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jcs-study · 1 year ago

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Someone recently told me that British and American fans of JCS have different preferences and I’ve been thinking about that a lot. So what differences do you know of? If you’re American or British what is your reaction to American vs. British productions you’ve seen? What about the original album which has a mix of British and American artists working together? I’m American, but I realized I think of JCS as primarily a British show, so perhaps my preferences lean toward British.

This... is a fantastic question. I apologize that my answer is not nearly as brief.

I feel that Danny Zolli (who has frequently played the roles of Jesus, Judas, and Annas over the years) sums it up best in his interview for our website, referring to the 2000 Broadway revival:

The Broadway production was, in my opinion, a very English-style production of the show. American audiences don’t tend to respond to that very well. American audiences want their Jesus and Judas to be willing to cough up a lung for them in the course of the show. It’s called “the Passion” for a reason — there has to be passion within the actors and actresses performing the roles to give the story its justice.

Maybe my years of voracious JCS consumption have been colored by that opinion somewhat, but I would tend to agree that's the main difference. The next question is why.

Well... in America, the concept album took off like a rocket. It's an icon right up there with Sgt. Pepper in the minds of many people who lived through the era. Such classics as “Heaven on Their Minds,” “Everything’s Alright,” “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” and “Superstar” racked up frequent radio airplay in their own right. The show’s earliest live success here came in the form of a concert tour (three of them, actually, hastily assembled to beat an already enormous band of pirates), not a theatrical run. Moreover, those early stage productions -- and the 1973 film -- were not a vast departure from that initial sound: raw, imperfect, rough, a little primitive, like the best of classic rock.

Overseas, however, the album did not sell the show. In England, the show only became successful once it was running in the West End, at one point becoming the longest-running musical in British history; in many European countries, the show is remembered much more fondly because of the film or because of the first major premiere in their neck of the woods. (In Spain, for example, it is incredibly difficult to separate JCS from the fact that it began life there as a Camilo Sesto vehicle. He's the benchmark like Ted Neeley or Ian Gillan would be for many English-speaking fans, and they just did a Fosse/Verdon-like TV series about his production over there that was a smash.)

Consequently, when Andrew Lloyd Webber looked back on the show once he controlled the rights, he was able to try to make it more like his later work: acrylic slickness and polish, some adjustments to the orchestrations, some revised lyrics from Tim Rice. It was more about the acting and less about the music, more of a theater piece and less of a rock show, and he put a lot of time and effort into making it so, putting that stamp on the first West End revival in 1996 and each production that followed.

Without weighing in on which version I prefer, I'll simply say there's a distinct difference between major JCS productions before and after 1996 that owes much to ALW's influence, and that's probably what your friend is referring to.

#jesus christ superstar #andrew lloyd webber #tim rice #jcs #show questions #ted neeley #ian gillan #camilo sesto #danny zolli

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scotianostra · 9 months ago

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Happy Birthday Barbara Dickson, born September 27th 1947 in the Kingdom of Fife.

Dunfermline lass Dickson’s dad was a cook on a tugboat at Rosyth and Barbara says her mother, a housewife “ was a very good singer, although she didn’t work professionally.”

From an early age she admits she knew she could sing better than most people, but that didn’t have the confidence to do anything about it. Barbara learned the piano at five n then “slowly but surely how to play guitar. “Playing the pop hits of the time like Everly Brothers songs and Shadows hits.

Barbara loved The Beatles when they came along, and then, when she was 17 and started going to the local folk club, discovering the music of Bob Dylan as well as the traditional folk music.

In 1969, Dickson recorded an album, The Fate O’ Charlie, with Scottish folk singer Archie Fisher, her first solo album, Do Right Woman, came out in 1970. Her career changed course after she met playwright Willy Russell who invited her to Liverpool to sing Beatles songs in his musical John, Paul, George, Ringo… and Bert. Robert Stigwood produced the show and signed her to his RSO record label.

In 1976 her single Answer Me went Top 10, this led to her being resident guest singer on the BBC Comedy show The Two Ronnies.

In 1977 Barbara released Another Suitcase In Another Hall, which Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice they had asked her to sing for Evita but wasn’t in the show, just on the cast album. Next came a children’s album with Ringo Starr called Scouse The Mouse and her hit January February in 1980 became one of her biggest hits around the world.

Dickson appeared in the musical Blood Brothers in 1982, when she acted for the first time. In 1984 she hit the top of the charts in a duet with Elaine Paige, I Know Him So Well, written by Benny Andersson of Abba. It was very much of its time; a 1980s power ballad, slightly overblown, she had the hair and the big shoulders which makes me think that the version of The Skye Boat Song was around the same time.

Dickson is married to Oliver Cookson who works as an Assistant Director in television for the BBC, and has three sons. She and her family live in Edinburgh.

It’s always tough when I get to this part of posts regarding singers as I have to choose what song to post, that’s not to say I don’t enjoy reacquainting myself with some cracking songs and with Barbara being in the business for over 50 years there is no shortage to pick from.

In 2022 our songstress toured with pianist Nick Holland they will perform a wonderful range of material drawing on Barbara’s folk roots, contemporary greats and some of her classic hits.

Now in her 77th year Barbara is still working hard and tiouring the UK agai. As well as dates down south you can catch her in Dundee, Greenock, Crieff, Edinburgh and Livingston next month, a live album was also released two weeks ago.

#scotland #scottish #history #singer #actress #entertainer #happy birthday #Youtube

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jules-has-notes · 2 years ago

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Aca Top 10: Broadway — VoicePlay music video

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VoicePlay have a reputation as the theater kids of the a cappella world. So it should come as no surprise that the second entry in their "Aca Top 10" series is a countdown of songs from Broadway musicals, and that they made it entertaining as all get-out.

Details:

title: Aca Top 10 – Broadway

original songs: "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist" from Avenue Q; [0:27] "Sherry" from Jersey Boys; [0:45] "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast; [1:07] "Seasons of Love" from Rent; [1:26] "Master of the House" from Les Miserables; [1:43] "All That Jazz" from Chicago; [2:03] "He Lives In You" from The Lion King; [2:19] "Popular" from Wicked; [2:43] gentle mockery of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark; [2:45] "Phantom of the Opera" from Phantom of the Opera; [3:10] "Hello!" from The Book of Mormon

written by: "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist" by Robert Lopez & Jeff Marx; "Sherry" by Bob Gaudio; "Belle" by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, & Tim Rice; "Seasons of Love" by Jonathan Larson; "Master of the House" by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, & Jean-Marc Natel; "All That Jazz" by John Kander & Fred Ebb; "He Lives In You" by Lebohang "Lebo M" Morake, Mark Mancina, & Jay Rifkin; "Popular" by Stephen Schwartz; "Phantom of the Opera" by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart, Richard Stilgoe, & Mike Batt; "Hello!" by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, & Robert Lopez

arranged by: Layne Stein & Geoff Castellucci

release date: 17 September 2014

My favorite bits:

starting with just Geoff and Layne, then revealing the others by raising dropping the curtain

Puppets! And puppet violence!

