Got My Fix

[niko]

I'm a huge theater-junkie.  Attending live theater is absolute nirvana for me - the biggest natural high imaginable - especially when it's a musical I love.  My coworkers probably think I'm insane because I've been yammering about my upcoming trip to see the new production of Sondheim's "Assassins" as if it were an all-expense-paid trip to Tahiti or something. (It opened this week, by the way, and reviews seem pretty good so far.  I'm hoping it'll run for quite a while so I can finagle a second trip to NYC after my current planned on in May).

ANYWAY, tonight wasn't Assassins, it was "Jesus Christ Superstar", a musical that's near and dear to my heart because it's one of my dad's favorite albums and the first musical I was ever exposed to.  I'd seen it three or four times before, but tonight was my first look at the new tour...one that's very different from the Ted Neeley/Carl Anderson tour my family was used to.  This version borrows heavily from the 2000 Broadway revival, and so uses a lot of modern dress and depicts Jesus and the apostles as peace-loving, graffiti-spraying rebels in a Jerusalem presented as a police state, complete with armored "stormtroopers".

The performers were all very impressive vocally.  Eric Kunze as Jesus hit all the requisite *Wow!* points, and added a few new ones, but provided some nice, understated half-spoken lines, too, that I liked.  His "Gethsemane" was phenomenal, and was especially great because it didn't have the screeching quality to the power parts that is so common.  Very intense, but controlled.    Lawrence Clayton and Natalie Toro, as Judas and Mary Magdalene also made the most of their big moments and although I wasn't 100% satisfied with Clayton as Judas (see below), his "I Don't Know How to Love Him" reprise was very moving.  A highlight of the show for me.  The only thing "off" for me regarding Mary Magdalene was that in this production, she isn't present during the Last Supper or the garden of Gethsemane...not arriving on stage in Act 2 until she tells Peter "It's what he told us you would do..."  (even though she wasn't present when Jesus told them that.)  Nitpicky, but it stood out for me.

My only real gripes with the show were that I didn't feel as strong a connection between the characters.  I wasn't feeling like Judas was really one of the gang with the apostles...like he's too outside, observing,  so the bond between him and Jesus that drives a lot of the emotional intensity wasn't quite there.  The actors were all fine, so this might have been me not connecting well with the actors, I dunno.  I just know that from very early on in "Heaven on their Minds", I was missing something there.

Pontius Pilate, in this version of the show, is a very imposing figure with a booming voice and aura of command, and this casting/directorial choice leaves me cold.  Pontius Pilate to me is a bureaucrat, a patrician...a "white collar" sort of guy.  When Pontius Pilate comes out looking as tough as any of his soldiers, and with this authorative, booming voice, the idea of him being cornered into going against his preferred action is a little silly.  The interaction with Jesus, trying to get *something* out of him to help appease the situation is also lacking because the look/feel of Pilate is so threatening.  Again, not a fault of the actor, but just a bad production decision, imo.  The recent JCS video based on the 2000 Bway took this approach with Pilate too, and I hated it then, too.

Anyway, those are minor quibbles, and I had a *fabulous* time seeing the show, and as always when I'm walking out of the theater, I found myself wanting to stop on the way out and pick up a few tickets for the next night. :)