Jesus Christ Superstar - 1972 - West End Articles Page 9

Musicals get a bad rap. Although they are by far the most popular of all theatrical genres, many people still look down on the musical form as the illegitimate offspring of drama, comedy, opera and operetta. How often have we heard some seemingly sophisticated theatregoer say, 'I just don't like musicals -- they are trite and silly and then characters break into song,' as if that were a bad thing?

Columbus Children's Theatre (CCT) celebrated 50 years of live theatre on Sunday, September 22, 2013 with an incredible lineup of accomplished alumni, along with current casts, board members, and other featured guests. Performing were Josh Radnor of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, Jessica Grove, Mike Milligan, Steve Boyer, Kristin Reitter, Valerie Accetta, Dionysia Williams, Camille Mancuso, Cherish Myers, Ryan Scarlata, Molly Camp, Jake Borelli, and the current casts of THE LITTLE MERMAID JR and SHREK THE MUSICAL.

The world premiere of the highly anticipated new musical ALL OUT OF LOVE will be staged in Perth and then Singapore in 2014! ALL OUT OF LOVE features the classic songs of Air Supply, one of the world's most successful and enduring bands, with over 80 million album sales worldwide, and an original script skilfully woven into a new love story by award winning Canadian playwright Jim Millan, ALL OUT OF LOVE is poised to be one of musical theatres next hit shows.

La Jolla Playhouse announces the cast and creative team for His Girl Friday, adapted by John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation, House of Blue Leaves) from the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play The Front Page and the Columbia Pictures film His Girl Friday. Directed by Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley (Glengarry Glen Ross, Memphis), the production will kick off the 2013/2014 season, running May 28 - June 30 in the Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre.

The Muhlenberg Summer Music Theatre festival at Muhlenberg College announces the lineup for its 2013 summer season - the 33rd in the festival's history. The season will feature "Crazy for You," the musical based on the music of George and Ira Gershwin; Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar"; and Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's "Seussical," the Dr. Seuss musical for young audiences.

La Jolla Playhouse announces the cast and creative team for His Girl Friday, adapted by John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation, House of Blue Leaves) from the Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play The Front Page and the Columbia Pictures film His Girl Friday. Directed by Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley (Glengarry Glen Ross, Memphis), the production will kick off the 2013/2014 season, running May 28 - June 30 in the Playhouse's Mandell Weiss Theatre.

Joining the previously announced Damian Williams as 'Tommy Cooper' are Morgan Deare as 'Billy Glason', Halcro Johnston as 'Miff Ferrie' and Rebecca Thorn as 'Mary Kay'.

Emerson Umbrella Center for Arts is gearing up for its spring season and a brand new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. The run opens tonight, March 29th and will play a limited engagement through April 14th.

As an undergraduate theater major in the early 1970s, I heard music everywhere. It seemed to pour out of every office and workspace around the department. (And in the LP era, if you wanted more than the radio, this meant schlepping a twenty pound record player and a dozen or so albums from your home to the campus, sometimes requiring back-and-forth trips from the car. If you go to that much trouble, you want to keep the music playing.) In the hushed costume shop with its quietly industrious all female staff, Broadway ruled, with Stephen Sondheim's recent Company and Follies in heavy rotation. It was 'men only' in the scene shop where I listened to male balladeers like James Taylor and Gordon Lightfoot while unhappily working off assigned crew hours. Jazz classes (my favorites) in the dance department were conducted to the pre-disco sounds of Isaac Hayes and the Temptations. And late night cast parties were never complete without spins of Bette Midler's first two albums.

Tony Award-winning stage and screen legend Ben Vereen is this year's Special Guest Star at ACADEMY AFFAIR 2013, the Annual Benefit and Community Awards Gala presented by MenAlive, the Orange County Gay Men's Chorus. The event takes place at the posh Center Club, located at the Garden Level of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Before Mr. Vereen arrived in Orange County to perform at the Benefit, he spoke with West Coast Contributing Editor Michael Lawrence Quintos about his blessed life and expansive career in the theater.

Emerson Umbrella Center for Arts is gearing up for its spring season and a brand new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. The run opens on March 29th and will play a limited engagement through April 14th.

Following a triumphant opening weekend at London's 02 Arena, the 21st century re-invention of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar" will be broadcast to select U.S. cinemas nationwide today, Oct. 29 and again on Thursday, Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. local time.

NCM Fathom Events, Omniverse Vision and The Broadway League present Jesus Christ Superstar UK Rock Spectacular in select movie theaters nationwide for two nights only on Monday, October 29 at 7:30 p.m. (local time) and Thursday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m. (local time). Seats are limited so get your tickets now!

