JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR LIVE Discussion Thread — Page 10

darquegk said: "throughout [Cooper's] entire career there has been a broad streak of vaudeville and intentionally corny musical theatre. The "King Herod's Song" style is extremely in keeping with 1970s Alice in particular, who alternated garage-rock with "theatrical" bits like "Some Folks," "I'm the Coolest"

I, too, immediately thought of those songs when I read the earlier comment suggesting that this was not in Alice Cooper's wheelhouse.

Updated On: 4/2/18 at 02:38 PM

CallMeAl2 said: "DigificWriter said: "Why can't the full soundtrack be available NOW?

I want to relive the brilliance of this cast vocally, and it's frustrating that we have to wait until Friday."

I have heard that it is available now on iTunes."

It's only available for pre-order, but if you do, you get the Overture, I Don't Know How To Love Him, Gethsemane, and Superstar now.

I thought overall it was a very solid production, and the staging, casting and execution of the design were pretty fantastic.

I do have two things, one major and one minor to take issue with.

Major: I’ve read several reviews now that state “Judas stole the show” - the show IS Judas’s show. It was written with the authors looking at the last week in the life of Christ through his eyes. I’ve never understood why people, aside from the title, believe anything else to be the case. I’ve seen this show done dozens of times live, and I always walk away with the impression of Judas and how his performance measured up. I rarely remember much about the performance of Jesus. On that note - he was spectacular and I imagine that young man’s agent is very busy this morning - congratulations to him on a brillaint, emotional and powerful performance last evening!

Minor: I wasn’t a huge fan of the casting of Cooper as Herod when it was first announced, as his performance of the song on the 96’ London Revival recording has always been my least favorite. I get putting a rock living legend on a live broadcast, but I thought the performance and the rather dull staging of the number left much to be desired.

castlestreet said: "I thought overall it was a very solid production, and the staging, casting and execution of the design were pretty fantastic.

I do have two things, one major and one minor to take issue with.

Major: I’ve read several reviews now that state “Judas stole the show” - the show IS Judas’s show. It was written with the authors looking at the last week in the life of Christ through his eyes. I’ve never understood why people, aside from the title, believe anything else to be the case. I’ve seen this show done dozens of times live, and I always walk away with the impression of Judas and how his performance measured up. I rarely remember much about the performance of Jesus. On that note - he was spectacular and I imagine that young man’s agent is very busy this morning - congratulations to him on a brillaint, emotional and powerful performance last evening!

Minor: I wasn’t a huge fan of the casting of Cooper as Herod when it was first announced, as his performance of the song on the 96’ London Revival recording has always been my least favorite. I get putting a rock living legend on a live broadcast, but I thought the performance and the rather dull staging of the number left much to be desired.

"

I'm going to play devil's advocate for a second here and dispute this, if not in general, then for this particular production.



Judas is presented as a "narrator" who colors a lot of the events we see with his own perceptions, but if the show were truly built around him, we would only witness the parts of the story for which he himself were present.



Im also positive that the "Judas stole the show" commentsare being made in reference to the fact that Brandon Victor Dixon does not have the name recognition or star power of John Legend, Sara Bareilles, and Alice Cooper, and yet got as much praise as thry did.

I'd say that the comments about Dixon stealing the show are more in reference to the fact that he was just blatantly obviously the best thing about the entire enterprise, not so much about name-recognition. Legend was painfully, amateurishly bad, grammar-school level bad.

Not for the first time in depictions of this story did I sit there wondering why anybody would go to the trouble of arresting, prosecuting, putting on trial and eventually crucifying this little Jesus twit. What threat is he possibly to anybody or anything?

I really liked the production overall. I will give one big complaint though...........Brandon's vocals were mainly on point (especially "Superstar" which he slayed) as Judas. My issue with him, is that he was emotionally dead until the end of the show. During the "Last Supper" I kept saying out loud, "Cry.....Get Mad.....SOMETHING." Judas is pushed by his emotions whether or not he is mad that his friend is going against the morals and ideas he believes Jesus should be focusing on - to finally thinking to himself that if he betrays his friend, and he is captured, he will finally show his power and become the man Judas wants him to be. Which, of course backfires on him. I didn't get any of that from Brandon.

