Jesus Christ Superstar on Broadway

In the past year I've become a big fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar. I don't know why I avoided it for so long but I watched the movie last March and instantly fell in love with the songs and the story. I bought the soundtrack (original concept rock opera) and saw two community theater productions of the show in Ohio last spring. When I found out the show was coming back to Broadway this spring it was only a matter of time before I bought tickets for it.

The short review: we loved every minute of it. The band is tight, with plenty of winds and brass to balance the heavy guitars and drums. The set design is industrial and functional, with moving staircases and walkways that give the actors plenty of different places to interact and observe. And the cast is phenomenal. Paul Nolan's Jesus sings like Roger Daltrey with a little less bravado and more resignation. He knows what awaits him, and even as he cries out to God in "Gethsemane," he seems more angry that he doesn't know why it's happening than that it happens at all. We saw Nick Cartell as Judas this evening, and his struggle appears less with the betrayal of Jesus than with the way history will remember him. Tom Hewitt was excellent as a conflicted Pontius Pilate, and I had a hard time picturing him as the same actor I saw in The Rocky Horror Show in 2000. 

My only complaint is that the sound designers need to balance the singers and the band just a little better. I could understand the singers clearly but the band was more than loud enough. They did warn us in the pre-show announcements that it would be a loud production. But that's deducting a tenth of a point from what is otherwise a fantastic production. I wish I could see it again. It's that good.