#jcs 1971 broadway

[chthonictea]

I want to post some photos from Broadway production in 1971 because I love them so much and it is such a shame that there is apparently no footage left.

They are just so surrealistically-mesmerizing that I cannot help but think about old fantasy movies and I think it is incredibly beautiful.

(I also added some portrait photos of Jeff Fenholt, Ben Vereen and Yvonne Elliman in reblog)

[agayattheaces]

Universal Jesus Stance

Ted Neeley (1973 Film) / Ben Forster (2012 Arena Tour) / Paul Nolan (2012 Broadway Revival) / Glenn Carter (2000 Film) / John Legend (2018 Live In Concert) / Ola Salo (2014 Swedish Tour) / Jeff Fenholt (1971 Broadway) / Steve Balsamo (1996 London)

[raskti]

Jesus Christ Superstar original Broadway production (1971)

Found here

[goldshirtleia]

Hello yes it is that time of year again, I am listening to the 1970 OG recording of JCS on vinyl and have decided to finally make a list my rankings for every role and aspect of this show. For the record I am a pagan whose only real knowledge of the Jesus story is from this show so forgive my unhinged takes.

Characters:

Jesus:

Ian Gillan (OG album/broadway)

Ted Neeley (1973)

Ola Sålo (Swedish 2014)

Jack Hopewell (North American Tour 2022)

Morgan James (all female cast 2022)

Judas:

Carl Anderson (1973)

Brandon Victor Dixon (2018)

Murray Head (OG album)

Shoshana Bean (all female cast 2022)

Peter Johannson (Swedish 2014)

Honourable mention to Colm Wilkinson (it is a CRIME that there isn't a full recording of the Irish cast)

Mary Magdalene:

Yvonne Elliman (OG album/broadway/1973)

That's it, no one else even comes close

(Maybe an honourable mention for Gunilla Backman)

Pontius Pilate:

Barry Dennen (OG album/1973)

Filippo Strocchi (Vienna 2018)

Orfeh (all female cast 2022)

Caiaphas:

Bob Bingham (OG broadway/1973)

Norm Lewis (NBC 2018) I will ALWAYS stan Norm

Victor Brox (OG album)

Simon Zealotes:

TIE - Larry Marshall (1971)

TIE - Eric Grönwall (NBC 2018)

John Gustafson (OG album)

Tony Vincent (2000)

Herod:

Alice Cooper (NBC 2018)

Mike D'Abo (OG album)

Chris Moyles (Arena Tour 2012)

Overall - staging/set design/costumes:

1973 Movie

NBC 2018

North American Tour 2022

Arena Tour 2012

Honourable mention to the OG broadway production -- I haven't seen enough footage to accurately rank it but I LOVE Jesus's cape in Superstar.

Best overall rendition of Superstar (incl. staging, costumes, etc)

1973 Movie

NBC 2018

Arena Tour 2012

Swedish 2014

Best facial expressions:

Carl Anderson during Simon Zealotes

Carl Anderson right before he engages in respectability politics to slut shame Mary

Tim Minchin when the priests take his joint lmao

Best Superstar costume:

Carl Anderson's white maxi fringe jumpsuit (come ON)

Peter Johannson's shirtless #lewk (I have a whole thing about how Judas should not look like a demon but the sparkly red pants and the Legolas hair are too fantastic)

Brandon Victor Dixon in the full silver fit

Best WTF moments:

That bit in the 1973 film where they all form The Last Supper for a quick second and no one comments on it

When the 1973 crowd says "won't you die for me?" in Hosanna and it just FREEZES on Jesus's face

The Swedish cast pushing Jesus into Jerusalem in a shopping cart

The fighter pilots swooping at Judas after Blood Money in 1973. What WAS that. How did they get that.

That is all lol. Every time we watch even a clip of a new production my mother and I spend 2-3 hours discussing how it fits into our rankings, so this could change.