Geoff lowkey doing the "Sherry" choreography from their boy bands medley, and Tony playing to the camera

Earl's adorable cartoon-y giggle

singing Belle's name on a bell chord, nice

getting double duty from the Book of Mormon by using it as Belle's ♫ "a-MAAA-zing" ♫ book

✨ ::jazz hands:: ✨

the sudden ~drama~ when they start "Phantom"

and the sudden lack of drama when they jump into "Hello!"

Layne's utter delight at getting to poke his finger through the doorbell drawing on the sign

the bloopers from Earl's outro spiel

Trivia:

○ Several of these songs have appeared in later VoicePlay videos:

Based on feedback to this video, they recorded a full version of "Phantom of the Opera" with Rachel Potter just over a year later.

They partnered with L.A.-based singer AJ Rafael for a beautiful rendition of "Seasons of Love" in early 2017.

"Popular" was, of course, included in their epic 2022 Wicked medley with Emoni WIlkins and Rachel Potter.

○ Friend and frequent collaborator Rachel Potter had understudied Glinda in the second national tour of Wicked.

○ They have since done a few collaborations with John Pinto Jr., a longtime cast member in The Book of Mormon both on Broadway and in the touring company.

○ This medley was included in their setlist for the 2015 Sing-Off tour.

○ The video got a nice feature article on Broadway World.

○ It also received several nice responses from friends and some of the shows.

#VoicePlay #music video #music medley #a cappella #live recording #Broadway musicals #music #video #series: Aca Top 10

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limosthings · 1 year ago

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[gdlr_space height="20px"] [gdlr_skill_bar percent="100" size="medium" text_color="#ffffff" background_color="#e9e9e9" progress_color="#a9e16e"]The Phantom of the Opera[/gdlr_skill_bar] Experience the magic of Andrew Lloyd Webber's timeless masterpiece, "The Phantom of the Opera," on Broadway. This iconic musical tells the haunting tale of a mysterious masked figure who lurks beneath the Paris Opera House, captivating audiences with its sweeping score, lavish sets, and unforgettable performances. From the mesmerizing chandelier descent to the haunting strains of "Music of the Night," "The Phantom of the Opera" is a must-see Broadway show that continues to enchant audiences worldwide. Hamilton Immerse yourself in the revolutionary spirit of "Hamilton," Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking musical phenomenon that has taken the world by storm. Inspired by the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton, this Tony Award-winning production blends hip-hop, jazz, and traditional Broadway melodies to tell the story of America's founding in a fresh and innovative way. With its diverse cast, dynamic choreography, and powerful storytelling, "Hamilton" has become a cultural phenomenon and a must-see Broadway show for audiences of all ages. Wicked Discover the untold story of the witches of Oz in "Wicked," the beloved Broadway musical that has captivated audiences for over a decade. Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, "Wicked" transports audiences to the magical land of Oz, where the unlikely friendship between Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, defies expectations and changes the course of history. With its stunning visuals, soaring musical numbers, and powerful themes of friendship and acceptance, "Wicked" continues to cast its spell on audiences around the world. The Lion King Journey to the Pride Lands and experience the awe-inspiring spectacle of Disney's "The Lion King" on Broadway. Adapted from the beloved animated film, this Tony Award-winning musical brings the story of Simba, the lion cub destined to become king, to life with breathtaking puppetry, vibrant costumes, and unforgettable songs by Elton John and Tim Rice. From the iconic opening number "Circle of Life" to the triumphant finale, "The Lion King" is a theatrical extravaganza that delights audiences of all ages with its timeless tale of love, loss, and redemption. Dear Evan Hansen Explore the complexities of adolescence and the power of human connection in "Dear Evan Hansen," the Tony Award-winning musical that has touched hearts around the world. With its poignant story, memorable score, and powerhouse performances, "Dear Evan Hansen" follows the journey of a socially anxious teenager who finds himself thrust into the spotlight after a tragic event. As Evan navigates newfound fame and wrestles with his own insecurities, audiences are taken on an emotional rollercoaster that explores themes of loneliness, acceptance, and the search for identity. Don't miss the chance to experience the power of "Dear Evan Hansen" live on Broadway. Contact BUBZ Limos NYC Today

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starmaniamania · 2 years ago

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Starmania/Tycoon

I found some old articles about the Tycoon project that I thought you would appreciate, @wildishmazz! There's not really anything comprehensive but I think it shows a little bit of how it went down.

As soon as July 1990, the Daily Mail wrote : "Master song writer Tim Rice is behind a new £1.5m rock opera that will open in London in the spring. He has translated and adapted Starmania - sweeping score by Michel Berger and original lyrics by Luc Plamondon - based on a French show about a Donald Trump-type tycoon who wants his corporation to control the globe."

Back then it said he already had a producer (David Land) and director (Frank Dunlop) lined up, but obviously nothing came of it. Meanwhile Plamondon and Berger had moved on to "La légende de Jimmy."

Then in Nov 1992 a Globe & Mail profile of Plamondon explains that the songs had been shown at a showcase at Andrew Lloyd Webber's estate (I put a long segment under the cut.)

And then in 1994 Plamondon gives a press conference saying he's "close to selling the production rights" to Tycoon (again??)

The whole thing is pretty much a mess, but also it sounds to me like Rice basically single-handedly revised a bunch of the show to be what he thought would be palatable to an English-speaking audience, which meant sanitizing it a lot. (Also apparently he's a Thatcher-admiring pro-Brexit Conservative, which does sort of make sense when you see what kind of changes he made tbh.)

And then when the show didn't actually get made in the UK but came back to Paris as the once-a-week English version, they changed some of the songs again to fit them as-is into the Furey staging.

It's not fully clear of course, but that's what I think after reading about it!

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Image maker and breaker - Ron Conlogue - The Globe & Mail, Nov 7, 1992

ON the first weekend in September, theatre producers from around the world gathered in a converted church on composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's estate in Sydmonton, England, to hear runthroughs of promising new musicals. One was Webber's own forthcoming show, Sunset Boulevard. The other was a Canadian musical called Tycoon.

Its author, Luc Plamondon, sat nervously in the darkness and contemplated the English-speaking world he hopes to conquer. The denim- clad, 50-year-old Montreal lyricist is already a celebrity throughout the French-speaking world. His musical, Starmania (Tycoon in English) has played four times in Montreal and Paris, including one run in Paris that lasted for three years.

