Last night's performance of Jesus Christ, Superstar was a blast. Great weather, pleasant company, and a small but energetic crowd. I haven't heard so much hootin' and hollerin' for Christ (Jesus enters the stage in a cloud of smoke and the crowd goes wild! Seriously!!) since my fervent days of Asian youth group (just picture it - glasses waving! Straight black hair flying! Supplication for worldly knowledge mostly related to getting good grades!). There were fist pumps and everything!
To the despair of the distinguished line of music professors who taught us to mock and belittle Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber (in one of my seminar classes, someone write a paper entitled, "Stephen Sondheim and ALW, why can't we all just get along?"), I must say that I really enjoy early ALW. Perhaps it was the innocence of youth or maybe it was the music explosion of the early 70s; whatever it was, I've always loved Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (it's one of my standby driving and singalong CDs), and now I understand why folks love JC, Superstar. The music is fantastic and the lyrics and depiction of the story are definitely edgier (in almost any staging I can imagine) than typical musical fare. The shriek-singing of both Jesus and Judas made me wonder if their parts influenced Steven Tyler, or if it was the other way around. Holy high-pitched moly!So that makes two musicals that I like based on bible stories, while the other ALW musicals fall flat in comparison. Perhaps he should stick to biblical text - an acoustic tribute to Noah? A rock opera starring Moses? Eh, maybe not...
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Now I feel like getting out my JC Superstar soundtrack and giving it a good listening-to...
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