[platadesangre]

we NEED to talk about jesus christ superstar 1975 original madrid cast!

read more for info, links, and archives!

i may be a bit biased, since this was my first jcs.

short story on how i discovered it

my dad used to be an apostle for a bootleg staged playback jcs in peru during the 70s! they used this version.

he had the cd. he also had the mp3 files. i used his computer, so that was how 13 year old me found it.

those were tough times, bc later i started doing catechesis and i kind of got depressed and started questioning my faith lol. judas' character really resonated with me

since this is a recording, i didn't have any footage to reference, so i made up everything in my mind. (this is why it was a bit weird for me to see the english productions, bc they looked nothing like in my head lol)

now, a bit of historical context for spain in the 70's

camilo sesto was a popular spanish singer and actor who went to see the jcs 1971 broadway production in london. he loved it so much that he did everything he could do financially to bring the show to spain.

spain was in a fascist dictatorship at the time

they fought with censorship for years, that's why the lyrics are a bit different (i'll make a post about that too)

they had to remodel the alcalá-palace theater stage entirely

franco (our dictator) died two days after the premiere (about time lol)

the "ultras" (conservatists) didn't like the show so they did lots of crazy stuff (for example, praying for the cast outside the theater or sending BOMB THREATHS?)

anyways, this was the first official translation for jcs!

on the main cast we have

camilo sesto as jesus christ (he wanted the role from the beggining)

teddy bautista as judas iscariot

ángela carrasco as mary magdalene

here's an old pic of them (and some apostles)

(now that i look at it closely, it kind of looks like a bootleg jcs 1973 lol)

on the recording

it's a stereo recording, so use both headphones or you'll miss out on half of it

musically speaking, it's similar to the og concept album (songs ending on fade-outs and shorter trial before pilate) but it has some interesting choices (teddy, the producer and the voice of judas, took a lot of... artistic liberties)

some things this version has

it adds lots of synth. it's very psychodelic. i understand this can be a turn off for some people

they kinda change the key to many songs. maybe to fit vocal ranges idk

teddy just loves to make up new melodies (please give this man some water)

EPIC GUITAR SOLO in what's the buzz

what's the buzz and strange thing mystifying are separated tracks for some reason

camilo sings so good

cute synth in everything's alright ángela has such an angelic voice she makes such a good mary

the drums and guitars during this jesus must die are so danceable

the BEST simon zealotes i've heard. shit goes HARD. he goes CRAY

i really love this pilate, in my rating he would be the best one

camilo's "¡SALVAOS VOSOTROS!" during the temple is really pathetic lol

damned for all time interlude replaced by synths. the SAX SOLO is also replaced by synth (questionable choice)

cool thing happens during the end of this song that i'll talk about in another post

judas' occasional nervous laughter really adds to his character

also he cries a lot

"you sad pathetic man" part during last supper is... fairly different! (i'm looking at you teddy...)

camilo's gethsemane is epic. he's a baladist singer but MAN he can ROCK

cool harmonica during the arrest

i'll never shut up about our pilate (he nervous laughs too)

herod is so fruity

judas' death really hits different when you were depressed and questioning faith (this version is BRUTAL) also lyrics change (i'll talk about it i swear)

teddy's one of the few judas who sing the i don't know how to love him reprise in the higher scale!! it sounds so painful and anguished

the album continues acceptably

other cool things it has

jesus and judas have this interesting accent difference. since camilo is from valencia, he has this pristine and traditional spanish accent. and teddy is from canarias (also lived in the usa) so his accent is rougher and more, crusty? idk how to explain it but it's neat and stablishes their dynamic a bit. (ángela is from dominican republic! but her accent is barely noticeable)

on the footage aspect, we only have old vhs videos and live audios uploaded on youtube. also some old photos

there is a book about this version. it has some anecdotes (only available in spanish)

now we have a 4 episode mini-series about the odyssey that it was to produce this. it's called "camilo superstar" (i won't be watching it bc it's a bit fan-ficy from what i've seen)

the posts i'll make about this production will be tagged as #jcs 1975 madrid

you can listen to it on spotify!

or on youtube (playlist made by me)

here's another playlist with EVERYTHING i could find about it on youtube

all that I could find about this version is here!

thanks for reading and if you liked it PLEASE listen to it we are like 3 people in the fandom i'm insane about this version i need to scream about it to more people :3

[lordroyalhighness]

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR • 2025 HOLY WEEK MIXTAPE (2025 digital album compilation; FLAC or MP3 - 320 kbps, individual tracks; MP3 single track also available)

DOWNLOAD: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1lHCqSZAKGfourclN0P41wXLbsXoD7bxG

(read more for description + tracklisting)

