Jesus Christ Superstar Live! (NBC) - General Discussion

[ebk57]

12 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

That was me.  I'm even more jealous, and I'll reiterate -- he's AH-MAZING!

This.  A million times.

[Browncoat]

OMG -- Brandon Victor Dixon!!!!!!!!!!!  I must see him live in something.  Anything will do.

[EllenB]

7 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I keep thinking the guy playing Pontius Pilate is Sting.

With a dash of young Malcolm McDowell.

[Browncoat]

Just now, EllenB said:

With a dash of young Malcolm McDowell.

Oh, yeah -- I see that now, too!

[Linderhill]

I can't help but ask what happened to all of the scarves.

[satrunrose]

Mic drop! That was an awesome version of Superstar. 

[Browncoat]

Just now, Linderhill said:

I can't help but ask what happened to all of the scarves.

Judas used them to hang himself.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, mightysparrow said:

Back in the day, (waaaaaay back in the day), they used to do stage musicals for tv, usually on PBS.  There were no 'name' actors, other than Broadway names.  And they were amazing.  The point was to bring the experience to people who weren't lucky enough to see live theatre.  I'd hate to think that some kid sitting in a small town somewhere thinks that THIS is musical theatre.

I'm old.  And I'm disappointed. 

But this is live theater sometimes.  Broadway isn't immune to hiring "names" to boost ticket sales.  In fact, I've heard of actors who prefer the stage but who decided to branch out to theater/film because having a recognizable name or brand helps them get more high profile/lead stage roles.

And this rock opera style of theater exists as well.

While yes, there are some names here who might not be the best actors, this production is also pretty loaded with theater cred so I doubt this production is giving people who don't see theater much a warped sense of what theater is.  It gives them a better sense of the talent than their high school productions, at least.

26 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

I'm kinda wishing I had recorded it to watch later and skip the commercials.  But then I'd have missed all this lovely chat!

I inadvertently did that and I'm so glad--except I am so far behind and can't really keep up with the comments in real time. (Hence my responding told posts.)

8 minutes ago, voiceover said:

Ugh.  It's just starting out here, and while I love Judas already, I hate the live-audience reax, telling me how I'm supposed to feeeeeeeel.  Let me learn to like it without the cues!

Eh.  Maybe I'll get past it.

FWIW, the reactions get much better.  It annoyed me in the beginning because they focused on it for the opening bits but it's not as distracting as the show goes on.  You can still hear applause but not as much.

Edited April 2, 2018 by Irlandesa

[bosawks]

Don’t you dare make me cry Sara Bareilles!

Edited April 2, 2018 by bosawks

[Spartan Girl]

The title song is still the best.

Damn they really went all the way with the crucifying. No matter what version I see, I hate watching it, and I'm not that particularly religious. Not as graphic as Passion of the Christ though (thank God).

Edited April 2, 2018 by Spartan Girl

[Sile]

30 minutes ago, Snow Apple said:

I think his character is supposed to be played as a lounge singer.

It's 'recorded from an earlier live performance' in my time zone, so I'm behind here.

I like JCS, but it's Alice as Herod that's had me so excited about this since the casting was announced!  By this comment, I'm assuming he was more Rik Mayall than Josh Mostel?  I like both versions, but I was hoping Alice would go wicked Herod rather than camp Herod, while still giving it that good ol' vaudeville flavor that I've always loved about him.

[satrunrose]

The staging of the end was really cool. I think act two has actually been pretty strong.

[Browncoat]

I didn't record the whole show, but I did rewind and record Superstar. 

[bosawks]

Cast looks like they know they killed it.

Good for them! 

Edited April 2, 2018 by bosawks

[Spartan Girl]

Love the curtain call.

[rwlevin]

Brandon did the Wakanda greeting in his bow!

[voiceover]

I'm intrigued by Brandon's take on the role.  He's a...bemused...Judas so far.  Except for Murray Head (who was...British), most of the Judases have been Angry Young Men.

But that does give him somewhere to go.  Man, I'm gonna have to YT this guy after the show. 

[bosawks]

Was the kid with the blue guitar on School of Rock on Broadway?

He looks crazy familiar.