As a parolier, he has written important lyrics for Quebec stars like Diane Dufresne and French ones like Diane Tell. Composers who have set his songs to music include Claude-Michel Schoenberg, who wrote Les Miserables. Singers who have recorded him include Petula Clark and, improbably, actor Gerard Depardieu. And he has yet another musical, Sand et les romantiques, which opened at the Paris Opera last week.

But this resonant Quebec voice fades to silence wherever English is spoken. "The Americans won't listen if it's in French," he says with rare chagrin. "Their ears are stopped up." His words will have to be carried into the anglophone world by others.

These others won't be nobodies. Plamondon's first release in English, The World Is Stone, is sung by Cyndi Lauper and has already reached the top 10 in England. Tycoon has been translated by Tim Rice, the author of Evita and Jesus Christ, Superstar. Twelve of its songs were recently released as an album in England, sung by the likes of Tom Jones, Nina Hagen, Ronnie Spector and Peter Kingsbery. The potential rewards are great, but nonetheless it is a painful thing for a lyricist to entrust his words to others.

[...]

In this remarkable November, with Sand et les romantiques playingat the Paris Opera, La Legende de Jimmy set to open in Montreal, and negotiations continuing toward a possible production of Tycoon in London's West End next year, Plamondon can hardly keep his hands on everything.

Of all these projects, Tycoon seems to excite him the most. It's hard for English-speakers to grasp, but the dominance of English pop music is so total that writers in other languages feel that they are missing the party. Even if their own party includes 60 million French speakers. "If you don't sing in English," says Plamondon disconsolately, "you can only sing in your own country."

Enter Tim Rice.

It was in 1988 that Rice, on the advice of a friend, went to see Starmania, then the hit of Paris. "It's not easy to hear rock lyrics in another language," he recalls over the phone from London, "but I could look around and see what was happening to the audience. They were ecstatic."

Rice's hit shows, written before his rupture with Lloyd Webber, are in the past now. On his own he did Chess, which did not succeed. Suddenly, he found himself looking at "a dynamic show with an amazing number of strong songs."

Plamondon was, to put it mildly, flattered by Rice's proposal to translate the show. He hesitated when told that the title Starmania would sound banal in English, but acceded to the change to Tycoon. And as a lyricist, he understood that Rice could not translate word-for-word into English. Musically, it can't work. "Of course he re-conceived the songs and put his own mark on them," says Plamondon. "I was honoured by that." And he is tickled that the project has at least got Rice and Lloyd Webber having lunch together.

But there is one more problem. English-language pop, for a number of reasons which mostly read "American," is homogenized and timid beside French music. Plamondon, who once wrote a sardonic song called Disneyland, knows it. He has watched his friend Celine Dion agree to sing a monotonous range of songs ("love, love, love, it's all so standardized") as the price of breaking into the American market. By contrast, she recently recorded an album of Plamondon songs whose titanic display of voice and passion eclipses her English albums altogether. "I hope the people who like her in English once in a while will listen to her in French," he says wistfully.

He expresses no such reservations about Tycoon, of course. But listening to the album, I couldn't help but notice that Rice had deleted the bits he didn't think an English-speaking audience would listen to: the sex symbol doesn't talk about men masturbating on her photograph, for example; and the businessman who wants to be an artist seems to have lost his poetic edge.

And Rice is also concerned about the story being set in the future. "Our scene is not very kind to shows set in the future," he says nervously. "We've got to make sure we get it right."

Getting it right, making it work may mean losing what makes Plamondon Plamondon. The song of Monopolis, from Starmania, foreshadows a world where there is no room for different voices:

From New York to Tokyo / Same thing everywhere / We take the same metro / To the same empty square / Single file, right there / Who can think of the sun / When the neon flares / And the radio blares / And we all dance the same / Day is gray, night is blue

But in the end it will not really matter what happens to Plamondon in English. The essence of what he is and does happens in French.

#starmania canon #luc plamondon #tim rice #tycoon #meta #in the press

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xmwkristian4242-blog · 6 years ago

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Varieties Of Music

For the reason that introduction of digital devices and synthetic sound units within the early 1900s, digital music has developed into a singular style. In ancient instances, http://www.audio-transcoder.com/ corresponding to with the Historical Greeks , the aesthetics of music explored the mathematical and cosmological dimensions of rhythmic and harmonic organization. Within the 18th century, focus shifted to the experience of hearing music, and thus to questions about its beauty and human enjoyment ( plaisir and jouissance ) of music. The origin of this philosophic shift is sometimes attributed to Baumgarten in the 18th century, followed by Kant By way of their writing, the ancient term 'aesthetics', which means sensory notion, received its present-day connotation. In the 2000s, philosophers have tended to emphasize issues moreover magnificence and pleasure. For instance, music's capability to specific emotion has been a central subject. An opera may very well be defined broadly as a theatrical presentation (a play) during which the characters' strains are sung reasonably than spoken. The vocal fashion used in historic opera displays the fact that before digital amplification voices needed to be big and loud so they may very well be heard in a large live performance hall over the orchestra used to accompany them. A rock opera is simply an opera (sung play) that uses the model and devices of rock music. Examples of rock operas are Lease by Jonathan Larson, Tommy by The Who, and Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The term 'rock opera' is usually used as a synonym for 'idea album' (equivalent to My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Membership Band, or Pink Floyd's The Wall), however only those with a transparent narrative (a storyline with characters and occasions) that is informed fully in music (no spoken traces) ought to be referred to as rock operas.

