Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar didn’t begin as a fully-staged rock opera. Webber and Rice recorded JCS as a concept album that sold well in America, but less so in the UK. Only then was it followed by a US concert tour in 1971, and a Broadway production that ran for 711 performances. It was nominated for five Tonys, won none, got panned by critics, and was despised by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
JCS has enjoyed numerous revivals, adaptations for film and television, and a fair share of controversy from both Christian and Jewish groups for its portrayal of Jesus and of Temple priests respectively. Based on the range of interpretations that have come before ours, we know there are many interesting ways to tell this story if we let go of our conceptions of the four different versions in the Gospels.
Ours is not a “robes ‘n sandals” production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and, based on the numerous anachronisms in the lyrics, it was never meant to be a story stuck in Biblical realism. As Craig Zadan, executive producer of the recent NBC production of Jesus Christ Superstar Live explains, “The piece is intended, from its origins, to reflect the world in the time it was in. That’s what makes it timeless.” While parts of the score are dripping with a Seventies rock feel, other parts, as well as our production design, aim to reflect contemporary times.
The world of the opera is parallel to ours, where Judea looks like the US or UK, Rome is the occupying force, and Jews and others are oppressed. Like any segment of an occupied or oppressed population, Jewish society is not monolithic: some Jews are Roman sympathizers, some are peaceful dissenters, some are violent revolutionaries. Some Jews, like those who enjoy the status of their positions in the Temple, are simply interested in hanging onto that power.
As of opening night, there are libraries full of information we don’t know about the Jews and Romans in the time of Judas Iscariot and Jesus of Nazareth. But we approach this work with the understanding that there are at least three versions of a person known as Jesus of Nazareth:
• a historical Jesus as reflected by scholarship and research
• a Christian Jesus as reflected in sacred texts
• the character of Jesus created by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice
Our production is informed by many representations of Jesus, but the Jesus in our production is strictly our interpretation of the character created by Andrew Lloyd Webber. His story and power exist in each individual’s cultural understanding of Jesus, and this production is not intended to either support or question anyone’s personal faith. From our production, we hope Christians and non-Christians alike will find a new way of appreciating this story of love and sacrifice among activists on a campaign against greed, corruption, and oppression.