Happy Holy Week! So this little idea I’ve had ready and been sitting on since January. I originally had the idea to share the tracks through the week as they occurred during each respective day but I thought it’d be better to go ahead and just let everyone have the full product to enjoy as Easter approaches this year. For this project I wanted to (for the most part) go with cast recordings completely different to what I used for certain songs in my “ultimate mix” from years ago (but again, in my opinion, there’s some particular choices repeated that I just think are the absolute best and definitive.) I also made a rule to myself to not *repeat* any cast recordings used in this mix, which was indeed challenging, but I honestly love the final product so much and I’m so excited the time has come to share it with you all. Enjoy, let me know what you think, and definitely let me know what YOUR own personal “JCS mixtape” might look like. Detailed tracklisting below. Happy Easter! xxtyler

Act One

1. Overture (2002 Bad Hersfeld cast)

2. Heaven On Their Minds (2012 Josh Young live in Harlem)

3. What’s the Buzz (1971 National Rock Company album)

4. Strange Thing Mystifying (1992 Australian cast)

5. Then We Are Decided (2021 il Baskerville performance)

6. Everything’s Alright (2005 Vienna concert cast)

7. This Jesus Must Die (2018 live NBC event cast)

8. Hosanna (2022 all-female studio cast)

9. Simon Zealotes (2011 Vienna concert cast)

10. Poor Jerusalem (2000 Carl Anderson live performance)

11. Pilate’s Dream (1973 live Australian cast)

12. The Temple (2000 film soundtrack)

13. Everything’s Alright (Reprise) (1995 studio cast)

14. I Don’t Know How to Love Him (1971 Broadway cast)

15. Damned for All Time / Blood Money (2012 live Arena Tour cast)

Act Two

16. Entr’acte (excerpt from 2005 Dutch cast)

17. The Last Supper (1994 New Zealand cast)

18. Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say) (1976 Ted Neeley live at the Santa Barbara County Bowl)

19. The Arrest (1996 London cast)

20. Peter’s Denial (1992 London cast)

21. Pilate and Christ (2017 Striving Artists album)

22. King Herod’s Song (1972 London cast

23. Could We Start Again, Please (2012 live Avondale cast)

24. Judas’ Death (1973 film soundtrack w/ intro from 1970 concept album)

25. Trial Before Pilate (1972 Australian cast)

26. Superstar (1998 Marcus Lovett live at the Royal Albert Hall)

27. Crucifixion (1996 BBC Radio concert cast)

28. John 19:41 (2012 Á la c’ARTe live at the Fool Moon a cappella Festival)

29. Superstar (Reprise) (excerpt from 1971 Kingsway Youth Opera Company album)

[eliounora]

in light of your latest rb, what is your preferred production of jesus christ superstar?? i've yet to see any but want to have fun with everyone & trust your taste on this :) ty in advance and also! i really love your art ^__^

you have come to the right neighbourhood... *puts on my pharisees hat* I am so happy to answer this question

I recommend you start with the 1996 west end revival (spotify, youtube). the insrumentation is great, the quality of the recording is crisp, and the performers are top-notch. steve balsamo as jesus is definitely the star of this one, his voice is very light and pure but he also portrays the character's inner conflict magnificently.

for comparison, there is also the original 1971 broadway cast recording (spotify, youtube). this is one of my favourite versions!

here is also the original 1972 west end production (youtube). also excellent!!!

if you actually want something to watch, there is the 1973 film (spotify, youtube, I think the film can be rented on YT as well, I borrowed the DVD from my local library haha). the film also has a magnificent cast, many people consider ted neeley the best jesus ever and he has an unique take on the role and a gorgeous voice. carl anderson as judas is also just superb. I think the best word to decribe this version is "raw", it's really haunting.

the original 1970 concept album (spotify, youtube) with ian gillan of deep purple as jesus and murray head as judas is also a must-listen! both singers are just divine, both their performances easily hold up against newer productions with ease, they're just divine.

there is also the 2000 film, watchable on youtube (the album on spotify). jerome pradon plays judas and he is absolutely glorious at it. dude is going absolutely off the rails and his voice is so whiny and he's so deliciously vindicative in the end. I've gotten the impression his performance can be sort of hit-or-miss, but I really like it!