The 21st century re-invention of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar will be broadcast to select U.S. cinemas nationwide on Monday, Oct. 29 and again on Thursday, Nov. 1 at 7:30 PM local time.

Following a triumphant opening weekend at London's 02 Arena, the 21st century re-invention of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar" will be broadcast to select U.S. cinemas nationwide on Monday, Oct. 29 and again on Thursday, Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. local time.

According to BBC News, the Russian city of Rostov's philharmonic has canceled a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar due to protests by Orthodox Christians.

Grease kicks off the second blockbuster Broadway musical series, tonight, Sept. 12 - Oct. 7, 2012 at the Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora.

The 5th Avenue Theatre is joining in the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the original stage version of Grease with an entertaining cinematic experience: Sing-a-Long-a Grease. Here's your chance to sport a pink wig or poodle skirt and belt out "Grease Lightning" at The 5th Avenue Theatre, at one of four screenings.

The 5th Avenue Theatre is joining in the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the original stage version of Grease with an entertaining cinematic experience: Sing-a-Long-a Grease. Here's your chance to sport a pink wig or poodle skirt and belt out "Grease Lightning" at The 5th Avenue Theatre, at one of four screenings.

Grease kicks off the second blockbuster Broadway musical series, Sept. 12 - Oct. 7, 2012 at the Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd. in downtown Aurora.

Homeless youth working towards brighter futures will get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform with Broadway stars at Covenant House's A Night of Broadway Stars gala tonight, June 12 on the stage of Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. A Night of Broadway Stars starts at 6:00 pm with a cocktail reception. The show begins at 7:30 pm, followed by a dessert reception with the stars.

Homeless youth working towards brighter futures will get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform with Broadway stars at Covenant House's A Night of Broadway Stars gala on Tuesday, June 12 on the stage of Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. A Night of Broadway Stars starts at 6:00 pm with a cocktail reception. The show begins at 7:30 pm, followed by a dessert reception with the stars.

In 2005 Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Theatres sold his four playhouses, the Lyric, Apollo, Garrick and Duchess theatres to Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer who formed Nimax Theatres Limited, adding the Vaudeville Theatre in 2008. Today Burns and Weitzenhoffer are also the proud owners of the spectacular Palace Theatre with its prime location on Shaftesbury Avenue, currently home to Stage Entertainment's hit revival of Chichester Festival Theatre's Singin' in the Rain.

A few days shy of the holiest week of the year for Christians - aptly named Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with Easter (with Holy Thursday and Good Friday, the most sacred events on the calendar coming between) - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's seminal rock opera JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR was resurrected on Broadway by TOMMY and JERSEY BOYS director Des McAnuff - modeled after the hit Stratford Shakespeare Festival production last year and comprised of many of the same cast members, including all three leads - to hails of praise and hosannas, mostly. While JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR itself will always divide audiences and critics alike - and not merely because of its controversial content and its button-pushing treatment of the hallowed tale it tells - the magnetism and sheer power that Lloyd Webber's propulsive, throbbing rock score imbues gives the show an energy, vitality and life rare to find in even the most earnestly effervescent and energetic of comparable entities - the recently revived and similarly-themed GODSPELL in a revival a few blocks away included. Then, there are Tim Rice's lyrics - oh-so-spot-on in 1970, but still biting and edgy today in McAnuff's hi-tech and elaborately presented new Broadway production. Using the book of John as the jumping off point, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR tells the story of the last seven days in the life of Jesus Christ (Paul Nolan) and his subsequent betrayal by Judas (Josh Young) and sentencing to death at the hands of King Herod and Pontius Pilate (Tom Hewitt). The twelve apostles, Mary Magdalene and her female companions, lepers, Pharisees, priests and others populate the grand story told almost entirely through song - the show is 90% music - and Webber and Rice's score never, ever lets up. While this may not be the most faithful rendering as far as the Bible is concerned, nor the most historically accurate, SUPERSTAR is now available to experience for a whole new generation thanks to this new revival and the timing could not be more ideal. The time is ripe for a revival of SUPERSTAR, and, as Andrew Lloyd Webber himself has recently related, this new production of the show is the best ever as far as he is concerned. High praise indeed - coming from no less than the Lord.

A careful look through the New Testament indicates that Jesus Christ liked to eat. In addition to the notable Last Supper, he dined at the home of Martha and Mary; grilled fish at the seashore; multiplied loaves and fishes; was a guest at a friend's wedding at Cana; and ate with friends on the road to Emmaus. After healing Peter's mother-in-law, she got up and prepared a meal for Him and His coterie. It's a small wonder then that Hunter Parris, who plays Jesus in the Broadway revival of GODSPELL, chooses to be interviewed over lunch at one of his favorite Chelsea eateries.