Posted on 03/31/2018 6:51:11 AM PDT by Simon Green
(Sara Bareilles portrays Mary Magdalene and John Legend is Christ in the NBC production of "Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert," airing April 1.)
Television viewers on Easter weekend will be pulled from the Old Testament on Holy Saturday to the New Testament on Easter.
ABC is showing the Cecil B. DeMille movie classic "The Ten Commandments" starring Charlton Heston, a Holy Week staple for the network at 7 p.m. EDT March 31. The next day, NBC is staging "Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert" at 8 p.m. EDT, the latest in its string of live shows that include "Peter Pan," "The Sound of Music" and "The Wiz."
"When we were doing these live musicals, we created some sort of mysterious list," and "Superstar" was on it, said Neil Meron, executive producer of the April 1 presentation. But picking what and when the next show hadn't really come together, he added, until "Bob Greenblatt (NBC Entertainment chairman) called us and said, '"Jesus Christ Superstar" Easter Sunday. It's irresistible.'"
And it's not just because the boss says so, either. "All of us, individually and collectively, have a long love affair with 'Jesus Christ Superstar,'" Meron told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from New York March 27, the first day the full cast had come together for run-through rehearsals.
The show stars popular singers John Legend as Jesus and Sara Bareilles, who was raised Catholic, as Mary Magdalene, and features 1970s rock figure Alice Cooper as Herod. Cooper was the final cast member to join the rehearsals, after having recently completed a tour. "But he's in only one scene, so that makes it easier," Meron said.
He noted, "The challenge of doing these particular shows is the challenge of who is going to be in it. A lot of stars are so intrigued about doing a live musical. It gives them a chance to do something theatrical and not commit to a long run." The big nut to crack, Meron said, was making sure "the talent was available for when we wanted them."
One example was Legend, who had a key supporting role in the 2016 hit "La La Land." "We were able to work with John and his team to create a rehearsal schedule that allowed him to tour and work on the role. It's always a challenge, but we found out over the course of a year, more and more people are interested in doing these shows," Meron said.
Even after working on live musicals over the past few years, it's still live TV. "You really don't know what's going to work or what doesn't work," he said. What we've learned is not to be thrown off or daunted. We have to be ready for anything that comes up and comes our way. Anything that goes wrong, we have to be ready for."
For anyone who may have seen a stage performance of "Superstar," which started as a two-LP "rock opera" in 1970, "we have learned to play with the genre," Meron said. "We've learned that the presentation of them can be different each time out. For instance, with 'Jesus Christ Superstar,' it lent itself as being told as a concert presentation. It has a narrative, it's quite theatrical, and presented more as a rock concert."
Even so, there will be performance aspects to "Superstar." Meron raved about Bareilles: "When she opens her mouth, every note, every lyric is the truth. When she sings 'I Don't Know How to Love Him,' it's like the first time you've heard the song. She brings a depth to the role that I don't think anybody's prepared for."
This Easter, Meron is focusing all his energies on "Superstar," so no sitting in front of the tube watching "The Ten Commandments" for him. "No not this year," he said. "I know all of the Ten Commandments by heart after seeing it so many times."
Looking forward to this.
I’ve never been a fan of JCSS, so I won’t be watching this production. But after its over I will check YouTube for Alice Cooper’s scene. That, I want to see.
Hope they do a better job than was done on “A Christmas Story” by FOX last year.
But moving to a more positive “NOTE”, it is fantastic that there are a few places in the main stream of deniers that have noticed the public is screaming for Faith based entertainment. With what has been offered on the big and small screens, baby steps are seen that are encouraging.
This production was written by two ungodly men who did not believe that Jesus Christ was God incarnate.
Tim Rice had this to say about Jesus Christ:
“For me it obviously indicates that, Christ was just a super-prophet who - a fantastic man, who made a big mark on his time, and we don’t really know all that much about him. The fact that an awful lot happened in Christ’s life that could easily be legend, I don’t think diminishes the importance of the legend. But, I think, as the years roll on, in the 20th and 21st centuries, I think less and less people are going to think of Christ as a god, and I think more people are going to see him as a generally good thing. I don’t see him as a god at all, and the opera doesn’t categorically say he wasn’t but I think it leaves the question very open.”
This is just liberal drivel to water down the Biblical and Holy Jesus.
Hmmm. Black Jesus.
At one point it shows Jesus utterly unable to cope with the sick people. “There’s too many of you”! Borderline blasphemous junk.
I sometimes refer to it as Judas Superstar.
It makes a mockery of Christians.
And finally, it stops abruptly at the death on the Cross, when in fact it was when he rose from the dead that things really started to happen
me too! I still remember all the songs.
One of Webber’s best scores.
No one could scream like Ian Gillian.
I remember all the lyrics.
It was also cowardice. Rice didn’t want the work or himself to be tagged as Christian. It would pigeonhole him.
Andrew Lloyd Webber discusses his intent in making Jesus Christ Superstar in these recent article:
https://www.religion-online.org/article/andrew-lloyd-webber-from-superstar-to-requiem/
Webber himself is actually politically conservative, though not particularly religious.
He has said many times tha JCS is not really directly about the person of Jesus than about how Jesus was/is perceived by others. It is about the last week in the life of Jesus as viewed through through the eyes of Judas Iscariot.
More specifically, one of the main questions explored in JCS is the role of Judas, whether he was fated to assume his notorious role and whether, in a manner of speaking, Judas was an instrument of God’s plan. Those are questions that have been explored for two millenia by mainstream Christian theologians.
How is it cowardice for someone who isn't a Christian not to want to be labeled as such?
Describing his religion, Rice stated in a 1982 interview, "Technically I'm Church of England, which is really nothing. But I don't follow it. I wouldn't say I was a Christian.
Yep
The Movie on DVD was entirely
Filmed in Israel.
Discernment Is Required!
I will be singing along.
Frankly, I think JCS served to soften Christians’ brains, rather than inspire people to join the Faith.
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