Best Recording of Jesus Christ Superstar? Or: Why is Josh Young so hot?- Page 2

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 2:57pm

I agree about Nolan. He looks perfect. I was quite surprised how laid back he is, but that seems lack of direction, which this whole revival lacks. I love his voice, and he's a hot hunk of Christ (unless Jordan knows otherwise).

Chilina, on the other hand, seemed totally lost to me. She sings nicely but has these belt spurts that come out of nowhere, like she's saving her voice for the big notes than bleats em out. And why is she made up like a Vogue model?
She is wearing more make-up than God. Is she a whore or a Top Model Contender? (Is that reduntant?). And again what I see is lack of direction, one minuete she hates Judas the next she looks like she wants to do him.

[Rainbowhigh23]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 2:58pm

Kelly2 - the first time I saw the revival about a month ago Jeremy Kushnier went on and he was indeed incredible. Hope you get to see him if he fills in again.

[PapaGe]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 3:05pm

I thought Nolan was pretty perfect for the role. He looked the part and sang it flawlessly. Chilina has a nice voice but she did seem out of place to me, especially in her yellow dress.

I was fascinated by a lot of the directing decisions in this production. They really tried to play up the Judas/Jesus/Mary chemistry, to the point where in any given scene I could easily be convinced that Judas was in love with Jesus who was in love with Mary who was in love with Judas (or any other combination). That interpretation can be somewhat problematic but it certainly raised the stakes of the show for me, in the sense that Judas' betrayal cut even deeper than usual and Mary's pain, especially when Judas died, made the events feel more real.

I absolutely loved the decision to have Judas sing the second verse of Could We Start Again Please, leading straight into his suicide. Genius!

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 3:28pm

The concept album is my favorite as well. But, I think Could We Start Again, Please adds a lot to the show, and gives the audience a bit of perspective. The movie soundtrack is pretty great, and one of the few cases where I like a soundtrack for a musical more than most cast albums.

[mee.who]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 3:29pm

Agree, PapaGe. The shifting Judas/Jesus/Mary dynamic was what had me going back a second time (and then a third).

[Owen22]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 3:40pm

I agree, I found this to be the deepest Superstar I've seen. And I saw Kushnier as Judas and thought he was terrific.

But THE performance for me was Tom Hewitt. In a production that mostly showcased acting instead of vocal calisthenics, he was a standout.

[PapaGe]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 3:44pm

Yes, Tom Hewitt was phenomenal. Pilate's Dream is my favorite song in the show and he got it just right. He was also spot on throughout the trial.

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 3:45pm

Then We Are Decided is great, but Annas's voice, the thin fluting falsetto, kind of rubs me the wrong way.

As Annas goes, I'm rather partial to the otherwise-maligned Glenn Carter production one, wherein his role and presence within the show was amped up significantly. Maybe he was unnecessarily scary-looking, but that loud, harsh and decidedly cold voice really worked for the character.

[castlestreet]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 5:33pm

I'll echo the Tom Hewitt comments- I think he truly gets the perfect mix of power and emotion with Pilate- I've seen a few people do it where they seem to just go off the reservation at the end of the Trial and it never has sat right with me.

As far as Kushnier goes- that is who I saw and I was blown away by his Judas. I have seen a lot of Judas' who came out angry to start with and had no where to go from there. His Judas starts out genuinely concerned over what he sees happening and only when he feels that Jesus is totally throwing caution to the wind does he finally agree, even though he is still torn, to betray him. All in all I found his portrayal to be my favorite.

I am seeing the show again Friday night and am hoping that Josh is in this time so I can make a better comparison.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 8:06pm

"Then We Are Decided" is a great song, especially since it showcases Caiaphas's incredible voice. I was surprised (and disappointed) the first time I saw Superstar on stage and realized it wasn't a standard part of the show.