Rockabilly; what some name the original Rock & Roll. A mixture of hillbilly and rock containing a western swing and a bouncing party vibe. With parts of piano-based Leap Blues and electrical boogie woogie, it made it is mark on the music scene indelibly. Almost everyone's named contained a "Y". essays larger ranges of similarity with the Energetic and Conventional genres (e.g., pop music). wonky : Wonky is electronic music characterized by synths with unusual time signatures in summary, hip hop-type beats. Wonky takes cues in its sound from instrumental hip hop and glitch however sets itself aside primarily by its lack of the heavy quantization seen in many digital genres. Alice had her breakthrough after winning the Sanremo Music Festival with the tune Per Elisa" in 1981, followed by European hit singles like Una notte speciale", Messaggio", Chan-son Egocentrique", Prospettiva Nevski" and Nomadi" and albums like Gioielli rubati, Park Lodge, Elisir and Il sole nella pioggia charting in both Continental Europe, Scandinavia and Japan. Very good voice. If you load up the page in your browser , youвЂll be greeted with a large wall of colored text hyperlinks. Each represents a selected genre of music. ThereвЂs everything from вЂњTaiwanese popвЂќ to вЂњdark psytranceвЂќ to вЂњDanish jazzвЂќ to вЂњvapor twitchвЂќ to вЂњBrazilian gospelвЂќ to вЂњfunk rockвЂќ to вЂњdiscofoxвЂќ to good olвЂ usual вЂњhip hop.вЂќ With greater than 1,500 completely different music genres mapped, itвЂs all there. 1995When the Brill constructing met Lennon-McCartney: continuity and alter within the early evolution of the mainstream pop tune. Widespread Music Soc. Another instance of sub-genres influencing one another was the punk beginnings of Queercore. A response to the societal disapproval of LGBT citizens, Queercore was one of many many music communities created in the US and UK which offered cultural alternate between members and allies. So here, for a little bit of enjoyable with information and musical exploration, are a few of the most strangely-named genres on Spotify. You may click on them to listen to what they sound like. This record is so incomplete and so pathetically inept in its order that I consider I'll pee-yook. Rush at #5??? The third top-selling band ever. Solely The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are forward of them. Gordon Lightfoot at #sixteen…just spit in his face. He is been putting out music for over SIXTY years. What about Bob Ezrin? Pink Floyd's The Wall" wouldn't exist with out him. Neither would a couple of KISS albums, Alice Cooper tunes, Pat Benatar and several other others. Gary and Dave…Ian Thomas is high 20. I don't argue against Neil Young, kraft dinner(kd) Lang in #4? Rufus Wainwright? Ron Sexsmith does loads, but has no business being on this checklist. Had been you individuals smoking herb if you thought up this muddled mess? Horrible…absolutely horrible. Battle hardened in the golf equipment of Hamburg, the fab four remodeled from squeaky-clear pop sweethearts to rock monsters in the course of the course of their career, and produced a few of the finest music ever made alongside the best way. They constantly pushed boundaries, took their sound to locations you'd by no means assume potential and along with pioneering producer George Martin used the studio as an instrument unlike ever before. Their story and their music is legendary, and you just can't look previous them as the best British rock band of all time. Fresh production work on Jay-Z's 2001 album, The Blueprint (soul nuggets clashing with Bowie and the Doorways) announced Chicagoan West's expertise, parlayed into modern solo records drawing from more and more eclectic soundworlds (folk, classical, synth-pop) and minting an over-sharing confessional blog-rap style whose overcome the lengthy-reigning gangsta idiom was symbolized when his 2007 album, Graduation, pipped 50 Cent's Curtis in a hyped-up sales race". West's genius for digital-period publicity makes him unignorable - his avidity for new musical territories makes him inimitable. Allways use the large picture and follow logic and scientific criteria. The truth is that each one those genres you hear arround you (this rock or that rock, or this jazz or that jazz) are SUB-genres, not genres, they use nearly the identical language and range only in particulars. I thought it could be useful to share a playlist featuring one music from every of the genres listed. Given the various vary of content we've got coated, it is a really combined bag — but it's sure to get you enthusiastic about all the obscure genres that you just're currently missing out on.I guess this is not a style, maybe it is only a group of bands from different metallic subgenres specializing in certain lyrical themes. Holt, Fabian (2007) Genre in Standard Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. You're in all probability already aware of at least among the music by well-known composers like Mozart and Beethoven. You could even be conversant in some of the work by composers of baroque music who preceded them, equivalent to Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel. And most people immediately have heard the work of recent composers who use elements of classical music in their scores for main Hollywood motion pictures.

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godlessondheimite · 7 years ago

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Fun Facts about the Making of Chess The Musical

1. Tim Rice wanted to write a musical about chess since he was born, but couldn’t figure out a high-stakes plotline. He was really excited when he learned about the Cold War.

2. Tim Rice wanted Andrew Lloyd Webber to help him write a musical about chess, but Andrew Lloyd Webber wanted Tim Rice to help him write a musical about cats. They both called each other fucking morons, and there was an intense stand-off where all the pent-up sexual tension came to a boiling point.

3. Hateful words were exchanged that day, words that were regretted the moment they were said but that could never be taken back, words like “you plagiarized every good bit of music you’ve written,” “you have never written a good lyric,” “your face looks like the word moist.”

4. .Tim Rice next turned to Stephen Sondheim, but Sondheim said he was in the middle of an adaptation of a Kaufman and Hart play with George Furth.

5. As a last resort, Tim Rice met with the Swedish pop group ABBA. Since chess does not exist in Sweden, they thought it was a game of Tim Rice’s own invention.

6. Musicals did not exist in Sweden either. ABBA thought Tim Rice was an eccentric genius inventing a whole new game game and a whole new genre of media just to showcase that game--or vice versa. They were eager to collaborate.

7. There was a legal dispute over some songs and lyrics that were stolen wholesale from March of the Falsettos such as “I’m Breaking Down” (sung by Florence), “This Had Better Come to a Stop” (sung by every character to Freddie) and, of course, “The Chess Game.” Even though March of the Falsettos wouldn’t be written for another 10 years, the ACLU got involved, and William Finn won.

8. Tim Rice and ABBA got along well, but Tim Rice missed Andrew Lloyd Webber. He longed for the days when they would put on top hats and coattails and stroll down the River Thames, tossing street urchins stale crusts of bread for a shoe shine. But neither would apologize for their words on that fateful day.

9. The book for the musical was turning out to be a major problem. It was not shaping up the way anyone wanted it to. Tim Rice refused to turn to Andrew Lloyd Webber to help. Instead, he sought the aid of numerous writers including William Goldman, Carrie Fisher, and Edward Norton, none of whom could help. “Go back to Andrew,” Carrie implored, “he misses you.” But there was too much pride at stake.

10. As of today, there are over 1,760 major rewrites and versions of Chess. None of them work.

#chess the musical

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itwas50yearsagotoday · 5 years ago

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9/11/20: It was 50 years ago this month... September 1970, the Broadway musical ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ was released as a true concept album. This was the first big deal from both Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice... a musical!! I knew ‘Evita’ better because my Mom would play in the car on road trips. I saw ‘Cats’ the musical... yawn. I’m not a fan of musicals really. My friend Dave, in our hippie days in the ‘90s, would play this album a bit... it wasn’t bad. It’s actually pretty good now, although the religiosity, even if mild, is still generally too much for me. However, the fact that Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan plays Jesus is pretty fucking awesome... and you can totally tell it’s him! Anyway, some of the tracks I like ‘What’s the Buzz’, ‘Everything’s Alright’, and of course ‘Superstar’ are all very listenable. Actually the whole record’s pretty listenable... hey, people can change!