[RedheadZombie]

I think of Judas as Inspector Javert.

Edited April 2, 2018 by RedheadZombie
Tragic Les Mis istake.

[Thumper]

1 hour ago, EllenB said:

Norm Lewis was a brilliant choice.  He's so damn good.  And hot.

YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

[Browncoat]

John Legend notwithstanding, it was a good show!

[IOU Payne]

So, I prefer Killmonger over T'Challa and Judas over Jesus.  I think I have a type.  And when BVD did the Wakanda salute, I scared the cat when I yelled YESSSS!

[Kira53]

50 minutes ago, billisd said:

Regarding the scarves....i believe they are supposed to be tallit... Jewish prayer shawls.

And palms in another song - hosanna song

[bosawks]

I consider it a couple of hours well spent, can’t ask for anything more than that.

Thanks for the memories you theatre loving people!

Edited April 2, 2018 by bosawks

[Christi]

Ive always liked GodSpell better

[ebk57]

This was fun.  I like hanging out here during these live events with you all.  Thanks!

[Neurochick]

I loved it and I was really moved at the end.

Where was this performed?  In NYC I believe, but what theater?

[janeta]

It was an armory in brooklyn.... gimme a sec

[RedheadZombie]

4 minutes ago, RedheadZombie said:

I think of Judas as Jean Valjean. 

Good Lord - I mean Inspector Javert!

[ebk57]

Just now, Neurochick said:

I loved it and I was really moved at the end.

Where was this performed?  In NYC I believe, but what theater?

In an armory in Brooklyn.  Can't remember the name.

[janeta]

Marcy Ave Armory

 

https://dmna.ny.gov/historic/armories/BrooklynMarcyAvenue.htm

Edited April 2, 2018 by janeta

[Sile]

1 hour ago, Nordly Beaumont said:

They'll be glittering until next Easter!

I'm already exhausted from all this singing along!

Glad I'm not the only one!  It's been a minute since I've seen the movie or seen a production on tv, but all of the songs come back like it was yesterday.  I was still in early grade school when I got the movie soundtrack, but I wore out the grooves on those LPs (I think it was a double album). Lloyd Webber is probably my favorite musical composer after Kander & Ebb.

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

Hey-sanna, Ho-sanna....

Curse you, Andrew Lloyd Webber, your songs are already in my head!

Why, yes, I was that child out on the playground at recess leading a chorus line of children with a rousing rendition of Hosanna.  We felt so naughty and powerful calling Jesus "JC"!

Edited April 2, 2018 by Sile

[EllenB]

John Legend was better than I thought he'd be, but he just kind of disappeared compared to Brandon Victor Dixon, Norm Lewis, and some of the others.  But I don't have a problem with that, because it gave more emphasis to the other characters' reactions to Jesus, which is what I always thought this show is about.  And I saw the first touring company nearly 50 years ago, so I'm not exactly new to it!

Edited April 2, 2018 by EllenB
It's only 2018 so not quite 50 years!

[voiceover]

13 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

FWIW, the reactions get much better.  It annoyed me in the beginning because they focused on it for the opening bits but it's not as distracting as the show goes on.  You can still hear applause but not as much.

Thanks for this.  You're right; I can already notice the difference.

It's just that I love that opening number so, I was all:  "Shut up & let me HEAR them!"

Caiaphas is hot as hell.

[Nidratime]

5 minutes ago, Christi said:

Ive always liked GodSpell better

They should do that one next year.

[adhoc]

Wow, glad I turned this on! (It was right when Judas was ratting out Jesus and accepting the "fee".)  What a blast from my baby-boomer past! Haven't heard this music in a while and had forgotten how good it is.  Brandon Victor Dixon was amazing. Pilate actor needed a better mike, or so it seemed to me. I loved all the onstage action. 

Weak link for me, as another poster said, was Alice Cooper. Visually captivating, sure, but that voice and acting left a lot to be desired. At the end, when everyone took their bows, he looked kind of bemused, in an almost "where am I, what at am I doing here" kind of way.

