Revisionist JCS in New Jersey

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 7/15/10 at 11:08am

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/141184-American-Idol-Finalist-to-Star-in-Revisionist-Jesus-Christ-Superstar

This to me seems like it's just controversy for the sake of controversy. How on earth are they going to weave all of that in?

Granted, it could probably be worse, I half expected to open the article to read that Jesus wouldn't die on the cross, but would kick butt Rambo-style.

[americanboy99]

Posted: 7/15/10 at 11:32am

Why dilute perhaps the most powerful story of all time with other "controversies"?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/15/10 at 11:34am

Wait - someone diluted Dreamgirls?

Posted: 7/15/10 at 11:36am

The movie wedged in gay rights, an anti-war message, guns and all that without changing a word.

[ObiHave]

Posted: 7/15/10 at 1:11pm

If you have to "reinvision" a play that much to say what you want to say, why not just pick another play. I'm with the OP controversy for controvery's sake. If the piece doesn't speak to these topics, don't force them in, you're not being true to the intent of the piece. IMO

[Boredathome]

Posted: 7/15/10 at 1:52pm

Since the piece itself deals with archetypes, inflecting the piece with modern issues can often help open an audience's mind to deal with those issues on a deeper level. Since the Jesus allegory resonates so strongly with a large section of the population, you can often use that resonance to introduce people to the crux of Jesus' message of love for humanity. It's fairly common, many many great films and plays have used Judeochristian archetypes to find a common ground with an audience while approaching issues that people might otherwise find uncomfortable.

To my mind, the problem with Christian Fundamentalism and a lot of Christian denominations is that they don't resonate with the practical day to day lives of the people that it preaches to. In much the same way as Jesus' own parables, this production seems to use allegory to reaffirm the universal and basic message of God's forgiveness and salvation, and I hope it will go a long way to make people think about these issues and come to the realization of Jesus Christ's true message of love for everyone.
Updated On: 7/15/10 at 01:52 PM

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 7/15/10 at 4:28pm

I think they are forgetting what Superstar is really about. Jesus Christ Superstar is about a superstar. Webber and Rice are telling the story of the rise and fall of a huge star whose ultimate undoing was his own fame. It was a rather genius idea on Rice's and possibly Webber's part to make Jesus that superstar, and then to tell it through the eyes of his disenchanted fan and follower, Judas.
When you add political, or even religious messages to the show, I think you detract from that original concept that the authors had. It seems to me that that all too often these revisionists have a bit too much Heaven on Their Minds.

[BwayBoundJoe]

Posted: 7/15/10 at 5:44pm

Meet Jesus?

[byebyebaby12]

Posted: 7/15/10 at 5:50pm

I don't even remember that guy.

Anyway, this is just silly. There are plenty of other shows where you could cover all these things and not have it go over the audience's head. Which I think will happen here, for the most part.

You could cover these things better with Romeo and Juliet!

[Director1971]

Posted: 7/16/10 at 2:12am

Yeah, Jose Candalaria was NOT an Idol finalist, Playbill.Com.

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/16/10 at 11:28am

Jimmy Curry, I partially agree with your view, but I disagree as well.

The fact is that Superstar treats Jesus as a superstar figure, and this is true. Both the play AND the actual Bible depict Jesus as having had both his sincere followers and also a "cult of personality" which he explicitly did not want. He wanted to get attention for his message, and was alternately amused, pleased and exasperated by his celebrity treatment.

The interesting thing about the show is that it does not take ANY stance on Jesus's message or mission. It shows the whole event objectively through the eyes of a skeptic who is not sure what to believe, and thus leaves the actual question- God, or man? Messiah, or failure?- to the details of the production or, just as often, to the individual decision of the audience.

[newintown]

Posted: 7/16/10 at 11:40am

It's another case of a director who thinks they're a writer, but doesn't have the talent to actually write a piece. So they "conceptualize" someone else's creation to do what they wish they could do. It's like collage, an art form just below mime/just above sampling on the ladder of integrity.

[Fosse76]

Posted: 7/16/10 at 12:27pm

"Why dilute perhaps the most powerful story of all time with other 'controversies'?"

Most powerful? There are several similar mythologies from Egyptian and Greek culture. This one one is just the most current (though it is slightly, and I do mean slightly, more realistic than the previous mythologies).