for something more recent, there's also the 2012 arena tour (youtube) with ben forster as jesus and the legendary tim minchin as judas. a lot of people like this one, and while I personally don't like it much, maybe you will! there is also the 2018 live in concert (spotify, youtube). a solid, good production I think.

now I think every song in JCS is a solid banger, but good songs to look out for when listening is

heaven on their minds, sung by judas

everything's alright, sung primarily by mary (in many of the early productions, like the original concept album and the film, mary is played by yvonne elliman) while judas and jesus argue

this jesus must die, includes caiaphas, who has a bass voice, and annas

pilate's dream

I don't know how to love him, mary's ballad

gethsemane (I only wanted to say), jesus's power ballad. look out for his high note at "why should I die" (awesome compilation here)

king herod's song

superstar, judas questioning jesus from beyond the grave

good luck to you superstaring!!! I'm very normal about this musical

[pooroldjudas]

currently have:

- 50th anniversary australian souvenir program (sydney)

- 1992 australian arena concert souvenir program (sydney)

- 1995 australian production souvenir program (sydney)

- 1972 west end souvenir program

- 1971 broadway playbill (opening night!)

- 2012 broadway playbill (signed but can’t remember date)

en route:

- 2012 broadway souvenir program

- 50th anniversary tour playbill (unsure of theatre and date)

[musicalsorwhatever]

“Pilate’s Dream” is the seventh song in the 1971 Broadway musical Jesus Christ Superstar. This show featured music by Andrew Lloyd Webber (Joseph and the Amazing…) and lyrics by Tim Rice (Evita). It was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. This song is performed by Barry Dennen as Pontius Pilate.

[jcs-study]

At the end of my last post, I referred to "Pilate's Dream" as "the number that makes you wonder aloud if a psychiatrist would have made a killing offering talk therapy in first-century Palestine."

To clarify what I meant by that joke... in writing JCS, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber were more interested in asking questions than in providing answers. The result was a rock opera that fictionalized the thoughts and motivations behind the actions of this group of prominent historical characters. That said, in their all-consuming interest in depicting biblical figures as human beings, the piece often places more emphasis on those thoughts and motivations than the actual actions. (This is partly why only those "well-coached in the mechanics of Christianity and its legends and beliefs," as Rice once put it, can really follow the plot anymore, but I digress.)

This was merely a piece of humor aimed at the fact that, with this song, we are getting a "therapist's eye view," if you will, into Pontius Pilate's psyche. It was not intended to offend or belittle anybody with mental health issues, and I apologize profusely in advance for any harm that may have arisen from that crappy attempt at comedy.

At any rate... willfully risking the appearance of repetitiveness, I return to the original Broadway highlights for this performance by the late Barry Dennen. I had the privilege of knowing Baz from seeing him perform the show live (as Herod, no less) and spending time with him after a number of anniversary screenings of the 1973 film. He was charming, mischievous, and a gent to the end, to say the very least, and I miss him every day.

Though he also played the part of Pilate, notably, on the original concept recording and in the film, this performance of "Pilate's Dream" is what sits with me most of the three he recorded. There is an earnestness to his voice that I don't hear in the other two, and it lends itself well to the scene.

Alright, enough piddling things to death, as Bob Ross would say...

The Lyrics

PILATE I DREAMED I MET A GALILEAN A MOST AMAZING MAN HE HAD THAT LOOK YOU VERY RARELY FIND THE HAUNTING, HUNTED KIND

I ASKED HIM TO SAY WHAT HAD HAPPENED HOW IT ALL BEGAN I ASKED AGAIN HE NEVER SAID A WORD AS IF HE HADN'T HEARD

AND NEXT THE ROOM WAS FULL OF WILD AND ANGRY MEN THEY SEEMED TO HATE THIS MAN THEY FELL ON HIM AND THEN THEY DISAPPEARED AGAIN

THEN I SAW THOUSANDS OF MILLIONS CRYING FOR THIS MAN AND THEN I HEARD THEM MENTIONING MY NAME AND LEAVING ME THE BLAME

The Plot

The Roman soldiers who kept the peace in Jerusalem were quartered at the Fortress Antonia, across from the Temple. The screams of someone waking from a nightmare must have alerted them into defensive mode.

Waking in the dead of night, the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, recounts a dream which has been troubling him for many months. The dream focuses on a charismatic man. Pilate finds himself in a room full of people baying for this man's blood. The dream ends with an image of millions of people mourning the man's death and leaving Pilate with the blame.

