#original cast of jesus christ superstar

[mariocki]

Infinite list of favourite lyrics: 220/?

Carl Anderson - Heaven On Their Minds (1973)

"Listen, Jesus, do you care for your race?

Don't you see we must keep in our place?

We are occupied - have you forgotten how put down we are?

I am frightened by the crowd,

For we are getting much too loud

And they'll crush us if we go too far,

If we go

Too far!"

[davidtennantpussytulpa]

im a proud spotify hater until spotify wrapped season comes along and i cant participate 😞😞💔💔💔😖😣☹️🤧🤕

[tuesda]

fijne. i will do it. since you are being so complicated about it.

[thedvilsinthedetails]

What each marauder’s fav musical would be (in my opinion):

James - beetlejuice (chaotic af, funny and happy ending…)

Regulus - Jekyll and Hyde (thought provoking, sad ending also he’d find ‘bitch bitch bitch’ funny bc that’s lowkey exactly what the ppl at functions he has to attend are like. Also he loves ‘bring on the men’ and I won’t accept questions and if ur confused about the name, it’s exactly what it sounds like.)

Remus - Hamilton (he just…would love it.)

Sirius - Six (no question. And he would sing ‘Don’t lose ur head’ at the drop of a hat. He defo learnt the dance to ex-wives and six finale)

Peter - Dear Evan Hansen (he just gives me those vibes like he genuinely would love it and I love that 4 him)

Barty - Heathers (pretty sure this was in like one of my first posts too but he would LOVE heathers.)

Evan - Moulin Rouge! (OMG this one was actually hard icl I couldn’t think of one for ages but I actually think this is perfect for Evan. He definitely prefers like plainer style of stuff and shit and pretends not to like musicals but he goes excited like a puppy dog with proper heart eyes if you show him the absolutely over decorated stage they perform moulin rouge on. And you best believe he knows all the lyrics of ‘Firework’ by Katy Perry but no no my friend it’s not because he listens to her, in fact he’d probably be confused about the annoying pop song arrangement of ‘the song from moulin rouge’ also he loves the song mashup bit in ‘backstage romance’ that they dance to (if you don’t know what I mean then play this song but skip to 2:30 bc the start of the song won’t make sense without the entire plot detailed to you) because I say so because everyone does because it’s impossible not to.)

Mary - Anastasia (look I will not be accepting slander of this musical and neither would Mary. It is a masterpiece.)

Lily - Jesus Christ Superstar (fucking love this musical and only the best for Lily Evans. She would love it because I said so.)

Pandora - Hadestown (thought provoking, gorgeous music, based off a Greek myth. Just yes. Also I can picture her humming Orpheus’ tune but especially the extended bit in ‘wait for me’ )

Marlene - Les Misérables (ok so I know this might seem like an odd option for her but hear me out hear me out…Marlene attempting to perform all the parts in ‘one day more’ and blasting ‘Do you hear the people sing?’ from her phone as an attempt to scare people.)

Dorcas - Phantom of the Opera (the absolute dramatic theme is definitely her jam and she absolutely knows how to play it on every instrument. Like she doesn’t necessarily know how to play an instrument but you can bet she at least knows the phantom’s theme on it.)

my theatre kid side is rlly coming thru in this oops

also if anyone wants to know the specific albums (bc a lot of them have more than one recording) of the musical that I prefer and am thinking of as I write this then check below ‘keep reading’

beetlejuice/hamilton/anastasia all only have one - the original bway cast

Jekyll and Hyde - ‘Jekyll and Hyde: The Gothic Musical Thriller’ (the 1995 one with Anthony Warlow as J/H)

Six - ‘Six: the musical (studio cast recording)’ sorry to the Broadway cast lovers, I prefer the og Brit one bc it feels weird to hear them with American accents to me

Dear Evan Hansen - the original Broadway cast recording, not the movie one

Heathers - Original West end cast. Again sorry to all the ppl that prefer the off broadway one, west end heathers ver till I die, it’s just better like ‘never shut up again’? I say no? I’m sorry it’s just better, no matter how much u say ‘blue’ is better than ‘your welcome’

Moulin Rouge - original Broadway cast, as much as I love Nicole Kidman I just prefer the bway cast recording to the movie recs

Jesus Christ Superstar - ‘Jesus Christ Superstar (Remastered 2005)’ the one with the 1996 London cast, it’s just my favourite album of it because of the song arrangement

Hadestown - original Broadway cast recording (I feel like ppl don’t rlly listen to the concept album anymore bc it’s just so wildly different from how the actual show music ended up sounding, I do actually quite like it but the musical ver is better in my opinion)

Les Mis - holy shit there’s a lot of albums for this one, tbh I’m not thinking of a specific one but maybe the 2010 London recording - the live one(?) I just quite like it but tbh I listen to a diff album each time I swear 😭

Phantom of the Opera - the original 1986 London cast one bc I just prefer it to the movie

[sea-of-machines]

JCS 2000 ALBUM LISTENING (thoughts)

Disclaimer: the only Jesus Christ Superstar I've ever heard before this is the original concept album.

