I love "Superstar." I have loved it in all its iterations--play, movie, record--I love the music and the libretto. "Cash on the nail." And the new material is as good; "Start again, please" is terrific.
Each brings its own qualities, the album of course emphasizes the music, the movie demands some dynamic, especially from Christ whose music is ironically simply not as good as the others. Following in the tradition of Milton, the bad guys always get the best lines.
The TV production on Easter Sunday was good but it would have been good with my eyes shut. It did bring some unique problems; one curiosity was that several guys on stage looked like they had new teeth. But the real problem is that, regardless of the setting, big topics need to be handled with care.
Dixon, from "Hamilton," played Judus and was terrific, the best I have seen. Everyone else plays him as a tortured, screaming guy; Dixon played him as thoughtful and worried. And he turned some elements: "You have murdered me" has always been angry; Dixon sang it with ironic surprise: "You have murdered ...me."
Bareilles played Mary Magdalane and I liked her. Some could think her bland but I think that was the result of the show's main problem: The frenetic staging. There was so many people running around screaming, jumping and falling that when Mary showed up, there seemed to be an ebb in the flow. Some mob scenes worked. The mob scene with the reporters, (" Have your friends proved at all worthwhile?"), was quite good but generally they and their energy drew an inordinate amount of attention and often drowned people out. Pilate was particularly hard to hear and the lines and music should be the priority here. There was a "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" element here, where the main character was peripheral.
That said, the ancillaries who are so important, were very good: --I liked Ben Daniels as Pilate, Erik Gronwall was a good Simon Zealotes--another great part that was hard to hear, Jin Ha as Annas was particularly smarmy and Norm Lewis a threatening Caiaphas although he could not quite get to that malignant low note.
I was disappointed in Legend as Christ, who seemed a balladeer among rockers; the part needs some punch. Alice Cooper was surprisingly good as Herod...but it was a bit too cute for me.
The audience was a wild card and I thought they were distracting. The ending was very clever.
Generally I enjoyed the whole event.
Each brings its own qualities, the album of course emphasizes the music, the movie demands some dynamic, especially from Christ whose music is ironically simply not as good as the others. Following in the tradition of Milton, the bad guys always get the best lines.
The TV production on Easter Sunday was good but it would have been good with my eyes shut. It did bring some unique problems; one curiosity was that several guys on stage looked like they had new teeth. But the real problem is that, regardless of the setting, big topics need to be handled with care.
Dixon, from "Hamilton," played Judus and was terrific, the best I have seen. Everyone else plays him as a tortured, screaming guy; Dixon played him as thoughtful and worried. And he turned some elements: "You have murdered me" has always been angry; Dixon sang it with ironic surprise: "You have murdered ...me."
Bareilles played Mary Magdalane and I liked her. Some could think her bland but I think that was the result of the show's main problem: The frenetic staging. There was so many people running around screaming, jumping and falling that when Mary showed up, there seemed to be an ebb in the flow. Some mob scenes worked. The mob scene with the reporters, (" Have your friends proved at all worthwhile?"), was quite good but generally they and their energy drew an inordinate amount of attention and often drowned people out. Pilate was particularly hard to hear and the lines and music should be the priority here. There was a "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" element here, where the main character was peripheral.
That said, the ancillaries who are so important, were very good: --I liked Ben Daniels as Pilate, Erik Gronwall was a good Simon Zealotes--another great part that was hard to hear, Jin Ha as Annas was particularly smarmy and Norm Lewis a threatening Caiaphas although he could not quite get to that malignant low note.
I was disappointed in Legend as Christ, who seemed a balladeer among rockers; the part needs some punch. Alice Cooper was surprisingly good as Herod...but it was a bit too cute for me.
The audience was a wild card and I thought they were distracting. The ending was very clever.
Generally I enjoyed the whole event.
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