The Analysis

Random fact: this song is an excellent example of what happens when you have a unique match of performer and character. Ellis Nassour's Rock Opera tells us that Barry Dennen did so well with the trial scene, which Lloyd Webber's memoir notes was among the first recorded, that they wanted to bring him in sooner in the piece.

Baz had no objections. As he put it in an interview with my website, JCS Zone, "You can't wait 'til halfway through for the character to appear. He has to show up near the beginning of it to establish himself as a character so you're interested in him. When he reappears in the second act, you know who he is and you understand what he is about." Per Tim Rice's autobiography, he agrees: "Pilate's one troubled appearance in the first half of the show makes his second-half dialogue with Jesus infinitely more powerful."

Savvy Christian listeners/readers/viewers will note that there is a bit of dramatic license taken here. According to the Gospel of Matthew, it wasn't Pilate who had the dream. Rice explains:

[I]n the Bible [the dream] is credited to his wife. However, introducing another character for just one brief scene was impractical, mainly for economic reasons, so we had no At Home with The Pilates number.

Of course, this hasn't stopped a few productions over the years from either including his wife in the scene where he has the dream (as one California production in the early 2000s did), using her as a general background character who appears curious about, and ultimately sympathetic to, Jesus (the 1973 film -- look for her in the Overture as Pilate makes his entrance once everyone is in character, during "Simon Zealotes / Poor Jerusalem," and in both "Pilate and Christ" and the trial), or straight-up adding the wife for just the one solo (see Anthony Von Eckstein's long-running JCS which played around the California Bay Area from 1988-1992 -- any video in the playlist labeled "Procula's Dream" will do).

Do I recommend shoehorning a character in just to sing one song, or to serve as mere window-dressing? No. But there is a possible way to have your cake and eat it too -- @ozymegdias, a fellow fan, and friend, once kicked around the concept of a "Karen" Pilate. (Think Moira Rose on Schitt's Creek, but with actual power, having a very, very bad day.) Not only is there plenty of room for dark humor in such casting, but it also gives the show a much more contemporary feel to have a woman in the position of authority, and solves the problem of JCS being very male-centric in its dramatis personae. Plus, it's a nod to who originally had the dream in the source material -- win/win.

Coming Up Next:

To borrow a Sisters of Mercy song title, there are thieves in "The Temple," and Jesus ain't happy about it.

[chthonictea]

(@jcs-study on his main here.)

So... JCS Broadway, part 1 (of likely many)! This starts way before Broadway, for which my apologies. I'll try to TL;DR it as much as possible, but I'm very verbose, so... sorry not sorry.

Glossary:

Tim Rice = TR Andrew Lloyd Webber = ALW Robert Stigwood = Stiggie (it was one of his nicknames, it saves characters)

When TR and ALW were writing JCS, no theater producers would touch it as a show. They'd worked in pop/rock as songwriter-producers, so they shifted to where their contacts were and began developing it as a concept album.

They had trouble pitching such an unusual project, naturally, but finally, they landed a deal with Decca Records. To get that deal, they had to make some concessions to Decca's parent company, MCA. Per Tim's memoir, MCA wanted "rights to participation in every subsequent aspect of the project," considering the gamble they were taking on such a non-commercial and controversial prospect.

MCA got everything it wanted except the grand rights, which are basically the theatrical presentation rights to JCS (in this case) as a show. (ALW was smart enough to insist they be left out of the deal.)

Many people were interested in presenting it as a show, but the one who won the race was Stiggie, a hugely successful pop promoter. He became ALW and TR's manager, and ironed out a deal that gave him a five-year exclusive on all stage and screen versions. Just one problem... the exclusive was already being ruined.

When the album came out, it took off like a rocket in the U.S. Its success led to a lot of people wanting to get in on the act. It was just an album. Who knew you had to get the rights for an album? So...

...bootleg productions of JCS sprang up all over the States, on college campuses, in churches, and even at high schools. There were so many, both professional and amateur, that Life magazine even featured a pirate show on the cover in May 1971.

(Some didn't bother to try to get the rights; some got the kind of license that allows restaurants to play the radio or cover bands to do their thing in clubs and assumed or pretended it allowed them to just perform the album; the smartest ones actually wrote to the music publisher at MCA, and -- not knowing what rights they had or didn't have -- the publisher happily granted licenses, agreed on royalties, etc., like any other piece they published, only to have to retract permission when Stiggie enlightened them otherwise.)

