BWW Q&A: Donald Rice on JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR at The REV Theatre Company

Stepping into the director’s chair for the first time at the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in over four decades, London-based writer, producer, and filmmaker Donald Rice brings his cinematic eye and deep reverence for rock opera to The REV’s production of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. With a repertoire that spans Academy Award-longlisted shorts, feature films, and acclaimed London and BBC Television events, Rice reunites with the work that first blew his teenage mind. In this conversation, he reveals how his background in filmmaking shaped his theatrical vision, why he’s determined to foreground the show’s raw rock energy, and what he hopes audiences will discover when this timeless classic returns to Western New York stages in 2025.

A timeless and iconic classic, this beloved rock opera is set against the backdrop of an extraordinary and universally known series of events but seen through the eyes of Judas Iscariot. Loosely based on the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR follows the last week of Jesus Christ’s life. With a soaring and spectacular soundtrack by the legendary team of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR continues to resonate as it moves and thrills audiences across the world. Returning to the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse stage for the first time in 41 years, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR is the perfect show to kick off The REV’s 2025 season!

Donald Rice (Director) is a London-based writer, director, and producer. He previously collaborated on From Here to Eternity, which The REV premiered and produced in 2016. He and Bill Oakes wrote the musical’s book, which features music by Stuart Brayson and lyrics by Tim Rice. Additional credits include the feature film, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding (with Mary Henely Magill) and the award-winning short films “I Am Bob” (starring Bob Geldof, long-listed for an Academy Award) and “Traffic Warden” (starring David Tennant). He produced Blondel at Union Theatre and Tim Rice: A Life In Song at Royal Festival Hall for BBC Television. He is currently adapting Eva Rice’s novel The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets for Moonage Pictures and is producing the comedy play Sherlock Holmes and the Twelve Days of Christmas, which opens in Birmingham Rep Theatre, England, in November.

What inspired you to start your career in theatre and direction?

Movies! I started my career on film sets and made some short films as writer and director. When I first started working in the theatre it was making promo videos for shows and I found I enjoyed the longer and deeper collaborative process of theatre. So it was a gradual process of discovery. I would love to return to filmmaking one day but working in the theatre has been hugely rewarding.

How does it feel to be directing a production of Jesus Christ Superstar, a show that has such a significant history within your family?

It has been tremendously exciting. The show is 50 years old but it’s still fresh, thrilling, dynamic and dangerous - it’s even better than I thought it was. I discovered it when I was a teenager - I really hadn’t ever listened to it before then - and it blew my mind. I couldn’t believe the richness of Andrew’s work, the beauty of the tunes and the brilliance of the story-telling. For my family, it’s the show we are probably always most happy to sit through again and again.

As a London-based director, how does your perspective inform your approach to this American production of Jesus Christ Superstar?

I think JCS is a director’s dream because there is no definitive way to approach it. There have been many great productions - the recent US tour which was derived from Tim Sheader’s production at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park was brilliant - but by and large directors feel they have a free hand. There are no ghosts of great productions hanging over this show like there can be with other land-mark musicals. The really exciting thing is doing it with talented young people - this is a young person's show - and it’s especially thrilling to be doing it in the country which discovered it first. The album was number 1 here in 1971, before it had been staged anywhere at all.

How do you plan to balance the musical theatre elements and rock music aspects in this production?

I plan to remove as many musical theatre elements as possible! Which isn’t hard because there basically aren’t any. There is no dialogue, the directions in the libretto can be counted on one hand - there aren’t even many props. That’s not to say there aren’t moments of pure musical theatre gold - Pilate condemning Jesus is high drama, and Andrew's melodies in Superstar are as good as anything by Rogers & Hammerstein - but it is emphatically a rock opera. I think it shares some DNA with Hair, West Side Story and Hamilton but there is nothing really like it in the entire canon of musical theatre.

How does your experience as a writer and producer influence your work as a director, particularly for this production of Jesus Christ Superstar?

Directing is never easy but the basics are simple - it's about communication and trust. If you know what you want - and you’ve got to hope that no director sets off without knowing what they want - then it becomes a question of communication. The cast and crew want to trust you - that’s all - and once they do they can do a great job. I’m not saying it’s easy - it really isn’t - but the principles are simple.

How do you hope this production of Jesus Christ Superstar will impact audiences and what do you want them to take away from it?