One gripe--I watch everything with closed captions, and these were really delayed!  How is it possible that you have an entire libretto in front of you and you can't manage to get the captions to be displayed until four or five lines of song later? Maybe I don't understand the whole process. I don't know what the show's being "live" would have to do with it, either, TBH.  

Well done, overall.

[bosawks]

5 minutes ago, RedheadZombie said:

Good Lord - I mean Inspector Javert!

Don’t take it back!

 That really got me thinking :-)

Edited April 2, 2018 by bosawks

[satrunrose]

9 minutes ago, RedheadZombie said:

Good Lord - I mean Inspector Javert!

That's a really interesting comparison. They both want to do the "right" thing, but because they have such black and white ideas of what goodness means they become the villain (when they thought they were the hero). 

[tennisgurl]

Glad I decided to check that out, it was awesome! My favorite of the NBC live shows, which I had previously been a bit burned out on. I had never heard of Brandon Victor Dixon before this, but I think I might be in love now. Hot, amazing voice, AND Wakanda shout out? *eyes pop out and tongue drops*

I actually thought Alice Cooper was fun, in that he was basically playing Herrod as Alice Cooper. It worked pretty well, especially as far as celebrity cameo songs. It was also awesome seeing Father Marcus from The Exorcist, AKA the awesome Ben Daniels as Pilate. The dude can seriously sing, I had no idea! And Norm Lewis is perfect as Caiaphus, like oh my word. He sounds like a musical Tony Todd. His lackey was also great, kind of took me by surprise. 

Really, I thought everyone was good, no one stood out as bad, and the production was great. That last imagine of the cross was just brilliant staging. 

[goodbunny]

5 minutes ago, Neurochick said:

I loved it and I was really moved at the end.

Where was this performed?  In NYC I believe, but what theater?

Like someone said upthread, it was the Marcy Avenue Armory in Brooklyn. The inside was a crazy maze of scaffolding and curtains all over (when they led us to our seats, I thought, "We will all die if there's an emergency in here.") The stars had trailers across the street in a vacant parking lot, next to the luxury portapotties everyone had to use since there were no facilities on the premises. (So I got to pass the paparazzi and autograph seekers and pretend I was fabulous during the pre-show bathroom run.) They had a giant A/C unit that they'd crank up during commerical breaks since it was too loud to run during the show. It was a weird setup! 

[tiredofwork]

Man, this was good, good, good entertainment.  I am not a theater aficionado at all, I like stuff I like, I have always loved JCSS.  The entire score was the greatest (to me at least) musical score I have ever heard.. The movie blew me away and this tv production while completely different in style was true to the music which I appreciated.  , 

I am not going to be critical of any of the performers as these seem to be very hard vocals and they didn't embarrass themselves.

The only thing I was disappointed in was in the film version on the "Heysanna, Hosanna(?)" song where the crowd says "would you die for me?" there was a freeze frame on Jesus face which was like  a"WTF" kinda look.   They didn't do anything like that in this live production like that.  I thought that was a powerful visual in the film.

Edited April 2, 2018 by tiredofwork

[AdeleDazeem]

Meh. Not great.
I saw it with Ben Vereen, Jeff Fenholt, Yvonne Elliman, Barry Dennen... they were great.
Also, Murray Head blows every Judas out of the water.
Norm Lewis has a great voice. He was out of place in this production. I love Alice Cooper, but, nope. Nothing.

 

ETA

Tommy predated JCSS as a rock opera, I believe. 

Edited April 2, 2018 by AdeleDazeem

[Nordly Beaumont]

10 minutes ago, goodbunny said:

(when they led us to our seats, I thought, "We will all die if there's an emergency in here.")

So you're like me and always map an emergency exit plan right away?

It looked like there were a lot of seats with no view, or not much of one - is that true?

[Lily H]

That was amazing. Brandon Victor Dixon was previously unknown to me, but as far as I'm concerned, he was the undisputed STAR of this show. I'm now a fan. And the final scene with the walls opening up to make the cross? Awe-inspiring. I am speechless. And that comes from an atheist! I've loved this music ever since I was a kid and had the records of the original performance (the one with Ian Gillan, not the movie).

[voiceover]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

You know the right wing evangelicals are are going to throw a fit over this one.