Heaven on their minds: wow, the mixing sucks. Also Judas' voice is odd, sounds a bit weak.

What's the buzz? Strange thing, mystifying: damn, Jesus has a soft voice. I think I kinda like it. Otherwise the track feels somehow hurried and odd paced.

Everything's alright: the mixing is so horrible it's almost making me a hater. Also, the way the singing is flowing with the music feels weird compared to the original concept album (not just on this song but the other's as well).

Hosanna: hmm, this one feels a bit more pleasant to listen to. Whoever plays Caiaphas sounds kinda bussing.

Simon Zealotes / Poor Jerusalem: even the instrumental is poorly mixed. I like the choir singing. Simon has a nice voice too. As far, I feel like they casted the main trio (Jesus, Judas, Mary) a bit poorly but the rest quite well. The mixing is too “cinematic” aka some bits are just too silent.

Pilate's dream: too fucking silent. Singer sounds like mom said that we have opera at home. 

The temple: this has some of my favourite lines for Jesus. It was very promising until we got there. Jesus wasn't upset enough. Should've screamed more angrily. (Oh boy, what will Gethsemane be with this…) Also, the end part of the song began too quietly once again, but it got better. Seriously, Jesus’ singer lacks aggression. He is great but it's lacking.

I don't know how to love him: honestly, at this point I'm probably just a hater, but they played it too safe with Mary. 

Damn, they just skipped songs??? Where's Damned for all time / Blood money??? (This made me realise that there's songs missing from the beginning as well.)

The last supper: was the original this long as well? This feels oddly long. The Jesus & Judas argument is cool, except angry Jesus reminds me of the video where a man was screaming at yellow paint. Choir singing slaps though. Splendid.

Gethsemane: Oh no. The beginning is horrible. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE PACING OF THE SINGING??????? I want to scream into a cardboard tube. The emotion is put in the wrong places. Sounds extremely hilarious. Man screams at yellow paint again. I feel like this was too pretentious and therefore failed to be the great masterpiece it should be.

King Herod's song: hell nahh what is this goofy ahh shit 💀💀💀 I never want to hear this again.

Could we start again, please?: What's this? I've never heard this song in my life. They decided to add this instead of the banger songs they cut out??? (Ok apparently this was in the og movie. I haven't seen it so I didn't know, but this track is lame.)

Judas’ death: promising start, nice amount of drama, but that's about it. The rest is meh. Honestly, I regret uninstalling subway surfers because this is boring.

Trial before Pilate: “so the king is once again my guest” but you cut out the part where he was his guest for the first time lol. I have to admit that Jesus’ vocals are pretty neat in this (rare). Also the mixing seems to have gotten a bit better as we're reaching the end, or maybe I've just gotten used to it…

Superstar: the intro goes hard. Vocals are surprisingly good for this album too.

Crucifixion: DJHSGSDHSHSGZ omg lollll what the fuck this is just so fucking miserable 😭

John nineteen: forty-one: it's an instrumental, they can't fuck it up, right?

I want back the 1 h 19 min I just wasted from my life.

[dalekofchaos]

The downfall of Emilie Autumn, was just sad

I honestly gotta say that Emilie Autumn was my life. From 2010-2020. She was my world. She was my goddess. I was at my lowest point when I found her music and she uplifted me throughout my terrible depression. I even got into her Asylum Facebook group, I got my Plague Rat #W25Z got a lot of interactions with Emilie in the group and got this lovely email from Emilie.

Then in 2020 I found out she was a racist, was using BLM to make money off of it and was silencing black and POC voices on her instagram and then the Asylum facebook group just stopped altogether. No one got to comment and no one could use their voices.

Never meet your heroes 😔 but the good that came out of all the drama is I got some really good friends out of the plague rats I did meet.

I stopped caring for Emilie Autumn after the incidents, if you don't know what I mean, read this masterpost and this post of her old controversies.

But this comment on reddit sums up why her career never went anywhere.

"Whatsup with Emilie these days?

So i was a fan in high school but she literally stopped producing and performing after fight like a girl i assume? I know she played in a horror movie but what does she do now for a living and im suprised she didn't became a bigger artist during the years"

"Uuh. Where to start...The movies flopped ("The Devil's Carnival"), partly because of development hell that delayed production of the second movie for years and the hype died down, partly because the concept was great but the movies were... not that good. She was best buds with the director for a few years around the time they were released; like many of her friends over the years, he seems to have disappeared from her life since then (more on that later). But she did start a relationship with her co-star Marc Senter; they're still together and seemingly happy.

