadway; I had friends in the show. Standing next to true actors he looked stiff and wooden, didn’t sound great, and kept darting his eyes to the right. Now maybe it was presumptuous on my part to assume he was reading a teleprompter, but every time he looked he got tripped up on his lyrics, so that’s what I assumed. I’m not sure why a live audience would have been “happy to call out that he was using a prompter”; what an odd thing to say.
And sorry, but a good review in Variety doesn’t mean much when you’ve already made a career in the music business. I’m guessing they’re giving the guy some leeway because he obviously does the rock thing so well; I could link you to a hundred theatre websites that say the opposite. I feel like you’re a little too invested to look at it objectively, but you do you, man.
If you just stopped at he just didn’t do it for you that would be one thing. But you based your criticism on three factual claims that just aren’t so. That he just stood still, that he tripped up on the lyrics (multiple times), and that he used a teleprompter. I’ve watched the scene several times, and even listened while reading the lyrics. He stood still for maybe 2-3 seconds at the beginning of the song. He did not trip up on the lyrics, although he did stammer a little on the “you can rock the cynics” line. The only place there could have possibly been a teleprompter that the tv audience couldn’t see would have been on the camera, which is the one place he never looked directly at. That’s why I suggested you watch it again. I don’t see how you could possibly think those things if you’d really watched it.
So has Gillan ever done JCS on stage? I’m pretty sure Neeley is STILL doing it!
I missed the show but watched some random clips on YouTube.
I thought Legend was fine. Maybe my expectations were lowered by the comments in this thread.
And Alice, too, did a bang-up job (although it seems he was dressed and made up as Alice Cooper, which was a distraction).
Did anyone notice that, during the line “why do you take so long”, he glanced at his wrist as if checking the time? All things considered, what an awkward gesture.
Does anyone know if they will be re-running this?
mmm
As my posts make clear, I agree. Of course, it would not be the first time I’ve been accused of not appreciating great art! 
They haven’t rerun any of their other live shows (Sound of Music, Peter Pan, The Wiz, and Hairspray), so…
Good Lord. I reached out to my buddy, who was at the live taping, and I said, “Hey Jason! Question out of curiosity: did Alice Cooper use a TelePrompTer that you saw? Just wondering; I noticed his eyes darting to the side and he got tripped up on some lyrics, so I’m just curious if that was why. Hope you enjoyed it!” He replied, “Ha! Yes, and it was HUGE.”
I’m not really sure why you got so hung up on that. I mean, do you think audience members at SNL don’t see the big cue cards? Why do you think anybody would or wouldn’t “call them out” on that?
As for the “standing still” argument, everything is relative, isn’t it? When you’ve spent 90 minutes watching everybody dancing their asses off, then yes, a few steps downstage is going to look like standing still. They were clearly pulling the old “you stand there while pretty girls dance around you, and on one will notice!” trick. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I’m not sure why you’re so argumentative about it. It’s the same thing they do with Billy Flynn, when they stunt cast Chicago and the actor can’t dance very well.
And finally, your comment “He did not trip up on the lyrics, although he did stammer a little…” is just semantics and not worth my time. You can’t truly feel you have a good argument with “He didn’t get tripped up, he stammered!”, do you?
As I said before, I was prepared to not like the broadcast and I ended up liking it very much, and if it brings a higher awareness of musical theatre to people, especially kids, then I’m all for it. And JCS was the show that turned me on to musical theatre many many years ago. I just didn’t care for his performance, that’s all. It was stunt casting, and I think it fell flat. You didn’t, end of story. But try to put aside your bias for someone you obviously admire and look at it objectively, and you’ll see that your arguments are thin. I think we’re done here.