I watched a Great Performances of Jesus Christ Superstar on PBS last night. It was interesting to get a new perspective on it. The musical first came out when I was a teenager and I loved it then, but my father was offended by it. Typical teen, I dismissed him as an old fuddy duddy who just didn't like rock'n'roll and "didn't understand".
Looking at it as an adult with a better understanding of my father's deeply held and lived religious convictions, I can now see why he didn't like Jesus Christ Superstar. It really focuses more on Judas and why he did what he did instead of on Jesus. It paints Jesus as a bit of an ineffective namby pamby. Also, it stops with the Crucifixion, never going on to the Ressurection. Without the Resurrection, the Crucifixion is kinda pointless.
I still liked it and feel that having a look at Judas is not necessarily a bad thing. This production sort of morphed the Moneychangers at the Temple into a general greed-sex-mony-loving commentary. It dressed the Romans and the Pharasees in costumes reminiscent of Nazis or Darth Vader. Harrod was portrayed like a Las Vegas lounge singer. The scene with the sick and beggars was very well-done. You got a real sense of Jesus trying to reach out and heal everyone and then being overwhelmed. (That's another thing that would have offended my Dad, as I'm sure that he wouldn't have believed that Jesus said "heal yourselves!" because He was overwhelmed.)
Anyway, it was interesting to see it again in a new production and through eyes that now have a more broadened perspective than the teen I used to be.