The projected Asylum Musical (that she was originally planning to premiere in 2014, lol - she's been talking about it for over a decade...) has yet to come to fruition. She moved to NYC in large part for this purpose (to be closer to Broadway). She hired a voice coach and started taking ballet lessons to prep for playing her own role. She went through a period of making wild casting announcement of the Famous Friends she'd met through "Devil's Carnival" - like Adam Pascal as Dr Stockhill (unclear whether this was just for fun / a favor for his co-star at the movie premiere, or if he was actually interested in the role), or Ted "Jesus Christ Superstar" Neeley as Sir Edwards (hilarious). But now it's 2023, she appears/claims to still be composing and writing the score and even altering some character names (we'll get to that), all the supportive Famous Friends seem to have vanished, and we seem nowhere closer to an actual Asylum Musical on this plane of existence.

But hey, it's the entertainment industry - many people try to get a shot at making their dream musical a reality, and fail. C'est la vie - maybe she just got unlucky, right? Well... maybe so, but other elements suggest that it's something other than just shit luck. First of all, EA does not appear to understand how Broadway works, or that it applies to her too. None of her projected timelines ever made sense. She "doesn't want" (couldn't get) outside investors, so she's planning on financing it all herself (BUT HOW??? oh, nevermind, we'll get to that too). SHe also seems insistent on debuting on Broadway, and nowhere else - no off-Broadway or local theaters for this gal! Nevermind the fact that she's got zero professional experience writing, directing or producing a musical, and that no Broadway professional in their right mind would ever give a slot to a niche musical by a basically-unknown indie artist.

In general, she seems reluctant to work with other people or meet their expectations... which is a problem for such a project. For instance, the closest we got to an "actual" production announcement was that a theater school was going to workshop Emilie Autumn's "Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls" next semester. IIRC, she promoted this and said she was excited. And then... nothing. No news for weeks. When people went back to the school's website, the announcement had been completely removed. And that was that. What on Earth happened, that the school didn't even want to publicly acknowledge this change of plans? Methinks they realized that they had been misled (ie the musical was not finished), or there was a MASSIVE conflict with Emilie that led to the workshop falling through.

Then, there's the gradual vanishing of everyone who had originally let her (in earnest or as a joke, we'll never know) attach their sometimes Very Famous names to her Very Obscure and Unfinished Project. And that includes... Veronica Varlow! Yeah, you read that right. Even though they now live in the same city, they haven't talked in years and don't follow each other on IG. It must have been something big, because some time ago, EA made a very unsubtle announcement about changing the name "Veronica" (the Asylum character who became Emily's tragic lesbian lover in the 87459th reworking of the story) to "Charlotte" because "I have been told that Veronica sounds anachronistic in Victorian England" (sure hun, if you say so). I still wonder whether it was EA writing her ex-BFF out of her life in a ridiculously dramatic way, or whether it was VeVa who asked EA to keep her name out of her mouth... and her script.

So yeah. She's not friends anymore with any of the people you remember from being a fan in high school. She's living in NYC, and pretending there's a musical in the works. She's also been making visual art for a couple years. Personally, I really like her mixed-media art with medical supplies - I think it's some of her most interesting work in years, better than the last two albums. But then, recently, she, uh... tried something else. I'll just let you search this sub for "AI" because I still can't wrap my head around What the Fuck She Was Thinking and it's exhausting to even recount.

tl;dr - She never became a bigger artist because she's been stuck on the same stale, unrealistic project for 10+ years, because she stopped touring and releasing new music, and because she's seemingly alienated all of her friends and industry connexions... as well as most of her ever-shrinking fanbase. A real shame all around."

[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

[hekate1308]

Ok but do people actually know that German TV channel RTL did a live-broadcast of The Passion of the Christ on Good Friday 2022, only that they decided to make it a musical and cast the winner of the first-ever season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar (German American Idol) as Jesus and that after all of that they didn't even write original songs but used famous German pop ballads and it was already so over the top it went straight from garbage to glorious and so the betrayal happens but SOMEONE looked at Judas selling Jesus for thirty pieces of silver and went "Hey guys you know what let's have Jesus and Judas sing one of the most famous German breakup ballads of the last twenty years at each other right before Judas kisses Jesus and NOT EVEN CHANGE THE LYRICS" do people know that because I myself have to check now and then that it wasn't just some fanfiction fever-dream

I am not kidding.

[jcs-study]

Thinking About JCS Too Much, Vol. 1: "Jaded Mandarin" - Lost in Translation?

Intro

In my second attempt at an introduction for this blog, I pondered aloud, "Ever wonder if you’re too big a fan of your favorite piece of entertainment?" Suffice it to say, that is far from the only time that thought has crossed my mind.