Practically speaking, this is because the copyright for the song belongs to the film studio and not to Really Useful (CWSAP is in the standardized licensed score because it was written for the Broadway production and has been part of the show since then; TWAD -- what an unfortunate acronym, one letter away from vulgarity -- was written specifically for the film). To use it in a stage production would need a separate negotiation/fee. That's not to say some productions haven't done it. There was a UK tour in the Eighties with Ray Shell as Judas that did it; the now defunct Candlewood Playhouse did a US tour, also in the late Eighties, that included it (it was not listed in the program, they didn't apply for the rights legally and got spanked by MCA/Universal for it); the 2003 production in Remscheid, which had a commercial release, did it; the 2004-05 UK tour produced by Bill Kenwright did it. But the separate licensing fee is a pain in the ass.

Artistically? That, again, owes to the different dynamics between stage and record, while adding the dynamic of film to the mix as well. On stage and record, a rising line of tension is created that runs through the first scenes: Judas is worried about Jesus (HOTM), Jesus dismisses all worries while Mary soothes his nerves and his apostles act in a fashion that could get them all killed if the Romans took notice (WTB), Judas' worry comes out in anger (STM), and it culminates in Mary trying to diffuse the tension, which fails (EA). To interrupt that with a side trip, even if it's important for plot purposes and goes to motivation, slows down the action, especially if one is literally setting the scene in another place entirely from where the primary characters are, necessitating a scene change.

On film, one can more easily cut away to Caiaphas convincing Annas that Jesus is a problem without worrying about interrupting the flow, and if anything, on film, it allows Judas' anger to simmer. But on stage and record, that dog don't hunt.

The solution, since the song is good and better explains Caiaphas' motivation for wanting Jesus put to a stop, would be to move "Then We Are Decided" to a different spot. Some place it right before "This Jesus Must Die," but that's stupid because it insults the audience's intelligence. It is logical dramaturgically -- Caiaphas convinces Annas, and then the council, which is certainly the sequence of events suggested by the former -- but the audience is thinking, "Didn't we just hear this crap? Why is he telling us again? I mean, that he wants him to die is kind of news, but Annas did say to frighten them, right?"

Short of re-writing the first act to make it more linear (placing "Then We Are Decided" where TJMD is, and moving TJMD to later in the act after Jesus has actually done something worth being arrested for, namely causing a riot by attacking the money changers in the Temple), which Webber would never allow and fans like me would carp about, a solution I came up with was to present TWAD as a prologue before the overture. Jesus' fate is sealed, cue the foreboding music. It works dramatically.

[Owen22]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 8:28pm

gvendo, I was in a production of JC Superstar and, if I remember correctly, "Could We Start Again Please" was in the rental script and score. Why would it have been included if "Then We Are Decided" wasn't? Or was that an artistic decision? And does the second Jesus verse in "Hosanna" (also used in the current production) need separate licensing as well? For the latter, it would just be a tiny portion of the song so how would that work? Though it occurs to me those pieces may have been written for the pre-film stage versions. I'm just guessing they were written for the film as they aren't on the brown album, I really don't know what the song stack for the original Broadway and West End productions were...

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 8:34pm

To quote my post just above you (emphasis mine; it's easy to miss, it was a tl;dr post):

Practically speaking, this is because the copyright for the song belongs to the film studio and not to Really Useful (CWSAP is in the standardized licensed score because it was written for the Broadway production and has been part of the show since then; TWAD -- what an unfortunate acronym, one letter away from vulgarity -- was written specifically for the film). To use it in a stage production would need a separate negotiation/fee.

The second verse for "Hosanna" was written for the London production in 1972.

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 9:20pm

I know the Pittsburgh Public production which was staged annually for some time (and may still be, I just haven't seen it in years) used TWAD as a prologue leading into the overture.

[gvendo2005]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 9:33pm

This one?
Ken Gargaro's version?

[dreaming]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 9:46pm

Tom Hewitt was absolutely brilliant as Pilate-if he'd had one more song I think he would have possibly been recognized for his performance. I really thought he was great.

[Kelly2]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 10:59pm

Okay this is why I asked this here, you guys are an incredible fount of knowledge.