Stiggie took 'em all to court, made a lot of lawyers money, established case law in the process that said "album or not, this type of album is a musical, and you need to actually get the proper rights first," and in August 1971, most of the major pirates were put to a stop when Judge Lawrence Pierce of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan upheld a temporary restraining order halting all unauthorized productions of JCS anywhere in the United States.

Meanwhile, our boys had learned the age-old lesson of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." The minute the judge said he was right, a sell-out authorized concert tour run by Stiggie began. By the end of the summer, demand for JCS was so great that Stiggie launched a second tour for the opposite coast, and a third specifically for the college market. Three tours at once, making money hand over fist. Handful of cast, handful of musicians, planned wardrobe rather than costumes, no sets, plenty of lighting, and enough ticket sales and broken attendance records to suggest there was an audience for the whole enchilada.

See you in Part 2!

JCS Broadway: the saga, part deux!

When last we left off, our heroes had launched three successful concert tours of JCS to criss-cross America and stamp out the pirates. Mission accomplished! Time to do a proper Broadway presentation.

There was interest from Hal Prince (producer of West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof, producer/director of Cabaret, among others), but Stiggie wasn't enthusiastic. (Years later, ALW would lament of only receiving the telegram Prince had sent to his parents' flat seeking to direct and produce JCS after they had signed the rights away. It was all good; they'd get the opportunity to collaborate on Evita.)

Finally, they picked Frank Corsaro. A solid candidate; he'd done Broadway plays like A Hatful of Rain and The Night of the Iguana, and he'd recently turned his hand to controversial productions of the classics at New York City Opera, playing with multimedia and -- gasp! -- actually making the singers act.

He had a good pitch that treated the show seriously, a simple staging using projections and television screens to underline its themes of celebrity and stardom, with great emphasis on a mix between film and live-action. They liked it, and they got rolling.

It's important to say that without Frank, JCS on Broadway would have been up Shit Creek without a paddle by the time it got rolling. Frank hired the designers that ultimately stayed on, asked for alterations to make JCS a little longer and expand on a few things (like everything in the trial from "Well this is new, respect for Caesar..." through "you hypocrites -- you hate us more than him" and a whole song, "Could We Start Again Please?", neither of which existed before the album, both based on notes from him), and he was involved in most of the preliminary casting; a lot of his choices made it to the final cast.

But... Frank didn't. At the tail-end of auditions, he got in a bad car accident and was utterly incapacitated. Just over 300 grand of today's U.S. dollars in severance pay later, they needed a new director... fast.

They were in luck; a new guy was in the wings. Stiggie hadn't completely trusted Frank's experimental artsy-fartsy take with projections (then a new and buggy technology), and he'd been quietly interviewing other candidates, one of whom was Tom O'Horgan, the flavor of the moment following his success with shows like Hair and Lenny. After initially refusing several times and even accepting other work, O'Horgan was finally offered a very financially lucrative deal and signed on the dotted line. Time was of the essence; they were already deep into pre-production and running a tight schedule. Tom had already worked with all of the designers and chose to keep them on, which was good because there was next to no time for a square-one makeover, but there was just one problem: he had no idea how to stage this piece.

Seems like a good cliff-hanger! Part 3!!

JCS Broadway, Act III!

Recapping where we left off, Tom O'Horgan has assumed control of the JCS ship, but does not know where in blue hell he is navigating it, which is bad news because he has joined the project in August or September 1971, and the show is locked into an October opening. He'd have really liked to dive in and work on it (he will later say, "...it just was not very theatrically constructed; when I first attacked the piece with Andrew, he said he would write some other numbers that would help make it flow a little better, but he didn't"), but there was simply no time.

While he tried to figure out what to do, he decided he needed a fresh round of casting, both to reevaluate Corsaro's picks and make a few of his own. See, Tom was known for unconventional directing methods, and whatever he did have time for, he knew he definitely didn't have time to teach a group of new people his bag of tricks.

When he saw more than 500 young people (average age of 21) for 40 roles over the next 2 weeks, he wound up casting so many Hair veterans. So. Many. Was he casting for talent? Yes and no. The primary goal was to fill the show with enough people who knew how he operated to get it up and running; then he'd cast for talent once the show was put through its paces and needed replacements.