You see, unlike many faded celebrities attempting to jump-start their careers afresh by "finding religion," I followed the opposite path. I don’t remember hearing about God, Jesus, or anything like that before a certain age. I was about 4 when I first started becoming aware of religion. Something related to Christendom spawned a cover story in Time magazine, and they had this beautiful traditional artwork of Jesus on the front that caught my eye. I became obsessed with religion in general, and the Christ story in particular. (Even today a lot of my extracurricular reading is devoted to religious fiction and non-fictional religious studies, and the shelves of my film collection are strewn with biblical epics, both Old Testament and New. I’m by no means invested in the Abrahamic faiths -- in fact, I'm now an avowed atheist -- but I won’t deny that I’m very knowledgeable about them.)

This obsession led me to Jesus Christ Superstar, and so my life as a show biz professional, and my switch from a special interest (yay, spectrum!) in religion and the surrounding scholarship to one in a single telling of a story that happens to deal with religious subject matter, began.

Naturally, this has led to a few embarrassing incidents of over-thinking where I nerd out just a little too much, primarily from a literary perspective. (Case in point: my answer to a recent question posed to this blog about the lack of a detail from the biblical story in the show. Did I need to go "all in" on whether or not Jesus was actually prophesying that Peter would deny him three times by the time a rooster crowed? Probably not. Did I anyway? Oh, c'mon, you've read it by now, don't make me relive it.)

So, in a similar vein, I'm going to periodically write about those moments where I nerd out too much, in hopes that my immense nerdiness will maybe give someone a deeper understanding of the show, even just a small part of it. You've seen one, thanks to an inquiry from an anonymous fellow fan; after the jump, here's another.

Translation vs. Adaptation

Among the many unique features of JCS, it was one of the first musicals of its kind to be widely adapted into the local vernacular when presented internationally, rather than merely importing an English-language cast as the custom used to be.

Besides its mother tongue, JCS can (theoretically) be heard in:

Czech

French

German (anecdotally, it has been reported that the German translation is not the best, which is why many productions in German-speaking countries opt for the English instead; however, that might be about to change, as the production at the Luisenburg Festspiele Wunsiedel this summer is supposed to mark the debut of a new authorized one -- we'll see how it goes!)

Hungarian (there's two Hungarian ones, actually)

Japanese

Polish

Portuguese

Romanian (in a translation recently debuted in, of all places, Chicago)

Russian (there are several, both official and unofficial; we will deal with all of them today)

Spanish (both the European variety and two Mexican ones)

Swedish (at least two that I'm aware of, the original and whatever Ola Salo uses for productions involving him)

(And those are just the ones I know about.)

While I appreciate JCS most in its original language, being a native English speaker myself, I realize translation and adaptation are important, for all the reasons that they usually are: not everybody speaks a foreign language with dexterity, or is capable of processing it at the pace a play or musical is performed; almost without exception, people respond better to the language they grew up speaking, especially in a piece of entertainment; and, most importantly, translation allows ideas and information to spread across cultures, sometimes changing history in the process. (After all, no matter what your religious belief, part of the reason the Bible -- the show's source material, as if you needed a reminder -- has had such an impact on history is the sheer number of translations, which, at last count, is 531 languages.)

However, translation into any language (pro or amateur) is a delicate art, especially where a play or musical is concerned. As Don Bartlett, who has translated Danish, German, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish books into English, put it in a piece where several translators were interviewed for The Guardian, “There’s always a tension between being true to the original and being readable.” On the one hand, translating the meanings of words and phrases in a literal way maintains fidelity to the text; on the other, translating sense-for-sense, taking into account the meanings of phrases or whole sentences, can improve readability. And that’s just books… imagine doing this for theater or film!

Personally, I subscribe to the assessment of Edith Grossman (also interviewed in the aforementioned Guardian piece), who once said: “…the most fundamental description of what translators do is that we write — or perhaps rewrite — in language B a work of literature originally composed in language A, hoping that readers of the second language — I mean, of course, readers of the translation — will perceive the text, emotionally and artistically, in a manner that parallels and corresponds to the aesthetic experience of its first readers. This is the translator’s grand ambition. Good translations approach that purpose. Bad translations never leave the starting line.”

(Or, to tie this back into our topic somewhat more closely, I'm mashing together two quotes from two different interviews with the late Herbert Kretzmer, the adaptor of such popular foreign musicals as Les Misérables, Marguerite, and Kristina: "Words have resonance within a culture, they have submarine strengths and meaning. If I wanted a literal translation, I would go to the dictionary. Translation — the very word I rebut and resent, because it minimizes the genuine creativity that I bring to the task. [...] I offer this advice to any lyricist invited to adapt or translate foreign songs into English: Do not follow the original text slavishly. Re-invent the lyric in your own words, remembering that there may be better ways of serving a master than trotting behind him on a leash.")

