Jesus Christ Superstar

On Friday evening I went to see the MIT Musical Theatre Guild's production of Jesus Christ Superstar. It featured MITGSP regular Betsy as Simon the Zealot, and Sally from The Mikado in the chorus.

The show doesn't exactly follow the gospel accounts: some of the members of the Friday evening Bible study expressed their distaste - not at me choosing to see the show, but at the show. I tend to disagree: when recounting Jesus' last days, one can't avoid coming up against some very interesting questions, and I think it is good that these are being asked in a different context from usual, even if the answers Rice and Lloyd Webber came up with are different from mine.

The show was set in a generic modern setting, probably an easier and safer option than attempting a period production. I'm not a particularly practised reviewer, but I'll try to describe my impressions, favourable and unfavourable.

I was pleased with the quality of the singing. I was worried that the chorus in particular might sound weak, unbalanced or out of tune, but in fact they performed admirably. The leads also seemed like they were very comfortable with their music: effortless isn't necessarily the adjective I want, but it did seem that they provided a solid foundation for the staging, not a distraction to the performers. I complained about microphone use in the last MTG show I saw, but I thought they were used reasonably well here. They're not claiming to be putting on an operatic show, so I don't have a problem with the microphones being used if they do improve the sound.

I wasn't particularly taken with Jesus' characterisation. He was obviously meant to be tired, but there wasn't enough evidence of the drive that inspired His ministry and led to the events portrayed. There seemed to be no motivation for the way He behaved during His final week, and if the story were not so well known we really wouldn't understand what He was thinking.

I think this also weakened Judas' ability to provide a convincing, coherent character. I know the show attempts to treat Judas more favourably than traditional accounts, and if we understand the difference between the passion to improve people's lives at the beginning of Jesus and His disciples' ministry, with the dangerous situation the priests successfully portray in Jerusalem with the Romans, we can have some sympathy with Judas. Without that contrast, he just looked either jealous or paranoid.

I thought the crowd had its ups and downs. They were powerful and effective on Jesus' side during Hosanna (which, thanks to Fenner Hall's 2005 musical, I still think of as Ho Fenner), and obviously angry during the trial, but the turning point wasn't really seen.

The title song was an interesting experience. It felt like the director didn't even try to fit it into the context of the show: it was just a star vehicle for Judas at the end. What was attempted was done very well (it got huge cheers, although there was a particular reason for that, which I will explain later), but I didn't feel like a fairy-wing-sporting, hip-twitching number was what I needed between the trial and the crucifixion.

On talking to Betsy after the show, I found out that I had come on the drinking game evening. I had noticed that the crowd was very responsive, but thought I had just come on the same evening as lots of friends of performers. I discovered that their sheet of rules told them they had to drink every time Jesus' name was mentioned, or Judas wiggled his hips, or Simon dealt drugs. I did enjoy the enthusiasm, but felt it went a little far at a couple of points (eg. the hollering when Jesus and Judas were facing off over Jesus' attitude to Mary Magdalene, or when Jesus and Mary Magdalene kissed).

In summary, I thought it was an enjoyable show, but one that could just have easily been a fictional story about no-one in particular as a depiction of Christ's last days.