Granted, I will say that Judas is my favorite roll ever to play so I am WAY more judgmental of that part than any other. But, that is my thought on that. lol

Updated On: 4/2/18 at 04:34 PM

I wasn't familiar with the music and the concert atmosphere made it hard to judge it. Went to sleep at 9.

I'd say that the comments about Dixon stealing the show are more in reference to the fact that he was just blatantly obviously the best thing about the entire enterprise, not so much about name-recognition. Legend was painfully, amateurishly bad, grammar-school level bad.

Not for the first time in depictions of this story did I sit there wondering why anybody would go to the trouble of arresting, prosecuting, putting on trial and eventually crucifying this little Jesus twit. What threat is he possibly to anybody or anything?

Funny you say that - my partner said that Jesus came across as very emo in this version. He'd only seen the 1970s film before, and said that Jesus in that seemed much more bad-ass. I should probably mention that he doesn't really like John Legend very much in general, so he may be biased.

I've needed some time to process this one. Here's my full, blunt review. No sugar coating.

I found it to be a mixed bag. Sarah Bareilles was fantastic, as expected. Erik Gronwall was the highlight of the evening for me as Simon Zealotes - he should have been playing Judas with that amount of talent. The orchestra was also incredible. I really enjoyed the ensemble and how the audience played into the show - it worked. Alice Cooper was a delight as King Herod, and I loved how campy his song was. Norm Lewis did the best he could, but his talents were not put to their best use with the notes that his role required. The crucifixion was incredible and gave me chills all over.

John Legend was a catastrophe up until the lashing scene, where he finally decided to take the subdued look off of his face and attempt to act. His voice was absolutely pitiful and his Gethsemane made me cringe multiple times. I also felt that Brandon Victor Dixon was a mess as Judas. The transition from the intense overture into his weak rendition of Heaven on Their Minds was laughable. He looked extremely uncomfortable and his voice was not suited for the role whatsoever. The only song I somewhat enjoyed him in was the Superstar.

This is how I see it: If you're going to put on a production of a ROCK opera, you need to cast ROCK singers - which Legend and Dixon are clearly not. This show needs to be raw. Jesus needs to convey his high notes with power, rather than squeak them out in falsetto with no stamina. Judas should be wailing out his notes and songs, not lightly belting them out.

I'll just continue listening to one of Drew Sarich's recordings of Superstar. That's how Superstar should be in my eyes. Gritty, raw, and edgy - three things that this production was not for most of the evening.

smallworld said: "I've needed some time to process this one. Here's my full, blunt review. No sugar coating.

I found it to be a mixed bag. Sarah Bareilles was fantastic, as expected. Erik Gronwall was the highlight of the evening for me as Simon Zealotes - he should have been playing Judas with that amount of talent. The orchestra was also incredible. I really enjoyed the ensemble and how the audience played into the show - it worked. Alice Cooper was a delight as King Herod, and I loved how campy his song was. Norm Lewis did the best he could, but his talents were not put to their best use with the notes that his role required. The crucifixion was incredible and gave me chills all over.

John Legend was a catastrophe up until the lashing scene, where he finally decided to take the subdued look off of his face and attempt to act. His voice was absolutely pitiful and his Gethsemane made me cringe multiple times. I also felt that Brandon Victor Dixon was a mess as Judas. The transition from the intense overture into his weak rendition of Heaven on Their Minds was laughable. He looked extremely uncomfortable and his voice was not suited for the role whatsoever. The only song I somewhat enjoyed him in was the Superstar.

This is how I see it: If you're going to put on a production of a ROCK opera, you need to cast ROCK singers - which Legend and Dixon are clearly not. This show needs to be raw. Jesus needs to convey his high notes with power, rather than squeak them out in falsetto with no stamina. Judas should be wailing out his notes and songs, not lightly belting them out.

I'll just continue listening to one of Drew Sarich's recordings of Superstar. That's how Superstar should be in my eyes. Gritty, raw, and edgy - three things that this production was not for most of the evening.
"

I don’t recall Ben Vereen ever being referred to as a rock singer - and he was the original Broadway Judas and did quite well from what I hear.

Random question about last nights performance. When they went to commercial break I believe after the title song at the bottom of the screen backstage footage was being shown and in one of the sections they showed a few of the female cast members wearing feathered angle wings, but I don't remember anyone actually wearing angle wings throughout the live broadcast. I thought it was odd that these cast member had them on backstage but were not seen in the live broadcast. Did I maybe overlook the wings in the show?