Nowhere is this job harder than JCS, especially in Russian. As languages, Russian and English are just too different from each other, each very rich in emotional shadings that the other language lacks (or at least conveys differently), to a point that nearly every new production of JCS over there has led to a fresh translation. Tim Rice's unusual wordplay, masterful (at times) in English, is very difficult to convey in a foreign tongue, especially when it can be safely argued that the expression in question is hardly common to its native audience.

The Piece We're Evaluating

As if the title didn't give it away, I speak, of course, of a certain insult Judas hurls at Jesus during their climactic argument at the Last Supper, calling him:

A jaded mandarin A jaded mandarin As a jaded jaded faded jaded jaded mandarin

That's a doozy in English, to say the least. I may have written on this blog previously that I’ve heard enough jokes about the Last Supper being at an all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant or Jesus’ penchant for citrus fruits to be tired of them all.

In case you missed Tim's actual meaning: mandarin is not just a variety of orange, a form of the Chinese language, or a term for an official in any of the nine top grades of the former imperial Chinese civil service (or clothing characteristic of what they’d allegedly wear or porcelain objets d’art depicting them). The root word for mandarin in Hindi means “counselor,” and – unfortunately, given this definition’s origin in unkind Asian racial stereotypes – the term came to refer (in colonialist British parlance) to a powerful official or senior bureaucrat, especially one perceived as reactionary and secretive. When he calls Jesus a “jaded mandarin,” Judas is saying that Jesus is corrupt, washed up, and useless as a leader.

Could Tim Rice have found a better way to say that? Probably. But this is the method he chose, and for better or worse, it has gone down in history ever since, including a recent parodic reference in the second season of the Apple TV+ series Schmigadoon! to a “sour macaroon.”

Now, it took all that explanation to convey its meaning in English. How well do you think it crossed over to Russian? Well, no less than 16 translators decided to try; some were official, others fan translations that were used in little-known productions. (The number should not be surprising. This is very much the viewpoint of an outsider looking in who lived long after that time, but when an album is banned by the government, bootleg copies change hands for huge sums "underground," and the music on that album is in a style also banned by the government… well, let's just say something "forbidden" is going to attract a lot of people. After that initial burst of enthusiasm, then it's like any other piece of literature which is translated a number of times by multiple people -- someone who thinks they can do a better job of conveying the foreign meaning in their native tongue, perhaps in a more modern dialect or a more relevant way.)

Inspired by a conversation I had on ye olde JCS Zone Forum (RIP) with Russian fan Pasha Levcovetz, we're going to take a look at all of them, evaluating them for literal vs. poetic accuracy and also offering opinions on which might have even -- dare I say it -- improved on the original. For the sake of most of my readership, I'll render the Russian in (literal but accurate) English so you can understand what the adapted lyrics intend to say. (Special thanks to Pasha for his help!)

Translating "Mandarin"

As one might expect with a phrase that is not exactly common linguistic currency, and the number of jokes made about Tim's choice of words, the first problem Russian translators might encounter is "mandarin" -- more specifically, whether or not it is a literal reference to mandarin fruit.

Much to both my dismay and my amusement, two of the official translators and three of the fans decided that the lyric indeed referred to the fruit.

In the Teatr Mossoveta production in Moscow, which has been presented numerous times from 1990 to the present (and which made much larger departures that I've previously written about in response to a question from @nemoverne), Yaroslav Kesler rendered it like so:

Like a pitiful tangerine Like a pitiful tangerine Like a pitiful, pitiful, pitiful, pitiful, yellow tangerine!

For the more faithful version recorded on CD in 1992, Vyacheslav Ptitsyn traveled in a similar direction:

Squeezed lemon! You are a squeezed lemon! You are a pathetic, petty, pathetic, petty squeezed lemon!

Lastly, for something that is not a variation on either of the above, fan translator Yevgeniy Susorov gives us:

You are a withered fruit You are rotten, tasteless fruit You are a withered fig tree that will die in the flames!

I can see their intention, and, in my opinion, both Ptitsyn and Susorov improved on the original line, although this was probably coincidental in the former's case.

As far as Kesler is concerned, it's more of a vague fruit comparison that sort of makes sense. A yellow tangerine is overripe, and as tasty as overly ripened fruit can be, it's prone to developing patches of mold, and goes bad when left uneaten for too long. The meaning here when Judas applies it to Jesus as an insult should be clear, as he's been saying something like this about him -- metaphorically speaking -- for the entire show. (In the fan category, Vadim Zhmud makes the same choice and is even more explicit about his intentions, rendering the fruit as a "lethargic," "well-fed" tangerine. Mikhail Kokovikhin's take also chooses "tangerine," but gets caught up in trying to use it in exactly the way Tim uses "mandarin," repeating the word for emphasis and relying on the fact that Russian has three different synonyms for the word "rotten" to pad out the stanza. There's nothing wrong with trying to match Tim's choices as closely as possible, but just calling someone a rotten fruit in all the ways one can is a little weak.)