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jcs-study · 4 years ago

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This next song is, in my opinion, among the most interesting in the score for a variety of reasons. Let's consider all that there is to consider about "Herod's Song."

Today's performance is by the legendary Alice Cooper, but not from his NBC Live appearance, where he fumbled a lyric, did not seem to act at any moment in which he was singing, and appeared oddly stiff, at least to this viewer. This is, in my estimation, by far the better, more confident performance of the two, and, if one sticks to the traditional arrangement (more about that below), probably the best way to do it overall.

You ready, kids?! i cAn'T hEaR yOu!

The Lyrics

HEROD JESUS I AM OVERJOYED TO MEET YOU FACE TO FACE YOU'VE BEEN GETTING QUITE A NAME ALL AROUND THE PLACE HEALING CRIPPLES RAISING FROM THE DEAD AND NOW I UNDERSTAND YOU'RE GOD AT LEAST THAT'S WHAT YOU'VE SAID

SO YOU ARE THE CHRIST YOU'RE THE GREAT JESUS CHRIST PROVE TO ME THAT YOU'RE DIVINE CHANGE MY WATER INTO WINE THAT'S ALL YOU NEED DO AND I'LL KNOW IT'S ALL TRUE C'MON KING OF THE JEWS

JESUS YOU JUST WON'T BELIEVE THE HIT YOU'VE MADE 'ROUND HERE YOU ARE ALL WE TALK ABOUT THE WONDER OF THE YEAR OH, WHAT A PITY IF IT'S ALL A LIE STILL, I'M SURE THAT YOU CAN ROCK THE CYNICS IF YOU TRY

SO YOU ARE THE CHRIST YOU'RE THE GREAT JESUS CHRIST PROVE TO ME THAT YOU'RE NO FOOL WALK ACROSS MY SWIMMING POOL IF YOU DO THAT FOR ME THEN I'LL LET YOU GO FREE C'MON KING OF THE JEWS

(instrumental)

I ONLY ASK THINGS I'D ASK ANY SUPERSTAR WHAT IS IT THAT YOU HAVE GOT THAT PUTS YOU WHERE YOU ARE? MMM I AM WAITING YES, I'M A CAPTIVE FAN I'M DYING TO BE SHOWN THAT YOU ARE NOT JUST ANY MAN

SO IF YOU ARE THE CHRIST YES, THE GREAT JESUS CHRIST FEED MY HOUSEHOLD WITH THIS BREAD YOU CAN DO IT ON YOUR HEAD OR HAS SOMETHING GONE WRONG? WHY DO YOU TAKE SO LONG? C'MON KING OF THE JEWS

HEY! AREN'T YOU SCARED OF ME CHRIST? MISTER WONDERFUL CHRIST YOU'RE A JOKE YOU'RE NOT THE LORD YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A FRAUD TAKE HIM AWAY HE'S GOT NOTHING TO SAY GET OUT YOU KING OF THE GET OUT! MM GET OUT YOU KING OF THE JEWS GET OUT YOU KING OF THE JEWS! GET OUT OF MY LIFE!

The Plot

Herod's palace is a den of iniquity and depredation. He has heard about the many miracles Jesus has performed, and he wants Jesus to prove that he's divine by changing water into wine or walking across his swimming pool! Herod takes sadistic pleasure in tormenting his prisoner, but throughout Herod's sarcastic tirade, Jesus sits in silence, seeing how shallow and inconsequential Herod is, knowing that no matter what he says his situation isn't getting any better, and so refusing to perform for him. Infuriated, King Herod throws Jesus out of his house, sending him back to Pilate.

The Analysis

Well, where do I begin? Firstly, some words from Tim Rice's autobio about the song, including the surprising source of a line that has gone down in history along with the rest of the show:

"King Herod's Song," the Eurovision reject [more about that shortly], turned out to be a show-stopper, with its nasty lyric a sinister counterpoint to the jaunty, Cabaret-influenced melody. Mike d'Abo sang with great gusto, ad-libbing "Get out of my life" at the very end. This ad-lib was later singled out as the best line of the entire work by an American Christian reviewer, the very essence of the entire show -- I was highly praised for pointing out that we are all determined to push Christ out of our lives. Only I hadn't -- Mike d'Abo had. The couplet that always got the big laugh was of course "Prove to me that you're no fool / Walk across my swimming pool" and, as mentioned before, has found its way into several books of twentieth-century quotations. I always regret not being able to come up with an equally good couplet for the final verse, "Feed my household with this bread / You can do it on your head" being rather an anti-climax, not to mention weak re-use of the bread/head rhyme, already heard in the Last Supper singalong. Despite this, the number has always been ecstatically received over the years.

One wonders if, in his frequent spates of revision, Tim will ever find another rhyme for that spot. Speaking of which... as revision goes, aside from performer ad-libs over the years (there are some on this recording, for example) and mild flip-flopping over how to phrase "I only ask things / I'd ask any superstar" (the 1973 film substitutes the word "what" for "things," the 1996 London revival went with "I only ask / The things I'd ask / Of any superstar," neither of which stuck around), it's basically been exactly what it was since 1970. That's rare in JCS terms.

But there have been questions over the years about exactly why it was "what it was" -- namely a kind of raucous, blackly comic, British music hall song and dance number. Andrew Lloyd Webber clears it up in his memoir:

The simple answer to the question "why a vaudeville song?" is that it felt right. Every instinct told me that after the full-on intensity of "Gethsemane," our five-minute set piece for Jesus, and before the final scenes of Judas's death, Jesus's trial, and the harrowing crucifixion, we badly needed something to puncture and lighten the musical mood. A song that stood out stylistically seemed exactly what the constraints of a record demanded. Listeners could imagine their own picture of King Herod and his court of many colors.

Things are pretty intense by the time Jesus is forced to his knees before Herod. Herod injects some levity in the second act at a moment when it is drastically needed -- but, strangely, it makes him seem all the more menacing, turning on a dime from charming eccentric to a dangerous madman. I'd argue that the sudden detour into a melody typical of traditional musical comedy makes sense. It trivializes Herod, shows us how insignificant he is, and paints him as a grotesque man playing at being king.

Not that this has always sat well. Theater historian Scott Miller, for example, while getting Lloyd Webber's selecting this style of music on an intellectual level, contends that "...the use of such different music is a questionable choice. The song doesn't belong with the rest of the show, and certainly, Herod isn't the only villain in the story; why aren't the others portrayed with equally bizarre, non-rock music? As unexpected as it is, introducing this kind of musical anomaly so far into the evening leaves the audience feeling disoriented, and sometimes more hostile toward Rice and Lloyd Webber than toward Herod. Merely using more rock sound in the instrumentation would have helped the number immeasurably, but as it stands, it just doesn't belong. [...] it [...] seems weaker than the rest of the score."

