October 12, 1971 is the date when American audiences were first introduced to a musical that has since become one of the most widely produced shows; Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar. It has been over fifty years since that October 12th Broadway opening, and it is fascinating to note how this groundbreaking musical has evolved over the decades. As a high school theater nerd, I was obsessed with the Jesus Christ Superstar album and never in my wildest dreams did I think that, one day, I would be performing the show on Broadway. I was lucky enough to be cast in the 2000 Broadway revival of Jesus Christ Superstar. While that production was nominated for a TONY Award that year, it only ran for six months. Still, it was the most exciting six months of my life. Jesus Christ Superstar has had an interesting history that, like the show’s plot, is fraught with turmoil and uncertainty. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice originally conceived Jesus Christ Superstar as a theatre piece, but could not find any producers who were interested in producing it on stage. Instead, the pair ended up creating a concept album in 1970. The album became a hit on the USA Billboard and went on to be the biggest-selling album of 1971. Soon, unauthorized live concert productions began to spring up around the country, and in an effort to curtail these illegal performances, an official Jesus Christ Superstar concert tour was created. Later that year rehearsals began for the Broadway production, and that opened to mostly negative reviews (The NY Times wrote, “It all rather resembled one’s first sight of the Empire State Building. Not at all uninteresting, but somewhat unsurprising and of minimal artistic value.”). A few religious groups condemned the production, and it was not uncommon to find protesters outside of the theater shouting “blasphemy!” However, Pope Paul VI said, “I believe this show will bring more people around the world to Christianity, than anything ever has before.” There have been three Broadway revivals of Superstar and in 2018, a live version aired on NBC. Directors often put their own spin on the show; productions of the show are not always “set” in biblical times in ancient Galilee. I have actually seen a production of the show set in a seedy downtown nightclub, another set a thousand years in the future, and even a production set in outer space! The point is, this musical allows for a director to re-imagine how the story is presented to audiences.I’ve been a part of many productions of Jesus Christ Superstar (both as an actor and as director). From Broadway, to regional productions, to concert versions of the show, and ACT of CT’s upcoming production will truly represent the culmination of my years of experience with this musical; it is the version that I have always wanted to do. Our Jesus Christ Superstar cast is off the charts, with a wonderful mix of NYC Broadway actors (including TONY nominee Caitlin Kinnunen as Mary Magdalene), alongside a few local performers who left the craziness of NYC for a more peaceful life in Connecticut: Ridgefield’s own Randy Donaldson (a Broadway actor and now successful real estate agent at William Ravies) will play Herod, and Ridgefield’s Michael McGuirk (another successful NYC actor and real estate agent at Sotheby’s) will play Pilate. I don’t want to give too much away about my concept for our production of the show, but I will say that I am a bit obsessed with Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and I am interested in exploring subtle similarities between the biblical Galilee and the dystopian Gilead (Handmaid’s Tale fans will know what I mean!). As director of the musical, I am excited to tell this ancient story in an inventive manner that allows audiences to think about its relevance in our modern and often tempestuous world. •