Ptitsyn's is more intriguing, partially because of a (likely) unintentional double meaning. If you recall, he refers to a pathetic lemon that has had all the juice squeezed out of it. In American English, in addition to referring to the fruit of the same name, "lemon" is also used to refer to a product, usually an automobile, that has flaws -- like manufacturing defects, in the car's case -- too great or severe to serve its intended purpose. (To cite a more abstract usage, the late Jim Steinman aptly used the "lemon" analogy in the Meat Loaf song "Life Is a Lemon And I Want My Money Back.") In Russian, the phrase "squeezed lemon" similarly refers to someone very tired, a person who has lost their strength or abilities. Poetically speaking, Judas calling Jesus a "lemon" at this moment has an extra layer of meaning that works really well in either language.

Lastly, my favorite (if only as an atheist theologian) is Susorov, who doesn't just spin the line into a much better fruit metaphor -- he even gets biblical with it, referencing both Jesus' teaching about "trees bearing bad fruit" and also one bad tree in particular that figured into Jesus' final week in the original Passion narrative.

Quoting loosely from the King James Version of Matthew's Gospel (an incident also recounted in Mark, chapter 11): "And seeing a fig tree by the wayside [Jesus] went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, 'May no fruit ever come from you again!' And the fig tree withered."

In Susorov's text, Judas is not only condemning Jesus as the tree bearing bad fruit against which he preached, but also comparing him to a specific, very recent failure that might still sting.

(Susorov's choice is made even more ironic by the fact that Lloyd Webber and Rice intended to musicalize this moment in JCS themselves, but ultimately decided to cut it from the original album when concerns of length were raised, as previously discussed here. If that scene was still in the show, this would be quite the burn!)

Getting at the Meaning

Moving away from the poetic toward conveying the lyric's literal intention without getting bogged down in language, both official and fan translators seem to settle for general insults, so it becomes a different question: whether they are just that (i.e., general insults) or they convey the same meaning as intended by "jaded mandarin."

The latter is achieved adequately by Viktor Polyak (Yaroslavskiy Gosudarstvennyy Teatr Yunogo Zritelya, 1989-1994):

You are a crashed idol You are a crashed idol You are a crashed, broken, dirty idol!

It works. The show is called Jesus Christ Superstar; a fallen celebrity metaphor is far from out of place. Maksim Samoylov, in the fan department, goes for a similar take, having Judas call Jesus a "little, fallen star."

Svetlana Peyn, whose translation has appeared at Stas Namin in Moscow from 2011 to the present, is on a similar wavelength:

You are a pompous hero You are a pompous hero With poisonous loud glory you are a self-important pompous hero

Ouch!

Mikhail Parygin, a fan translator, is in the same boat, going for "a [...] pathetic, petty, pompous king." Likewise Andrey Voskresenskiy, with "a [...] surrendered, fallen, finished prophet," and Vera Degtyaryova, who settles for "a miserable [...] former leader." Also rather close is Aleksandr Butuzov, who has Judas call Jesus "a loser" and "a mediocre, brainless, stupid leader." Though Russian fans I've spoken to don't especially care for his choice of words in their own language, it's on the mark as far as literal meaning goes.

Another official translation is not quite in the same realm, but close enough to make sense. Specifically, Grigoriy Kruzhkov and Marina Boroditskaya, holding the pen for the St. Petersburg Rock Opera State Theater in an adaptation which has been produced since 1990, provided:

Like a rebel! Like a simple rebel! Like a deceiver and a thief! Like a self-proclaimed king!

Metaphorically speaking, if you squint at it, it looks similar; full-bore insults that at least fit the plot.

Things get a little more interesting when translators move farther afield. For example, on the official front, Valeriy Lagosha's version for the "Free Space" Theater in Oryol, which ran from 2003-07, is:

No, I do not want this, prophet I do not want this, prophet After all, in this life I was able to do much more

It's an interesting idea to follow Judas' suggestion in "Heaven On Their Minds" that everyone would be better off if Jesus had not become famous and reinforce that point.

On the fan front, Kirill Sukhomlinov chooses to turn Jesus' biblical language about the religious authorities back on him:

You are a pathetic hypocrite You are a pathetic hypocrite You are a pathetic, pathetic, pathetic, pathetic, nasty hypocrite!

And Maksim Zakharov doesn't really hit on the exact idea, but manages to create something that at least fits the character and situation:

You are a dark person You are a terrible person I am glad that you will end your life in prison!

Conclusion

Will there ever be a perfect translation? The jury's still out, especially -- it would seem -- in Russian. (There are more examples just from Russian translations to talk about that I will contemplate in future posts.) But it's always fascinating to view a piece from someone else's perspective, isn't it?

[margo-mania]

Hi hello!!!!!

