Jesus Christ Superstar - The Muny

The question the Apostles should ask, more appropriately, is: “Why the buzz? Tell me, what’s the hype about?”

From the opening notes of the orchestra’s overture, you know there’s something wrong here. I’m not talking about the biblical inaccuracies that populate the book; those are worth discussing somewhere else. The bass is too loud sometimes, and the electric guitar too faint. Also, too often all we hear is a drum set and the guitars. Don’t we have a full orchestra down there? Those not familiar with Webber’s score could miss what’s going on in the pit if they’re not paying close attention.

Since the ear is left out on a limb (so to speak), there is instead plenty to distract the eye. There are cheesy dances with the dance ensemble and the teens. Honestly I’m pretty sure that I’ve never seen a bunch of gayer guys than the apostles. They even have the Fab Five beat. Peter – you know, the violent one that cuts a guy’s ear off – couldn’t wield a sword, much less a prop knife, to save his soul. His three denials of Jesus are understandable, however, in this production, in a completely different perspective: he’s a sissy. And this guy’s The Rock? More like sand.

The dances are pretty minimal – which, I’m sad to say, is good. Two songs really have a dance with them: “Simon Zealots” and “Superstar.” The Zealots song is pretty good. The choreographer got the kids out of the way by putting them on the back of the scaffolding/set so that the adult chorus could dance. I personally feel that the Muny’s stronghold is in its dance, and it comes through in this number.

That being said, “Superstar” doesn’t follow up. To summarize: Judas is getting jiggy with the teen angels. I never saw so many angels shake their ta-tas or bump and grind. Heaven must be one groovin’ place – and Jesus quite the party animal – if this is what it’s like.

Speaking of Judas: who’s bright idea is it to always cast that role to a minority? First it was a black guy. Now it’s an Asian? Tisk, tisk. With my tongue in my cheek, I’d like to say that non-traditional casting gives us some strange ensembles sometimes. Also, his death is pretty lame: the lights go off and he runs into a tunnel in the set. Was there really no more creative way to kill him? No loose to hang him? Something?

Mary Magdalene (Andrea Burns) has a beautiful voice, but she leaves me questioning her character and her delivery. Where’s her emotion, her struggle, her internal fight? Ms. Burns has a wonderful tone but her delivery is better for a review than a character part.

Jesus – played by Eric Kunze – is pretty hit-or-miss. He’s got the love-your-fellow-man thing down pretty well (haha) and he gets most of Jesus’ struggle out during “Gethsemane” but other times he doesn’t transition emotions well (at the Temple, for example). A firm mastery of beats is important here.

Really, the most consistently played characters are those we shouldn’t like – Caiaphas, Annas, Pontius Pilate, and King Herod. They also don’t have much of a character arc either, so I suppose it’s doesn’t make their performances more nuanced anyway.

There are other little things that seem silly to have. For instance, the Temple Maid, played by Judith Newmark’s daughter, is completely unnecessary. Why have her at all? All she does is go around the priests as they talk, swinging incense. Quite inconsequential to the plot. Also, the sandals the men wore: c’mon. Buy jazz sandals or something. Consider it an investment. Furthermore, the Roman soldier’s costumes looked S&M: leather straps across the chest and capes. Was that the look that they were going for, for the guys who whip and kill Jesus? It’s just another of the many things that will leave the audience thinking, “well that was interesting!”