Personally, I think British audiences, who are more familiar with the music hall tradition, probably found this gear shift less jarring than most Americans. But if you share that feeling, then rest assured there are solutions. Many modern productions now massage the music into something closer to rock (note the unusually heavy guitars on the late Rik Mayall's version from the 2000 film), or flat-out rearrange it into something they feel is stronger dramatically and fits better into the score (handy examples include the alt-rock tribute album JCS: A Resurrection by the Indigo Girls and friends, which does it as a 1950s rock number in 6/8; the 1992 Australian revival, which supplied Angry Anderson with an appropriately "arena rock" / heavy metal sound -- I especially like the chorus of "Oi"s toward the end when Herod gets fed up with Jesus' non-compliance; or Jeff Munson's downright awesome conglomeration of Broadway, gospel, and ragtime in the Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra version, sadly unrecorded).

Clearing up another mystery is Tim Rice, who explains exactly what the parenthetical subtitle from the concept album was really all about (told you we'd get to the "Eurovision reject" bit!):

Two tunes we had already used in flop ventures were resurrected [for JCS, and one was] that of our Eurovision reject "Try It And See," which had then briefly become "Saladin Days" [for their abortive Joseph follow-up, Come Back, Richard, Your Country Needs You], now wound up as "King Herod's Song." […] We were unable to purchase "Try It And See" back from Norrie Paramor's publishing company. MCA reluctantly accepted that one song in the show would not be their copyright and NP Music in due course did very well indeed from hanging on to their Eurovision tune. As Norrie's company also retained a copyright interest in Joseph, my brief time in his employment ultimately proved very profitable for my ex-boss. Confusingly, on American versions of Superstar, "King Herod's Song" was often listed with its original title alongside and on several occasions U.S. interviewers asked me about the artistic significance of this intriguing subtitle, only to receive a boring answer about music publishing.

Totally Related Op.-Ed.

I know I've been blathering on quite a bit in this post, but I have a bone to pick with the typical portrayal of Herod, going back to the original Broadway production. And what better spot to pontificate on that subject than in a post about his song?

This number is often played merely as silly, comic relief in most productions. And it's clear from Lloyd Webber's quote (far) above that it was, at least in part, intended to play that way as far as he was concerned. But as Rice's words hint with their mention of the "nasty lyric" serving as a "sinister counterpoint" to the melody, there is far more substance in this material than is usually apparent. Herod is goading Jesus, tempting him to prove he has God on his side. For this great philosopher and political leader to be treated so disrespectfully, so grotesquely should be deeply upsetting, particularly with the extra baggage of two thousand years of Christian culture many of us have. "Herod's Song" should be ridiculous, but it should also be scary, dangerous, and disturbing. Most people don't go for that, and more should. (One notable exception is Lars Humble in the 2009 Swedish production, whom a YouTube commentator once dubbed "one of the creepiest Herods ever." I'd supply a link for you to judge for yourself, but the video is sadly no longer available.)

And while we're on the subject of how to play Herod, I'd like to point out that Rice once wrote:

King Herod was a bit of a debauched bloke, who sat around smoking and drinking all the time with a lot of women around him.

Emphasis on women. He's most noted in the Bible for unceremoniously dumping the daughter of a key ally to marry his sister-in-law, which in turn was presumably to get his mitts on his niece (which action purportedly led to the doom of no less a political prisoner than John the Baptist). Yes, he was decadent, but he was a decadent notorious womanizer. So why on earth do most productions make Herod gay?!

Honestly, putting on my activist hat for a second, I think it's a lazy direction from either self-loathing or simple-minded stagers: "The Bible says he's decadent, the music sounds like it's straight out of the living room of Roger De Bris' elegant Upper East Side townhouse on a sunny Tuesday afternoon in June, we all know how decadent the gays are... need I draw you a picture? Now put on these six-inch heels, those acrylic nails, that elaborate headdress, and slap on your war paint! Keep it gay!!" (Which Paul Ainsley actually did in the original Broadway production, and which -- less garishly, in costume at least -- many a performer has done since. Of course, some more than made up for their lack of costuming with an outsized performance, like Reg Livermore in the Australian cast, whose five and a half minutes of self-indulgent, shameless, narcissistic mugging sounds frankly like Paul Lynde on crack crossed with Bette Davis on steroids. It grows on you, much like bacteria grows best in a warm, moist, protein-rich environment.)

It's not that I object to Herod being played gay, because 1) I am queer, and not at all self-loathing about it, and 2) there's some historical precedent. Many current theologians and period historians have found that, like many an aristocrat of the era with a "when in Rome" sensibility, he was well known for keeping many young males around, not just women. Some say that even the Bible contains evidence that at very least the public was okay with aiming homophobic humor in his direction; Luke 13:32 sees no less a person than Jesus calling Herod a "fox," and various sources claim that since the Greek word used was feminine, he was mocking him as not to be feared in much the same way bullies today give queer folks a lot of guff. (Although it's worth noting that keeping a harem of boys doesn't necessarily make him gay or even bisexual as we understand those terms, and the word for "fox" is inherently female in gender in the Greek language, so reading this interpretation into the text as the primary meaning of the metaphor is iffy at best.)

I object to Herod being played gay all the time, likely because the director doesn't know what else to do with the character based on the music. There are plenty of ways to show Herod as silly or goofy without going full-on camp. For example, Boston Rock Opera presented him as a spoiled man-child in a urine-soaked onesie (with a faint hillbilly effect; the performer changed a lyric to "Prove me that you're no dud / Change my water into Bud"), the live concert version of JCS: A Resurrection made him a maniac in a straitjacket (and little else), the notorious Jesus Christ Superstar GOSPEL gave us essentially "Herod as A Pimp Named Slickback from Boondocks," and the 2012 arena tour, otherwise not noted for its incisive direction, turned him into a Jeremy Kyle / Maury Povich type figure, with a hint of Simon Cowell in the "Lord or Fraud -- text in your votes" aspect.

So... surprise me with something actually creative, please!

