Heaven On Their Minds

Source: Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (2018) (imdb.com)

I haven't had chance to write this up until now, but I thought I may as well quickly share my thoughts on Jesus Christ Superstar: Live in Concert, which aired on NBC in the States on Easter Sunday this year - I managed to catch the whole thing on YouTube later on.

Having already seen a touring version of the show a couple of years ago, I already knew the show (like a lot of people do), following the last week of Jesus' life, told from the perspective of Judas Iscariot; so the exciting thing for me was whether they could bring anything new to it in this filmed version.

The first NBC live musical since Hairspray Live back in 2016, which didn't receive the best feedback - this one, in my opinion anyhow, fared much better than is predecessor.

To start off, the clue is in the title - In Concert. This meant they could stage it differently than before, on one stage instead of having the "traditional" TV-like set that they have used in the past for every other live musical. In treating the piece like a rock concert (also bear in mind that the show was originally released as a concept album before transferring to the stage properly), will hopefully it open the door for more live TV musicals to be treated this way - which I believe is as it should be. For the set itself, they used quite a grungy stage, full of scaffolding and graffiti; I guess to make it look like the streets of Jerusalem. It wasn't too dissimilar from the set used for the last RENT tour.

In addition to this, like any other rock concert, they had a live audience, though this time, it felt like a real audience and not some random folks sitting on bleachers there for the sake of it like what Fox did in Grease Live.

The next point is that they brought together a fantastic cast! Though he struggled a bit on the top register, John Legend was a fresh new take on Jesus, and it was good to see him sing/act a bit more than he did in La La Land (he didn't exactly have a lot to do in it....). Legend was also a great choice to help merge the commercial and musical theatre worlds together. The same could also be said of Sara Barellie's (already a friend of the Broadway community thanks to Waitress), who was PERFECT as Mary Magdalene, and also Alice Cooper as King Herod.

Thankfully, we also had a couple of Broadway names in the mix: Norm Lewis (who has starred in shows from Phantom to The Little Mermaid to Les Mis (he was Javert in the 25th Anniversary Concert)) played the High Priest Caiaphas, reaching down into the depths of his register to reach those LOW notes - a hard job for someone who is really a higher baritone. And finally, I MUST mention the star of the show, Brandon Victor Dixon as the scared, confused and eventually broken Judas - if you decide not to see the full performance, at the very least search his songs on YouTube - seeing him singing that timeless score (which you'll be glad to hear, they take full advantage of) blew me away.

If you're a fan of the show, then this is a must, and if you're not familiar with it, this may be a good version to get you started. I'd say that Jesus Christ Superstar: Live in Concert is one of, if not possibly THE best live TV musical that I have seen so far. Here's an introductory behind the scenes teaser to help you decide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO2qyS27714