Have you ever seen Cats Tecklenburg? It’s a production of cats entirely circus themed, and it’s on YouTube!!! It’s really fun, and all German casts usually sound really really good, because they use the original Vienna translation, which does the same thing that the Swedish 2016(?) Jesus Christ Superstar tour does, which is changing the lyrics to fit the meter of the language!!!!

It does have growltiger in it, but that fact is, at least for me, canceled out by the fact that this production has my favorite iteration of Billy Mccaw EVER, Jellylorum sounds like an angel, and this growltiger and jelly are actually really sweet to each other, it’s really cute :)))

I’ve watched so many productions of cats that I’ve found a bit of a formula for myself, and what languages the songs sound really good in.

Memory, and Jemima specifically, sound really really good in Spanish, and for Jemima, especially with the final reprise of her motif, ‘Sunlight,’ because the way the syllables fall into place. Either that, or Jemima from the 2004 Madrid production is just LITERALLY an angle.

WAIT SPEAKING OF CIRCUSES, in the 90s to i believe the early 2000s, there was a Circus Tent Tour in Australia that there are NO recordings of, besides a 20 min documentary on YouTube. It upsets me to an unholy degree because according to the documentary, there was TRAPEZE TRICKS!!!!!

Also Victoria looks so gorgeous, her wig has ringlets? Its curly and very beautiful <333

Anyways, for the request bit, maybe Razzle teaching one of the kittens to swim? Maybe Pouncival? I think he’d either be rly rly good or really really bad at it lollll

YOOOO THAT SOUNDS SO COOL!!? I'll definitely have to check it out on YouTube :0 I love learning about all different kinds of productions yippee!!

Also I love the request I'll draw it a bit later bc I just woke up ❤️

[ohmyenjolrass]

my ranking of every production i have seen (or listened) of jesus christ superstar

we are getting closer to holy week so IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR. this is a remake of this post.

as always, sorry for any grammar mistakes, english is not my first language. also, this is my personal opinion, any other opinion is also accepted :)

without further ado, let's get into it!

1. Jesus Christ Superstar (1973 movie)

YOU CAN'T OUTDO THE DOER.

everything in this movie changed my life. literally.

it was the first time i actually saw jesus christ superstar represented visually (i had only heard the 2007 madrid version before). the overture scene is one of my favourites of all time, the concept is amazing.

the cast is SUPREME. carl anderson is one of my favourite judas of all time; he is an excellent singer and his interpretation is E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. also, yvonne elliman and ted neely are amazing. both their interpretations are absolutely gorgeous.

i love the costume design also (mary magdalene's dress AND JUDAS' OUTFIT FOR SUPERSTAR), i feel like it really fits the 70s vibe and i love that jesus is still dressed as, well, jesus.

overall, it is an amazing production AND the original so 10/10 without a doubt.

2. Jesucristo Superstar (2007 Madrid)

i may be a little biased by this one but HEAR ME OUT. it is an impressive production. i grew up listening to this soundtrack in my parents' car and i feel like it is one of the best cast recordings of all time. the lyrics of this version are different from the 1975 spanish one, but they are equally amazing.

costume design for me in this one is also a bonus, because i love how everyone is dressed as people dressed in spain in the 2000s. also, i like that jesus doesn't wear a tunic, i don't know why lol. one of my favourite costumes is the priests' outfits.

now, the cast. WOW. ignasi vidal is my favourite judas. it is not even up for debate. he is AMAZING in everything he does, BUT JUDAS. his role. his 'heaven on their minds' ('el cielo los cegó' in this production) is on repeat in my brain 24/7. also, miquel fernández, who plays jesus, IS STUNNING. he was my first celebrity crush. his voice and acting is something else (you should really check out his 'gethsemane'!). lorena calero plays mary magdalene, and apart from being THE MOST GORGEOUS WOMAN ON EARTH, i want her voice to sing for me every day of my life.

this production is truly something else, and i feel like it is great heritage from the 1975 version. again, i encourage you to see it! (10/10!)

3. Jesus Christ Superstar (2012 O2 Arena)

LISTEN. i know in my last post i said it wasn't one of my favourites. BUT AFTER A REWATCH, i have a lot to say.

first, setting. how the scene is organised is the coolest. i love the tents, i love the stairs, i love the screens. everything. i feel like it is the best setting (without counting the movie because they are literally IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT).

now, cast. TIM MINCHIN, LOVE OF MY LIFE. i'm not gonna say anything new, his judas is amazing. he plays the part so effortless it makes me think i can do it to. ALSO, BEN FORSTER. i know i talked shit about him before, but i really didn't know how to appreciate him. i love you, bensus, sorry for anything i've said before. mel c still doesn't sit right for me as mary magdalene, but her voice is truly beautiful.

costumes, right. i love how jesus is both dressed in black and white, not only in white. also, JUDAS. serving looks the entire play. one thing i have to say, mary's outfit was not made for me. i love the vibe, but not really my thing.

in general, good production, amazing singers. 9/10.

