The latest version of Jesus Christ Superstar — the one being showcased now in the 50th Anniversary Tour — is a prime example of theatrical time travel, embracing its original inspiration in the Bible on the way Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1970 rock opera and its latest version: a hard as anthracite rock filter of the current world around us.
For the second time in a long history of live productions, I was both attracted and repelled by director Timothy Sheader’s vision. The first occurred in 1983 when German choreographer Pina Bausch brought her company to Brooklyn Academy of Music. As the dancers, the women clad in diaphanous dresses and the men topless, performed her iconic Rite of Spring on a stage covered in dirt, the sweat on their skin began to mingle with the soil. Yet it maintained a mesmerizing beauty.
The same happened throughout Superstar, especially when Jesus was subjected to the 40 lashes, in this case gold glitter that was violently thrown at him as a disembodied voice tallied the count. You knew how many were coming — it sounded like artillery fire during the Iraq war. But it was impossible to ignore.
There was no denying its connection with the current Middle East crises, which have also spanned the ages. The neutral costumes, part Biblical, part slouchy contemporary, had that timeless quality, the cast manifested itself
But it was the use of repetition that defined it and honed the production’s message. The scenery — a multi-level minimal set that housed the band, although split in two on the second level. A giant cross bisected it on the diagonal and served as a ramp and the At several moments, crosses lit up at the multiple cross sections.
Hand-held microphones and their stands played a part, especially in the hands of this talented cast, and it was on one of those stands that Jesus was crucified. You wondered how it would come to pass and it satisfied.
But it was the movement that gave this Superstar its ultimate impact. Drew McOnie (Jekyll & Hyde, King Kong) may be a choreographer at heart, but he has directed as well. Much of the dance had a quality, the kind that spawned the Arab Spring in 2011, setting up protests that gained momentum through social media.
So you could watch one dancer initiate a phrase and then repeat it as more and more of the ensemble joined in — it had that same feeling that can be found on Facebook and Twitter. A genius idea.
So Superstar was filled with many crescendos and one intense arc where you didn’t think that it could go to another level. But it did.
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