When Andrew Lloyd Weber's 1973 movie release of the controversial rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar hit the movie theaters I was in heaven. I had already seen the Broadway production (which prior to Cats! held the record for longest running show) and was eager to see if the film managed to upset my generations "Pharisees" as thoroughly as the stage production had.
Those of us well versed in our religion (even as we left Mother Church in droves) were fascinated by Weber's vision of "the greatest story ever told". Rather then getting one more puling image of a sweet-cheeked Christ put to death by the evil Pharisees, Weber delivered a story that examined the powerful political forces behind the death of Christ. Tim Neely, a man that looked like he had been hounded across the desert for the last three years due to his beliefs, blew away forever the nauseating Aryan Reich image of Christ my generation had grown up with. Carl Andersen's Judas struck a deep cord in us as he struggled with his love of Christ and his anger and rage for the endless numbers of suffering souls in his world that were not being healed by Christ's ministry.
The whole opera had an edgy darkness that was compelling to the masses of dissatisfied-with-lies Catholic youth of the time. JC SS was the inevitable response to the feel-good Love 'n' Sunshine productions of Hair and Godspell. It resonated with us because we, the generation of Korea and Viet Nam, knew how innocence could be ground up by political machinations.
So it was with some trepidation that my husband and I sat down to watch the revival of Jesus Christ Super Star (, 2001") on video. We were not amused.
Based on the 1998 London production, director Gale Edwards attempts to freshen and up-date the story. Instead all she managed to do was introduce a whining angst ridden tone, similar to everything I hated about Rent, that is so popular with the Gen X viewer.
Every performance is filled with unrelenting furor, anger and torment. Rather then communicating the passion inherent in the story, I was left just feeling boredom. "Oh, gee Judas is upset, oh gosh Christ is anguished, and that's different from two seconds ago!"
The apostles are a faceless boiling mob of arm pumping youths with sneers on their faces, spoiling for a fight. Jérôme Pradon's Judas swings between foaming at the mouth rage and whiny, eye-rolling petulance. By the time we get to the hanging scene all I could thing was, Thank God, he's dead."
And then there is Glenn Carter as Christ. His long blonde tresses and buff physique caused my husband to joking refer to the film as "Barbie Christ Super Star". It was disconcerting to have such a pretty Christ. Despite Carter's attempts to paste a holy expression of ethereal love on his face when he caressed Mary Magdalena's cheek, you got the sneaking suspicion that he was trying to peek down her tunic. He was just too earthy, too "of the flesh". He looked more like a man capable of running for Senate in Utah then a rebel heretic imbued with unearthly visions of God his Father.
The same could be said about the singing. Though Pradon's Judas starts out strong, by the time he gets to his defining moment before the Pharisees he is doing more sniveling and swaggering then struggling with the conflicting feelings of love and hate for Christ.
Maya Days sings the part of Mary Magdalene with a graceful conviction; it is unfortunate that the role is not meatier. Carter does a passable job at singing Christ, but he comes no where close to being able to produce the unearthly anguish demonstrated by Neely's original performance. Instead Carter tries to make up for it by twisted facial expressions, which often left me wondering if Jesus had a bad case of stomach cramps.
The mishmash of "modern" costuming left me cold. There did not seem to a creative vision that tied it all together. Rather it was like five costumer each picked there favorite "look" leaving us with Prussian uniforms, leather and denim clad Apostles and a Khaki Christ.
All in all, I was left feeling that Jesus Christ Super Star should have been left alone.