He knew early what he didn't want to do. He felt the show did not support a traditional robes-and-sandals treatment. (Never explained why, then or since; just categorically ruled it out: "I thought: How to do Superstar so it doesn't look like something painted on black velvet? Nothing in [their] highly romantic score supported an even slightly realistic presentation.")

He briefly toyed with the image of a hip Christ, clad in vinyl, crucified on the handlebars of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, but then scrapped that. Likewise crucifying Jesus on a hypodermic needle, for that Seventies "27 club" vibe.

Both may seem odd, but you need to know something: Tom was from the world of experimental theater. His success on Broadway with Hair could very easily have been a fluke. So my theory is that he sometimes deliberately pushed the envelope, reasoning that it might be the only time he could do so in such a comparatively establishment world as Broadway. And boy, did he ultimately push the envelope with JCS.

Okay, sorry to do it again, but you will learn all in Part Four, I promise!

JCS Broadway Episode 4!

When last we left off, I pegged Tom O'Horgan as a weird Off-Off-Broadway dude who loved to experiment; he thought Hair and Lenny were flukes, so he experimented every time he got called back to Broadway because he never knew when it would be the last time. He didn't want the job on JCS, though he was one of the first people asked (largely on the strength of Hair), and once it landed in his lap after the first director got in a car accident, he couldn't crack the code on how to do it, discarding both conventional and unconventional ideas, until... he saw a movie.

Around the same time as he was trying to tackle JCS, a film came out called The Hellstrom Chronicle. Today, we'd call it a mockumentary; back then, it won an Oscar and a BAFTA for Best Documentary for lack of a better category.

Hellstrom was narrated by a (fake) scientist, and the pseudo-scientific premise was that insects will ultimately win the fight for survival on Earth because of their resilience (in terms of adaptability and ability to reproduce rapidly) and that the human race will lose this fight largely because of excessive individualism. They cut some otherwise uninteresting insect footage together with clips from horror movies and shit, comparing the worst of human behavior unfavorably to them.

Tom saw the movie and, bit by the bug (sorry, couldn't resist), further attended a tie-in exhibition on the subject at the Museum of Natural History. He finally had the germ of an idea.

As he later put it, "...I thought, maybe I would do this piece as if a further civilization of evolved insects looked back at this primitive society's myth and decided to make a version of it. The view that I took was that this was a reenactment of the Christ story by a future, future, future group of people who are really insects. [...] ...if you look at the costumes, for instance, Judas is resurrected as a butterfly, and Christ comes up out of the ground in a chrysalis, and it breaks open and becomes a great moth."

Thus, post-apocalyptic super-evolved insects reenacting the New Testament, or, as I call it, Insect Christ Futurestar.

Even crazier... he disclosed this to the design team, wove it through the show as a clearly visible motif, but did not clue in the cast, never once made it public in an interview (not until two decades after the show closed), and that's how we got critics and theater historians calling it self-indulgent and trying to figure it out for decades, many of them still believing it was set in a trippy version of the then-present.

Once you look back at photos of the original Broadway cast knowing this, it all suddenly makes sense. Now you know why everything looks trippy, larger than life, and like people could debate about what it symbolized for decades.

Aftermath:

If you guessed that ALW didn't like this approach, you thought correctly. TR was more lukewarm, and Stiggie didn't care much because the show was pre-sold thanks to the album, so even if it was critically drubbed, it would still be a hit, but much agitating from ALW made sure Tom's work never went further than Broadway. (Tom re-staged the show in a much less aggressively experimental way for the original L.A. run, but other than that, he never directed the show again in its first-run period.)

And... because a definitive look for the show was never established, every JCS has been different ever since. Some common ideas and themes in each concept, perhaps, but never a single concrete "look."

Hope you found all this enlightening!