I think I'm going to try to get rush tickets to see this production again soon, especially if there's any reason to believe Jeremy Kushnier will be on as Jesus or Judas. :) Praytell, do any of you know where the rush tickets are/are they hard to get? Rear mezz is fine, I suppose, that's where I sat for CMIYC, but I'd love to sit in the orchestra for this.

[IBelieve17]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 11:25pm

I rushed last Thursday and got a ticket at 11:30am. I was in the leftmost seat in the front row, and while there were a few moments I missed, I thought the seat was great! And I think I was sitting directly above the drums, so I was really rocking whenever they launched into the title theme. Definitely worth the rush!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/12/12 at 11:53pm

^I also think it's best to sit as close as you can with this production. The three leads are really subtexting the hell out of it and it's better when you can see their facial expressions. When I saw it in La Jolla Josh had tears streaming down his face during his death scene.

[Kelly2]

Posted: 6/13/12 at 12:00am

Thanks! Glad to know I don't have to get up at 5am ala Once. I'll just swing by around 9:30-10ish one day and hope for the best. :) I agree that based on seeing the production from the front mezz (which was nice), I'd love to be more up close and intimate if I see it again. I'm sure the score must be absolutely electric from that close to the stage.

[keb2]

Posted: 6/13/12 at 12:33am

if by "electric," you mean "loud," then yes, it is quite "electric." However, due to poor sound design or overwhelming loudness or both, it sounds like a really well-done karaoke track. I literally had no clue until I checked at intermission that it was a live band and not backing tracks. I kept looking at the conductor on the monitor and wondering what he was conducting. I was in Orch G.

I also had a problem with the main three being so white. Like superwhite. I've never seen anyone from Israel/that general area of the world who is as white as those three. I'm whiter than Wonderbread, and I know we live in a culture where Jesus is usually portrayed as a ripped white man with a killer six-pack, but couldn't he at least be a little more convincingly Israeli? Or even generally Jewish?

Also, for those wishing for more Kushnier, he did play Pontius Pilate in La Jolla. I did feel like we couldn't see any of his talent at all in this role in this show. It looks like someone was like, oh, sorry, Tom Hewitt's more important than you are, so we're gonna give it to him on Broadway and for a couple performances in La Jolla, but you can have it the rest of the time in La Jolla! http://www.playbill.com/news/article/157975-Jeremy-Kushnier-Is-Pilate-Once-Again-in-La-Jollas-Jesus-Christ-Superstar

Honestly I'd rather they did "Damned for All Time" for media performances. Not a well-known song from the show, I guess, but the most enjoyable one in this production. But maybe that would be false advertising?

Updated On: 6/13/12 at 12:33 AM

[marcusnance77]

Posted: 6/13/12 at 2:33am

There are seven blacks, three Filipinos and one Chinese actor in the Broadway company of Jesus Christ Superstar. That's a far cry from what you call "superwhite" keb2. We also have a number of Jewish actors in the show... very diverse company I would say. Stratford is known for this. Check out some of the videos for the 2012 season at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and you will be blown away by the color blind casting and all the peoples represented on our stages. It's very, very cool actually.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 6/13/12 at 8:01am

Marcus, thank you for jumping in here. I can't imagine how anyone could complain about this cast being "superwhite"! Congrats to you all on a great production. Stratford will miss all of you this summer.

Jordan, do you actually know Josh? He's engaged to a friend of mine and I've never seen or heard of any indication that he's anything but a truly nice guy.

[On the road...]

Posted: 6/13/12 at 9:53am

Here's the obligatory question...what team does Josh Young bat for? Do you ladies creaming you seats even have a chance?

[keb2]

Posted: 6/13/12 at 10:53am

sorry, I should have clarified: Jesus, Mary, and Judas (but especially Jesus) came across as being superwhite. Not the cast as a whole.

[TalkinLoud]

Posted: 6/13/12 at 10:55am

I know this production has a lot of detractors, but I saw it last weekend and was massively impressed. I enjoyed it a great deal. Same thing with the current Evita.