Why?

People, whatever their religion or lack thereof) who are offended by the idea of the musical, won't be watching.  

But "even" -- or even "especially", many of the truly Christian, see the profound expression of faith that Webber & Rice put into the lyrics and the music, and can appreciate it.

Anytime I'm not hearing the original concept album in my head during this, I'm thinking, Win.  

[Inquisitionist]

On ‎4‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 8:01 PM, Browncoat said:

That could be interesting.

This guy playing Judas is AH-mazing.

Uh-huh.  Brandon Victor Dixon.

On ‎4‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 8:03 PM, ebk57 said:

I saw him in Hamilton.  I'm in love.

Jealous!  And he was the one who addressed Mike Pence after Pence attended the show.

On ‎4‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 8:49 PM, Nordly Beaumont said:

Could We Start Again was always my favorite part. 

Written for the movie, but it has been incorporated in stage productions since then.

On ‎4‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 8:50 PM, Rickster said:

Dunno, I think Alice was the only disappointment, in what should be a high energy campy role. Here they relied on dancing girls instead.

I thought Alice was pretty good, given that he was basically stunt casting.  Better than Josh Mostel in the movie -- hated that performance.

On ‎4‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 9:04 PM, Linderhill said:

Pilate is very good, I'm enjoying him. Not the greatest voice but great acting chops.  Great outfit too.

I thought he hit some bum notes in his first song.  But good stage presence, as others have noted.

Here's a bit of trivia.  When I saw Hamilton in Chicago in February of last year, Wayne Brady was starring as Aaron Burr, but we got an understudy the night I went -- a very young, Asian-American actor name Jin Ha, who was just a year out of drama school.  He did a fabulous job.  And he played Annas in the production tonight.  So at one point, we had two Aaron Burrs singing at each other!  

 

ETA:  I've been told that Could We Start Again was actually part of the first stage production of JCS, but does not appear on the original "concept album" that was released in 1970.

Edited April 3, 2018 by Inquisitionist
Factual correction

[janeta]

Well, there's a long and hallowed (pun intended) tradition of picketing JCS, so...  ;-)

[goodbunny]

2 minutes ago, Nordly Beaumont said:

So you're like me and always map an emergency exit plan right away?

It looked like there were a lot of seats with no view, or not much of one - is that true?

Yes, I think the sight lines for a lot of the seats were sub-par. I was insanely lucky and was at the front of the seated area next to the stage left walkway where the cast entered and exited. Since a lot of the camera angles focused on the "Jesus" wall across the way, it was a great location and the only thing I wasn't able to see was Judas' suicide. (The pit folks down below in front of me were about four deep and ended up standing for hours and production took their water bottles away, so I was happy to be seated! They said post-show that their views were pretty abysmal unless you were placed in the front row.)

[Tunia]

Well, I thought it was phenomenal, and was thrilled the music was so true to the original.  My one wish is that I was hoping AC would have been a bit campier because that's one of the things I loved from the original rendition...after all the intense and dismal, the original had this wonderful campy, bright and laughable scene.  I missed it here.  Overall, though, it was a WOW for me, especially the finale.   Loved it!

[SandyToes]

I thought it was fabulous!  A little concerned at the beginning with John Legend, but I thought he did great.  Loved everyone else. And yes, BVD absolutely amazing.  I thought staging was wonderful, creative, and emotional.  Can't wait to watch again, without the commercials!  Have been a fan of Norm Lewis since Les Mis 25, so was thrilled to see him again.  I thought Alice Cooper brought the right mix of evil and camp.

35 minutes ago, voiceover said:

3 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

You know the right wing evangelicals are are going to throw a fit over this one.

Why?

People, whatever their religion or lack thereof) who are offended by the idea of the musical, won't be watching.  

I was coming here to comment on this post, too.  Talent is talent, and this show was full of it.  (I did kind of wonder about the lack of HAIR on so many of the cast! ha!)  Content is always good, especially presented in a new (in the 70's) way.  Great message for me, as a Christian on Easter Sunday, and a great production, as a musical theater lover.  And I, too, wore the grooves off my original cast album! 

Edited April 2, 2018 by SandyToes