How is Judas' death done onstage?
How is Judas' death done onstage?
#0How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/20/06 at 9:48pm
I feel stupid, but it's been YEARS since I saw the film and I've never seen it done on stage (much to my dismay). How is is done on stage?
#1re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/20/06 at 9:53pmIt totally depends on the director...I've seen it done differently in every production I've seen...
#2re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/20/06 at 9:59pmIt's been quite a while since I did this show...but if I remember correctly, they somehow rigged a noose to come down and he acutually "hung" himself....but dont' ask me how!...LOL
Sparklesss
Featured Actor Joined: 4/6/06
#4re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/20/06 at 10:24pmI saw it twice on tour and both times he hung himself..again, not sure how but he did.
#5re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/20/06 at 10:26pm
I've seen the hanging done in silhouette, I've seen an actor be "hanged" by a lowered noose, very much like what Wendy describes. I saw one hilarious community theatre production where Judas wrapped a microphone cord around his neck and sort of danced around til he died. And one where he took out a gun and shot himself....
Because directors usually have such a field day with their concept of JCS, they usually come up with a way to show his death that fits their vision for the overall material.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#6re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/20/06 at 10:26pmHe doesn't die. They electrocute Jesus on the chain link fence, then they carry Him out through the audience and then they run back down to the stage for a jaunty reprise of "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord/Day by Day."
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timote316
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/04
#7re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/20/06 at 10:27pmOn the tour, he did indeed hang himself on a noose that was lowered down. How he did it, I'm not sure. I keep envisioning a stupid looking sack of something (in the shape of a body) falling on a noose from the flies, but that's how Bouqet dies in Phantom... I'm drawing a blank on the details, but I distinctly remember a noose being lowered.
#8re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/20/06 at 10:27pmSorta off topic but didn't an actor actually end up killing himself in this scene?
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#9re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/20/06 at 10:49pmwhen i did our judas sunk into the floor with the tormentor deamons around him holding nooses it looked very cool,
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Kringas
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/05
#10re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/20/06 at 11:07pm
Sorta off topic but didn't an actor actually end up killing himself in this scene?
Yes
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#11re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/20/06 at 11:09pmThought so, Thanks!
"You know, with the right volume, Patti LuPone can make a car bounce, too...."
-Wonderwaiter
#12re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/20/06 at 11:19pmFinding Namo- I think they're talking about Jesus Christ Superstar. You're thinking of Godspell! (I also thought of Godspell first, so it's ok)
<--Sometimes it's easier to get out of a jam than into one
Sparklesss
Featured Actor Joined: 4/6/06
#13re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/20/06 at 11:35pmOh i assumed when he said Judas he meant in JC Superstar...the whole "prepare ye" song etc is Godspell..
mrkringas
Broadway Star Joined: 9/28/05
#14re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/21/06 at 12:49am
THe London revival featured a noose being lowered on to Judas but then going through a trap door. The rope went taught and then from the same rope, Jesus was raised from the trap for his torture scene while Mary sang "Could We Start Again Please".
Great staging but sadly reconceived for the UK Tour. Probably something to do with the trap! Instead there is the moving bridge crap that is on the DVD and it goes all the way to the top then they chuck down a dummy! At one performance I saw the dummy bounced off the stage floor and looked soooooooooooo fake.
#15re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/21/06 at 1:27am
We had Judas impale himself with a sword. According to the director, hanging with ropes did not exist in biblical times, and "hanging" meant for one to be impaled on a stick.
I think the real reason was that it was easier to stage.
And yeeeeaah, Namo, get your shows straight, jeez. Everyone know the big electrocution scene was in Godspell. It's how the makers of "Phantom" got the idea for Carlotta's death.
musicnmath
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/13/05
#16re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/21/06 at 1:41amA well-received production in the Czech Republic was done in a theatre-in-the-round. Judas sings must of "Superstar" on the main stage floor with his glitzy girls then climbs up some scaffolding until he's high above most of the audience. He climbs with a sort of desperation that you get the feeling he's running away from what he's gotten himself into. He sings the final portion from atop this scaffolding with lights shining on him from below giving him an eerie glow. He then makes like he's going to hurl himself off the scaffolding down onto the main floor and at the last moment the lights black out.
#17re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/21/06 at 1:50amummm... why did the Czech Republic feel the need to kill Judas twice? He's already dead by the time he comes back and sings "Superstar"...
musicnmath
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/13/05
#18re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/21/06 at 2:02amcrap. Excellent point. Clearly, I messed that up. (It's been 10 years since I saw it...and almost as long since I've seen an English production). Either way...the death scene "jumping" from the scaffolding is right even though I got the lead-up wrong. I only saw the production 10 times or so...you'd think I'd remember these things!
#19re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/21/06 at 2:06amIn the US tour I saw a few years back, Judas climbed a ladder and then the noose fell onto the stage.
"One day, is that enough for you, one day he went dumb, one day I went blind, one day we'll go deaf, one day we were born, one day we shall die, the same day, the same second, is that enough for you? They give birth astride of a grave, the light gleams an instant, then it's night once more." --Waiting for Godot
#20re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/21/06 at 8:34amwhen I saw it two men held judas and the others just started beating him. I saw a local production of it.
AvenueQPat
Stand-by Joined: 5/9/04
#21re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/21/06 at 9:14am
When I did the production, we didn't have a realy fly system.
What we were able to do was rig up a checp pully system with a noose on one end that could be lowered down while Judas was singing.
We had the ensemble come out in black cloaks and surround him when he slipped out durring a black out and the SO LONG JUDAS vocals, and when the black cloaked ensemble pulled away we had Jesus's arms up for the whipping scene.
You learn to play the straight man, the lines become routine - never really saying what you mean - but i know the scene will change :)
#22re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/21/06 at 1:21pm
Recently, I worked at a to-remain-unnamed semi-pro theatre in Ohio, where members of the cast of the show I was in had been in the previous show, JCS.
In their show, a noose was lowered to the stage, Judas put it around his neck and the company surrounded him. Suddenly, the noose flew up empty, the crowd dispersed and Judas was gone.
Except for that one night...
When (they told me) Judas didn't get the noose off in time and the techie began to tug at it, choking Judas. The actiors called off stage for him to stop, but he reportedly retorted, "I don't take order from actors" and kept tugging.
Isabella2
Broadway Star Joined: 10/6/05
#23re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/21/06 at 2:22pm
THis is so horrible... i can only imagine what it must like for the whole cast/
Antony Wheeler (died 17 August 1997)
Playing Judas in a Greek production of Jesus Christ Superstar, Wheeler's performance was supposed to conclude with Judas hanging himself, a stunt he'd successfully negotiated 20 previous times. This time he forgot to fasten the rope to his safety harness.
Renato Di Paolo (died 22 April 2000)
Another actor playing Judas mistakenly hanged himself in Camerata Nuova, a town 45 miles from Rome. Di Paolo's death was captured on film by someone shooting a video of the outdoor play.
#24re: How is Judas' death done onstage?
Posted: 4/21/06 at 6:09pm
Sorry to threadjack, but since we're on a Jesus-musical thread, I have a really general question about Godspell, because I might be in it. Concept wise, how is it done. MTI's synopsis just describes Jesus's life, something that is well known. What I want to know about is the staging aspect, who the characters are, what songs are sung, how Jesus is killed, etc...The 2000 revival CD is great, but doesn't help because there isn't a good set of liner notes.
Thanks.
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