The Belting of Broadway, or “the Score will drown you out”

One acts, the other other doesn't

The current production of Jesus Christ Superstar ends its run on Broadway this week. It lasted just a bit more than three months so certainly costs its producers a ton of money. I saw it last night.

To mount a great production of Hamlet, you need an actor capable of coming unglued as the contemplative Dane; a King Lear without a great Lear is just an overlong family drama; Medea without a capable actress – Zoe Caldwell, say – who can make us care about the worst mother of all time – is just a family slasher story.  You see where I’m going with this.

JCS without a believe-in-me Jesus just doesn’t cut it. The current production’s “star,” Paul Nolan, walks through this high-energy show as if he’d already had his run-in with that tree. Although it’s Judas who actually comes back from the dead to sing one more time, it’s Jesus who acts the zombie – and no, not in a fun way. Jesus Christ, Somnambulist might have been a better name for this production.

Which is a shame – and jarring when you contemplate the overall energy level – and decibels – of the show around him. It has a lot going for it: a shiny, metallic rock concert set; those hyper-energized apostles and townspeople cavorting, twirling and tumbling across the stage; and a lovely and affecting performance by Chilina Kennedy as Mary Magdalene.

And it has Josh Young as Judas. Though it’s Jesus’s show, Judas has always been the real star of this early Andrew Lloyd-Webber/Tim Rice vehicle. And how Young does shine. He’s beautiful and talented and has quite a set of lungs.

Those lungs though, along with his director’s direction, are a problem.

I’ve never watched American Idol, or any of the other TV talent shows, but I’ve come to blame them for what I’ve named the “belting of Broadway.” Songs are no longer sung. They’re belted. From the YouTube clips I’ve seen, this is what works on TV, so producers, catering to an audience which most nights of the year are glued to their televisions, have decided this is what works on the great white way.

And they’re right, I’m afraid. It works. The audience last night ate it up. They roared their approval. They jumped to their feet at the final curtain.

But it doesn’t work, does it? Else Jesus Christ Superstar wouldn’t be closing so soon. I have a feeling that a lot of those people who were screaming last night were telling their cubicle mates today that it was good, but not great. “And that Jesus? Jesus, he couldn’t act.”

As the house lights dimmed we heard the usual “shut off your cell phones” message, but this one cleverly went on to say “you can open your hard candies anytime you want; the score will drown you out". 

Truth in advertising, that.

This was one loud group of first century Judeans. I’m a rock and roller, and I love this score, so it was ok by me that it was so loud. But it would have also been ok had it been a bit less loud. (The show’s web site carries this advisory: “Please be aware that the music may be amplified to a degree that some patrons might find uncomfortable.”) A bit lower volume would’ve certainly meant that more people would have understood more of the lyrics.

Finally, there’s the always-present problem with this show. How do you stage the horrible execution of the world’s most famous prisoner at the end of a high-energy, feel-good rock opera? In this version we have the aforementioned back-from-the-grave – with a stop at Polyesters ‘R’ Us – Judas, belting out the title number while Jesus ascends to meet his descending cross. Hit the last note, cue the lights, flood the stage with a million-candle power and – the audience goes crazy. It's a show-stopper, and that's exactly what happens. The show stops, Judas holds his preen and Jesus hangs on his cross. While the audience goes nuts.

It’s weird. Truly weird. I looked at the crowd and thought “surely, some of you are Christians. What exactly are you so rapturously applauding?”

Very strange.

Believe it or not though, I’m glad I went. I love this music. I remember clearly my friend Chuck bringing over the original concept album and the two of us sitting transfixed on the floor. We had never heard anything like it. For all its problems, this short-lived production at least allowed me to close my eyes and remember 1970.