Coming Up Next:

Before the next song we'll cover came along, "Herod's Song" played an important role in the show's proceedings, as Lloyd Webber explains:

I sat next to Robert [Stigwood, JCS' producer and his then-manager] by the primitive sound desk and watched the audience file almost reverently into the massive arena [for the premiere of the authorized concert tour in Pittsburgh in 1971]. Even the seats behind the stage had been sold. When we started there wasn’t the usual massive cheer. The audience seemed strangely muted, even after Yvonne [Elliman, as Mary] gave a blinding performance of "I Don't Know How To Love Him." I was slightly panicked. Robert told me not to worry and to wait till the end of "King Herod's Song." Jeff [Fenholt, as Jesus] was a bit tentative at the start of "Gethsemane" but nailed the top notes brilliantly. Still, the audience seemed down. Then it was "King Herod's Song." Robert was right. The audience went totally ballistic. It was like the lid being taken off a pressure cooker. The first-ever live performance ended in triumph. But why did the audience behave like they were at a séance for so long? The answer wasn't complicated. Because Jesus Christ Superstar was constructed for records none of the songs had theatrical applause-grabbing endings. Our aim had been to get the story from A to B as quickly as possible. The only song with any sort of big finish was "King Herod's Song." Some of the songs do have endings now. Theatergoers like to be reassured that their neighbors are enjoying themselves.

But when JCS finally reached a fully realized form onstage as opposed to being a concert tour of (basically) what one could hear on the album, Broadway had different demands, and Rice and Lloyd Webber rose to the occasion to meet them.

Thus, the birth of "Could We Start Again Please?"... analysis of which is coming soon to a blog near you! (This blog, in case that wasn't clear.)

#jcss #spotify #andrew lloyd webber #jesus christ superstar #tim rice #jcs #history #jesus christ super star #jesus christ super-star #song by song #herod's song #king herod's song #alice cooper #Spotify

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scotianostra · 3 years ago

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Happy Birthday Barbara Dickson, born September 27th 1947 in the Kingdom of Fife.

Dunfermline lass Dickson’s dad was a cook on a tugboat at Rosyth and Barbara says her mother, a housewife “ was a very good singer, although she didn’t work professionally.”

Barbara loved The Beatles when they came along, and then, when she was 17 and started going to the local folk club, discovering the music of Bob Dylan as well as the traditional folk music.

In 1976 her single Answer Me went Top 10, this led to her being resident guest singer on the BBC Comedy show The Two Ronnies.

Dickson is married to Oliver Cookson who works as an Assistant Director in television for the BBC, and has three sons. She and her family live in Edinburgh.

The latest from our songstress is she is touring with pianist Nick Holland they will perform a wonderful range of material drawing on Barbara’s folk roots, contemporary greats and some of her classic hits, Scottish dates in November are at Lanark, Langholm and Musselburgh.

I’ve chosen Barbara singing the classic Love Hurts, and doing a fine job live.

#Scotland #scottish #Singer #musician #happy birhtday

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oof-i-did-it-agaaiiin · 3 years ago

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So I’m not here to give you homework, plus I don’t wanna overload your system, but if any of these spark your interest let me know I can recommend more based on them. I’ve categorized this into two groups, shows I’d recommend to anyone and shows I’d recommend to you, tumblr user crawford villainmuppet, specifically.

Sorry for formatting this so formally, it’s the neurodivergent in me.

Shows I love dearly:

Jesus Christ Superstar - This is one of my favorite pieces of art ever. Not preachy. It’s about jesus, not Jesus. With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice it’s the kind of story that will leave you thinking about it long after it’s stopped playing. Plus it’s a rock opera. The 70s movie version of it is campy but enjoyable in my opinion, but you could also easily find a bootleg of a stage production if you wanted to. There have been many different productions over the years.

Hadestown - The best musical contemporary Broadway has to offer currently. Genuinely so beautiful. I have nothing more to say other than ‘listen to it.’

Next to Normal - Very heavy subject matter so look up a trigger warning list for this show before you consider watching it. A fantastic pop rock score with a heart wrenching story that Will make you cry as much as it will make you headbang. Very near and dear to my heart.

Into the Woods - I grew up with this show. With music and lyrics by the Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim (may his memory be a blessing) it’s nostalgic and beautiful and surprisingly funny! There’s a reason it’s beloved by so many. Don’t watch the movie version though, watch this professionally filmed version found on YouTube HERE.

Shows for you:

Company - I recommended you a song from this and you said you really liked it. Another Sondheim show, it deals with topics of marriage and love in adult life. I’ve never finished Falsettos but it reminds me a bit of this show. Beautiful and memorable songs that will definitely go on your playlists. I’d recommend THIS filmed version to watch and THIS album to casually listen to.

The Producers - Written and directed by Mel Brooks who is famous for his comedies, and oh boy is this a comedy. Big BoM vibes in its sense of humor. Has a well-made movie version of it that’s definitely worth the watch featuring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane.

Twisted - (Of course I’m going to push my Starkid agenda on you.) Off-Broadway. This is a parody of the Disney movie Aladdin, it is so very funny and heartwarming with great nostalgic sounding music. Perfect to watch with friends. You can watch a professionally filmed version of it for free on YouTube HERE. (If you enjoy this I’d be glad to recommend more shows by Starkid. I’m a super fan of theirs, in fact they’re what this blog was originally about.)

Love’s Labor’s Lost - Off-Broadway. This one’s a bit more out there. It’s based on a Shakespeare play of the same name, one of his comedies. It’s about romance in young adulthood and it’s so very charming, it surprised me when I first listened to it how sweet and fun it is and how much I enjoyed the music. Unfortunately it’s a pretty deep cut so I can’t imagine there any bootlegs of it out there, the best way to experience it is probably just listening to it on spotify HERE.

I KNOW WHAT CHEESY HORROR MOVIE YOU NEED TO WATCH IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN IT ALREADY Little Shop Of Horrors!!! You may have heard of it, it’s an 80s horror comedy musical based on a broadway show (but the movie adaption is very good) with a pathetic little protagonist and fantastic puppetry. And it’s directed by Frank Oz.

OH MY GOD I LOVE LITTLE SHOP SO MUCH ive only seen the movie atp but I’ve been meaning to watch the broadway show for so long <\3

#thank you for coming to my ted talk #musicals

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limosthings · 1 year ago

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rooftinandskyblue · 8 years ago

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Ginger Judas, obscure superstar

Well that’s an old interview released on Aug. 26, 2012… I haven’t seen the whole article before so I guess I’d just put it here. And there are some highlights…maybe.

A couple of months ago the comedian and lyricist Tim Minchin told an audience at a literary festival: “I hope my daughter dies tomorrow in a car crash. I’ll tweet if she does.”

That sounds bad, out of context.

“People get dim about stuff sometimes,” he says of the ensuing outcry. At the festival, he explains, he was trying to illustrate his point that you can’t actually “tempt fate”.

“You have to overcome your superstitions. Saying ‘I hope you have a plane crash’ isn’t going to change the outcome of a person’s flight. I said, 'I hope my daughter dies tomorrow at 10am.’ The specificity’s very important. You have to say something that won’t happen - because of the odds - in order to overcome your superstition that it will happen. "You have to overcome your megalomaniacal 'I’m so important’ human bullshit bias - you have to overcome the idea that you are magic. Because you’re not magic.”

