Jesus Christ Superstar is a 1970 rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started as a rock opera concept album before its Broadway debut in 1971. The musical is sung-through, with no spoken dialogue. The story is loosely based on the Gospels’ accounts of the last week of Jesus’s life, beginning with the preparation for the arrival of Jesus and his disciples in Jerusalem and ending with the crucifixion. It highlights political and interpersonal struggles between Judas Iscariot and Jesus that are not present in the Bible narratives. The work’s depiction offers a free interpretation of the psychology of Jesus and the other characters. A large part of the plot focuses on the character of Judas, who is depicted as a tragic figure dissatisfied with the direction in which Jesus steers his disciples. Contemporary attitudes and sensibilities, as well as slang, pervade the lyrics, and ironic allusions to modern life are scattered throughout the depiction of political events. Stage and film productions accordingly feature many intentional anachronisms. (More from Wikipedia)
Early in my freshman year in college, a friend of mine in the dorm told me about the single “Superstar”. I was used to only the most reverent language being used when talking about Jesus; but even considering that Judas Iscariot is the one singing, and despite the frequent protests about “don’t get me wrong”, the lyrics were startling to me:
Every time I look at you
I don’t understand
Why you let the things you did
Get so out of hand . . .
Did you mean to die like that?
Was that a mistake or
Did you know your messy death
Would be a record breaker? . . .
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ Who are you?
What have you sacrificed?
Jesus Christ
Superstar
Do you think you’re what they say you are?
From the beginning, Jesus Christ Superstar was conceived for the stage by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice – just 21 and 25 years old at the time, respectively – but in order to raise money for the ambitious and undoubtedly controversial theatrical production, they decided to record the album first.
“Superstar”, with lead vocals by Murray Head, was released in late 1969 before the album Jesus Christ Superstar was even completed, much to the chagrin of MCA Records. (Head later recorded the main single from another Tim Rice production, Chess, called “One Night in Bangkok”, which came out in 1975). Another single from the album, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” – sung by Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene – was also a big hit.
Ian Gillan, the lead singer of Deep Purple sang the part of Jesus on the album. In addition to Gillan, the presence of rock session musicians like guitarists Neil Hubbard and Chris Spedding, bassist Alan Spenner and drummer Bruce Rowland gives the album more of a rock flavor than most of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s later work.
Jesus Christ Superstar was frequently criticized for not showing the Resurrection; but actually, the album has the format of a traditional Passion Play, ending abruptly after Jesus’ final words on the Cross.
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After a few authorized and unauthorized stage performances elsewhere, Jesus Christ Superstar opened on Broadway in October 1971 to mixed reviews, with Jeff Fenholt as Jesus and Ben Vereen as Judas. The musical has since been revived many times and is regularly performed throughout the world. The Christian Church was slow in its acceptance of Jesus Christ Superstar, but it has become a popular Easter-time production in churches of all sizes.
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Though it was written at a later time, Godspell actually beat Jesus Christ Superstar to the stage, opening in May 1971 at a tiny off-off-Broadway theatre and gradually building up a following until ultimately reaching Broadway in 1976.
William Ruhlmann, writing for Allmusic contrasts the two best known Christian musicals: “Though Godspell could be thought of as copying Jesus Christ Superstar, there was a crucial difference in viewpoint between the two works – Superstar was a skeptical, secular look at Jesus, while Godspell was devout, merely updating and musicalizing Christ’s story.”
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In a nod to Superstar, the character of Jesus is wearing a Superman shirt during the film version of Godspell.
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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is another Biblically themed musical created by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and is the first of their productions to be presented publicly, predating Jesus Christ Superstar by several years.
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The less reverent tone of Jesus Christ Superstar heralded a more casual attitude toward the Bible and Christianity in popular music during the 1970’s that has accelerated somewhat since that time. Although there are a handful of rock songs having a mocking tone – “Dear God” by XTC and the Bed of Eyes song “Smart Religion” (“. . . is no religion”) from their album Crimp in the Facts are the only two that come to mind in my own collection – I see it mostly in band names.
(October 2014)
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