SAN DIEGO — When Jesus Christ Superstar -a rock opera about the passion story by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice – first came on the scene in 1970, it was not without controversy. How could one use “the Devil’s music” to tell “the greatest story ever told”? So the show was originally produced as a concept album because producers just didn’t want to touch it.
The scenic design by Tom Scutt is a construction site with bare girders –possibly for downtown condos that few of us can actually afford. And just as many churches have foregone traditional pipe organs and choirs, the traditional orchestra hidden in the pit has been traded in for a rock band incorporated into the set.
Scutt’s costumes have left behind the colorful hippie tie-dyes for today’s street look with loose hoodies, muscle shirts and skinny jeans. Likewise, Drew McOnie’s dance choreography is today’s high-energy hip-hop with leaps, spins, stops and karate kicks. But I don’t know about the bare heads and chests of the Sanhedrin. Somewhere along the way, they forgot that this story is about Jews in first century Israel.
The score has echoes of Jimi Hendrix in the electric guitar and some sax work that really rocks the house. The crucifixion is accompanied by frenetic bebop jazz akin to Thelonius Monk. They kept that rock concert feel by giving the actors hand-held mics and three “Soul Girls” singing backup.
Then there are soft moments of folk music such as when Mary Magdalene is trying to soothe a stressed out Jesus. Jenna Rubaii has a voice that washes over us like a warm, lavender scented bath. Her love for him is more than a disciple’s to her rabbi. She loves him as a woman to a man, but fears her affection will not be returned.
Caiaphas (Alvin Crawford) intoned with a deep baritone that made his presence that much more ominous. His depth was counter-balanced by Annas (Tyce Green) who reached high notes with ear-piercing shries worthy of Led Zeppelin. Simon the Zealot (Eric A Lewis) sang with the vibrant passion of a spirit filled -blow the roof off the church- black gospel inspiring the kind of infectious hope that makes you shout “Amen!”
A very cynical and sinister Pontius Pilate (Tommy Sherlock) had a goth thing going, clad from head to toe in black with heavy eye-liner and a Roman garland tattooed onto the sides of his head. His rock is weighted with the heavy percussion of anger. By contrast Herod (Paul Louis Lessard) was a flamboyantly arrayed in gold lamé like a mockingly playful Elton John.
Aaron LaVigne in the title role seemed to fall just short. As a singer, he hit all of the right notes, but he’s playing a man who knows that he’s living the last week of his life before an excruciating and unjust execution. The height of his passion and the depth of his despair just didn’t go as far as they needed to.
But the one who absolutely nailed it was James Delisco Beeks as Judas. More than a conniving traitor to be forever chewed like gum in the mouth of Satan (ref: Dante’s Inferno), Judas is a man deeply conflicted. Initially enamored of his wonder-working rabbi, he now sees some disturbing trends developing.
And all the good you’ve done will soon be swept away.
You’ve begun to matter more than the things you say.
If this trend continues, later disciples could use the name of the man who healed and taught the masses to justify denying working people affordable healthcare and education. What a shondeh that would be!
Jesus Christ Superstar is playing at the Civic Theatre through Nov. 17.
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Eric George Tauber is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com