Jesus Christ Superstar tour — Page 2

Instead of starting a new thread, I'll put my review here.

It actually wasn't that bad. Unfortunately, Natalie was out for the performance, I was upset at that, given the great reviews she had in this thread. However, her understudy, Darlesia Cearcy, was *amazing*. She really blew me away. My 12-year-old brother said me at intermission, "is that really her backup? She's awesome!" (I need to teach him the correct theater terms... lol). Given that it was the second of two shows today, Lawrence Clayton, the usual Judas, was out as well. Todd Fournier, his understudy, was also very good, although hard to understand at times (the whole cast was). Jesus (Eric Kunze) was excellent, although, again, hard to understand.

Other thoughts:
-I don't know if it was just the Providence Performing Arts Center or everywhere, but the sound guy should be fired. Unless a person was singing with really low background music or was belting, you could not hear a thing. Such a different production needs the words to explain things, and you just couldn't hear anything
-The crucifixion scene was excellent. You could literally hear a pin drop in the theater. I love that effect. Although, a cell phone beeping totally ruined the effect (and I was pleased to find out it wasn't mine lol). And the lights shooting up at the end of the scene was odd, yes.
-The girls during the title song were too much. WAY too much. Their costumes were inappropriate for the moment, and their gestures even more so. Too over the top for me

I think I covered everthing I wanted to. Overall, I'd give the production 2 stars out of 4, not the best show ever, but still decent. Would have been 3 stars, but I couldn't understand it.

Thanks for your thoughts on the tour!

Thanks for the notice. Will see it next week.

I believe he understudies Judas...I will run and look at my program.

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I need to see it again...I actually liked the tour, and he's a friend of my mom's.

-I don't know if it was just the Providence Performing Arts Center or everywhere, but the sound guy should be fired.

The sound mix was awful in Toronto too -- waaay too much reverb. It made the voices sound metallic in tone.

I think I did catch Eric Kunze on a very bad night, because all the reviews I've read have praised him. When I saw him, he seemed very much like he was phoning in his performance, or struggling through it. He never sang with the rhythm of the orchestra; sometimes actors vary the tempo for dramatic effect, but Kunze was frequently a few BARS behind the music (I swear he was three bars behind during some of "Gethsemane"), which was a bit rediculous.

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Updated On: 1/16/05 at 01:22 AM

Oh yes, now I remember. When the bass came up, the seats of the Canon Theatre were shaking as if I was at Canada's Wonderland.

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I thoroughly enjoyed the tour recently in Stamford. I thought the lead performers were all uniformly strong (though I did have a problem with understanding Eric Kunze at times) and that the ensemble was very good. Having never seen JCS before and obviously, having nothing to compare it to, I thought it was a good production.

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Welcome to the board, Mike!

You know, I watched the movie, and have been listening to the cast recording (the original one, but still the same music), and I've come to an appreciation. I like the music, and I've come to accept the costumes. If the show was still in town, I'd think about going again.

That happens a lot to me... I need to familiarize myself with a show before I see it...