All Female JCS production

[antonijan]

Ray of Light Theatre in SF is doing a mostly female (if not all) cast for JCS and I am kinda not feeling it but would still see it to see what creative interpretations they come up with and have an open mind.

Anybody seen any female Jesus in JCS? Seems like it is miscast

I still hope ROTL does "Rent" but they have been doing more cutting edge approach lately with more competition in SF theatre scene.

 

http://rayoflighttheatre.com/jesus-christ-superstar-cast/

http://rayoflighttheatre.com/jesus-christ-superstar-cast/
 

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Actually, not only was this done high-profile on the East Coast at the beginning of last year, but a cast recording is forthcoming. The University of Utah did one as well this past fall/winter, so it would seem the New York company has kicked off a minor trend. (Which is not to diminish anyone who wants to go all-female with this, just that -- at least in my view -- it's only a trend until the number of productions are in the double digits.)

[antonijan]

Thanks for sharing ths link and good do know about the history of this practice...and kudos to more female roles and female empowerment in the 21st century!

[tourboi]

Not REALLY the first time a woman's played Jesus.

 The Indigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily Sailers were Jesus and Mary respectively in a semi-staged concert version of the show in Atlanta back in the 90's that toured to a few cities. 

It was re-orchestrated to be a mostly guitar led sound, and the Overture is incredible. 

Amy, imho, turns in one of the best Jesus performances I've heard. It issued a cast recording and video on VHS. 

The promo materials I've read for the ROL production do read as if they're the first but that's simply not the case, and is kind of misleading. It's happened a few times since Amy and Emily did theirs. 

[xoffender45]

Not to mention the all-female concert held in 2016 (17?) here in New York. Morgan James as Jesus, Shoshana Bean as Judas, Alex Newell as Mary Magdalene, Orfeh as Pilate, Ann Harada as Herod

 

edit: sorry, didn’t realize it was mentioned above or that there’s a recording coming. Awesome news! It was spectacular