-------------------------------------------

So first of all, thank you so much for the story and how detailed and well-told it is, because it is really interesting! I collected everything in one post to make it more convenient, and wow I did not expect that, especially the part with the mocumentary about insects, but it definitely makes a lot of sense! And now I want to see this version even more (should start inventing a time machine). Honestly it is really impressive how many talented people are usually involved in creating something extraordinary. Like of course, we all know about ALW and TR and they totally deserve it, but JCS was and is brought to life by so many people. And that is also a great story how people can find inspiration in everything. I mean, yes, insects are often used as references in art, as well as nature in general, but like I have said in my post that led to this discussion, I find these visuals incredibly mesmerizing and it just became better, because these are natural occurrences of death and resurrection, and it is in fact futuristic and ancient at the same time. Also I really love how it led to JCS not having an established look. I love musicals, and some of them have a main version, others have been changed a lot, but I feel like JCS is very organic in its variety of interpretations and I find it great. Thank you once again!

[agayattheaces]

(i have only included as many as possible official releases from ALW, but if your go-to is unofficial or a bootleg, thats still cool! tell me about it!!)

[penny-anna]

While the 1973 IS my favorite, I know that its not eveyones cup of tea partly because it IS extremely 70s. When it comes to peoples snobbishness about it thinking of it as the 'original version' idk but i think it might be because the original concept album was recorded before they ever perfomed it on stage and is (imo) a little lifeless, maybe, because of that. I was in a production of JCS a year or so ago and did a lot of version comparing so im just so curious about your thoughts sorry haha

I’m not sure how much it’s the 70s-ness (tho I don’t tend to vibe w stuff made i the 70s so maybe that is it??) so much as that I found the entire thing just... perplexing. maybe i should give it another watch idk.

I know what you mean about the concept album, it’s like, an album rather than a recording for a stage show... it’s enjoyable musically & I like listening to it but it doesn’t have the emotional pitch of a cast recording

wrt people ignoring it tho, I feel like it’s not really a JCS thing as much as part of a wider tendency of people acting like the film version of a musical they saw growing up = the original & only valid version, which in turn I think maybe has to do w stage productions having been a lot less accessible pre-internet?

like growing up I had some awareness of what the big shows were but I only saw maybe 2, otherwise I only got familiar w musicals via film adaptations. had a couple of cast recordings on CD.

whereas now I’ll like, hear about a stage show via the internet grapevine and be like ‘that sounds interesting’ and just go direct to youtube and listen to the entire soundtrack and watch clips and get a good sense of what the stage show is like y’know??

I don’t know anything about the original stage productions (Broadway & London) of JSC... just had a look around and both soundtracks are online but they’re abridged, not a lot of information about what they were like visually.

this got very long but yeah I can’t entirely blame people for thinking of film versions as the ‘original’ when they were the only versions available to them & the actual originals are essentially gone forever but it does nonetheless. frustrate me a little.

looks like the Broadway show was aesthetically hm different to the film tho

anyway! I am going to listen to the 1971 broadway recording now :)

[currinstrains]

Amtrak E8A #4316 in an experimental paint scheme at Harrisburg, PA in August of 1971. Amtrak needed something for publicity with its newly refurbished Broadway Limited so they cleaned up this engine and added some graphics over the Penn Central black paint. It was later repainted into Phase I livery Historical

  from JC's Trains, Railways all Transport https://ift.tt/39GaZIK via IFTTT

[platadesangre]

omg omg GUYS I JUST FOUND SOLID FOOTAGE OF THE JCS 1975 MADRID PRODUCTION

and

thanks to this kind soul for uploading them to youtube!!

just 40 minutes of vhs recording with many cuts and no audio. a pretty hard watch i know. but these look amazing! it's the best we've got so far

some random notes and screenshots under the cut!

this hand movement during everything's alright. judas wants to hold jesus's hand but he closes it into a fist. MY MAN GOT FRIENDZONED

i'm so mad i can't barely see our simon

the visuals during pilate's dream

mary being beautiful as always

the priests are so... theatrical! it's so funny how they are all moving in all sorts of ways and judas just stands there milking the giant cow (gesticulating)

WE HAVE KISS FOOTAGE! it's blurry af! (i'm normal)

i didn't know we had tormentors! (can't get any clear screenshots sorry)

pilate is the one whipping jesus for some reason. also the way he moves around and falls onto the guards while getting the 39 lashes

judas's BLACK SEQUINS SUPERSTAR OUTFIT (he looks so pathetic lol)

the bowing at the end. mary and judas share microphones, so adorable!

i could tell they got inspo from the jcs 1973 and jcs 1971 broadway costumes

i'm going to gif some scenes now (i don't know how to do that but i'll try)