Minchin is magic, though. He’s the most famous Australian nobody can quite picture until you say “that ginger bloke with the piano and the funny songs”.

And they are very funny. Look up Prejudice on YouTube - a song about how six little letters (N, I, E, R and two Gs) can be so hurtful. Millions already have. Or Lullaby, his wry assessment of fatherhood (“Your blanket’s hand-knitted, with pure angora wool/Your nappy is dry and your tummy is full/Of enough antihistamine, to chill out a bull/Yet still all this gringing”).

Through his twenties, he was an impoverished jack-ofall-arts playing late-night gigs in “bars full of drunken British tourists in Melbourne”.

The combination of music and comedy - he says he’s funny for a musician and a good musician for a comedian - held him back. No one could see a market. He was advised to specialise in one or the other but he wouldn’t. “I was having too much fun,” he says but also, he’s stubborn. Most people would have chucked it in and become an accountant.

Eventually, YouTube happened (“it made me”) and Minchin went viral. He toured. He made DVDs. He became that ginger guy with the eyeliner (to exaggerate expressions) and the backcombed hair (umm). We started calling him British-Australian rather than just Australian (he was born here to Aussie parents and lives here now).

At the same time he was reading lots of philosophy and his unflinching rationalism became a trademark. A Richard Dawkins, but funnier, nicer and camouflaged in flowery piano trills. One Minchin song re-examines love at first sight with the opening couplet: “You grew on me like a tumour/And you spread through me like malignant melanoma”. Another rejoices in Christmas as a time for humanism rather than deism.

Yet another, Ten-Foot Cock and a Few Hundred Virgins, considers God and anal sex.

Why is he still not quite known? “To be a household name, you have to be on telly,” he says. “I don’t believe comedy songs work on the telly.”

Minchin might just be too risque for mainstream television.

Last year, ITV cut his song Woody Allen Jesus from the Jonathan Ross Show because, “the tone wasn’t quite right for the Christmas show”.

True, he did liken Jesus to a zombie. He also covered the virgin birth with the memorable verse: “Breeding without the opposite gender is commonly known as parthenogenesis/Other animals that don’t need males include a lot of lizards and various snails”. But still, you would have thought a television audience could take a bit of mild blasphemy.

ITV thought not.

Critics then accused him of picking only on Christianity. Was he scared of taking on Islam? “It’s a non sequitur,” he says now. “It’s like saying, 'Why are you doing jokes about ice creams, not dolphins?’ "I have no obligations to be balanced, I’m a comedian. Secondly, Christianity’s my culture, it’s the culture I grew up with. I don’t really want to criticise Islam. I mean, I do it but it’s not my thing, even though I do spend five minutes on stage with a Koran talking about sacredness. Thirdly, sure I’m scared of stirring up a violent minority and getting my family killed. Is that not a good reason? It’s like saying, 'You punched that tiny guy, now go punch that karate guy’.”

What we are supposed to be discussing here is Jesus Christ Superstar. Minchin is taking a lunch break from rehearsals at 3 Mills Studios in east London. Alongside Chris Moyles’s Herod, God help us, and Mel C’s Mary Magdalene, he will play Judas Iscariot in the stadium version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 40-year-old hit next month.

This seems an odd career move. Still basking in the huge success of Matilda the Musical, first in the West End and now Broadway too, Minchin has been variously hailed as the “saviour of British musicals”, “an original talent”, “a unique genius” and “unmissable”. But now he’s doing Superstar. With the “saviour of Radio 1”. And a Spice Girl. And Lloyd Webber. Not exactly cutting edge.

“My interest is this incredibly told story - The Passion of the Christ put to rock music,” he says. “As a lover of Deep Purple and Seventies rock, I’m interested in the show musically.

As a musician and a fan of Tim Rice, I’m interested in it lyrically. And as a child whose life was changed by Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express, why would I ever not do this? "It’s theatre. It’s a story. I have no problem delineating stories from real life. I get really annoyed at people who call themselves psychic and telekinetic, but Matilda does magic with her eyes. I tell my children all sorts of fantasies but it doesn’t mean I’m trying to sell them something as truth; it’s just stories.”

To progress further, we must separate the two Minchins. Minchin One is the passionate advocate of humanism and Minchin Two is the happy-golucky storyteller. Of course they are intertwined, but they don’t always both define him. He’s doing Superstar because he wants to. And it will make him more famous, because there’s also a third Minchin, the one who wants affirmation.

“Fame is like group sex,” he tells me confidently. “You desire it till you’ve had it and then it’s like 'meh’.”

I’m halfway through admitting I wouldn’t know on either count, but he interrupts.

“Actually, that’s a bad metaphor.

Once you’ve had group sex you just want more group sex, but I really believe most of us are driven most of the time to be affirmed. I’m absolutely driven to be affirmed but I’m not driven to be affirmed by being rich and famous. Although they are intrinsically linked to what I am driven to be affirmed by, which is impressing people.”

This is how he talks. And writes lyrics. An idea wrapped in the opposite idea inside a riddle. On Twitter he describes himself as “a musician with a swollen sense of my ability to articulate my insignificance”.

He also calls himself an “educationalist”.

Minchin One, the advocate, wants to expose the hypocrisy of those who preach morality but don’t practise it.

Does he believe in nothing? “I’m a humanist materialist.

I don’t believe in anything that’s unlikely. To believe in Jesus, you can either make the assumption that there was a man who broke all the laws of biology and physics or say that humans have mythologised other humans throughout history, and sometimes myths take off. Just because ideas take off doesn’t mean they’re real.”

He continues: “I’m going to write a musical with the Pope as the central character. I want to take a sympathetic view of what it would be like for a young man - while other young men are getting stupid tattoos or accidentally getting girls pregnant - to say 'I believe in a master of the universe’.

What are the odds that these young men stick with their beliefs? That they won’t, at some point, think, 'Well, I don’t really believe that shit any more but this is the structure within which I do my pastoral care. I’ve got bills to pay’?” Last scene: an atheist running the church. Curtain falls. There would be protests. ITV wouldn’t like it. But the lyrics would be good.

Until then, we have Tim Minchin playing the questioning, betraying disciple at the O2 arena. It’s a long way from the Melbourne dive bars, but it sort of adds up. It could even be part of a grand design.

“No, it’s just luck,” he says.

“There’s no soul, no nothing.

It’s just luck.”

And with that, he heads off to rehearse Judas.

Tickets are available at jesuschristsuperstar.com

#tim minchin #do you like group sex tim?#pope the musical would be funnnnn #throwback2012 #sounds remote

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