4. Jesus Christ Superstar (2012 Broadway Revival)

I DISCOVERED AMERICA WITH THIS ONE. OH MY GOD.

josh young ABSOLUTELY blows my mind. his voice, his outfit, his angst, EVERYTHING. he is stunning and i would give my life for him. also, chilina kennedy????? WHATEVER YOU SAY, SWEETHEART. i swear she is a dream, her voice, her acting, HER FACE.

one thing i really liked in this version was the scene, and also the little screen that was saying like '3 days until passover'. i think that was very original and guiding tbh lol.

if i have to say something that i didn't like is paul nolan as jesus. i liked his acting and his voice is pretty, but i feel like his gethsemane was lacking something and it wasn't really my favourite.

also, the dynamic between jesus, judas, and mary in this version was one of the sweetest ever. i loved loved LOVED it.

all in all, 7.5/10!

5. Jesucristo Superstar (Spain, 1975)

i haven't seen this version but i heard it when i was little as well. i still prefer the 2007 spanish recording, but this one is amazing.

camilo sesto's gethsemane never ceases to amaze me. his voice and the pain in it are truly heartbreaking. also, ángela carrasco's voice???? life-saving. i swear everyone who plays mary is GORGEOUS and an amazing singer.

the lyrics are well-translated and the 70s vibe throughout the whole album is absolutely stunning.

now, negative points. teddy bautista as judas is not my favourite. his voice is amazing but i think it is not made for me. however, his passion and interpretation are truly something.

i have to give it a few more listenings to this so i can get a better opinion, but in general, 7/10!

6. Jesus Christ Superstar (2000 movie)

well, after a year, this has gone down a few positions.

what to say, let's see. the scene was cool. i feel like they did a lot with very little decorations. it was original and well-used.

now, the cast. renée castle is a dream. she is absolutely stunning, as a person and as a singer. her voice is just so soothing and relaxing. and tony vincent as simon is SO HOT. the rest, well...

glenn carter is a pretty good singer, but i feel like lots of his songs lacked a bit of something. he is a good actor (never seen a sadder jesus), but i think that there are other jesus that i like better.

now, jerôme pradon. interpretation, 10/10. singing, well. could be better. i love his acting throughout the whole musical, and also his evil twink vibe. however, his voice kinda makes me nervous??? i don't know how to explain it but maybe it wasn't the role for him, i don't know.

costume design was questionable to say the least. i gotta say that judas' outfit is so cool but WHO HAD THE THOUGHT OF PUTTING JESUS ON CARGOS. costume department found arrested.

after giving it a few rewatches, 6/10. enjoyable but not the best.

7. Jesus Christ Superstar: Live In Concert (2018)

this was a bit of a mess, to be honest. let's go first with the positive points.

SARA BAREILLES, MY LORD AND SAVIOR. she could sing me her grocery list and i would listen to her. she has such a captivating and calming voice and she's an amazing performer.

also, norm lewis. that man is just *chef's kiss*. brandon victor dixon is also amazing as judas and i feel like he deserves more recognition. his damned for all time is one of my favourites.

moreover, the set. i think it was very modern and the vibe was so cool with the orchestra in the scaffolds. also, i feel like the public played a very important role in this performance and they really knew how to use it.

costume design wasn't my favourite but we have seen worse.

now, negative things. JOHN LEGEND. my guy could not play jesus and i think he knew it too. his gethsemane sounds like i sound when i sing it in the shower. his acting was also pretty questionable. don't get me wrong, he is an amazing singer, but i feel like he shouldn't play a role that requires reaching high notes.

also, i feel like alice cooper could have done a much better job as herod. he is lacking that dorky, humoristic element that i think is essential in that song.

i gotta say this gets bonus points for glitter. i love glitter. overall, 5.5/10. would rewatch only for sara bareilles.

and that was everything! another year, another ranking. i hope you enjoyed it and tell me your opinions too! see you next year x

[icannotreadcursive]

Fannish Fest February, day 1: My First Fandom

Prompt from @thepromptfoundry

I really have two first fandoms, that I initially got into right around the same time, and I don’t think it’s worth digging into the calendar month by month to confirm which preceded the other.

One was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats. My local PBS station ran every filmed version available of a bunch of ALW musicals one day, and I liked Joseph, wasn’t really into Jesus Christ Superstar, but Cats just tickled my little child brain something special.

I learned the whole show, front to back, including a fair bit of the choreography. I didn’t write it down because I couldn’t really write at the time, but I was making up fic—not that I knew to call it that.

I still love the show with my whole heart, have been in a production, it’ll always be dear to me, but I was obsessed as a kid.

The other was Harry Potter.

My mom started reading the series first, cuz she was unwell and couldn’t do a lot more than read. Then, she read the first two books to me.

Then we started getting me the audiobooks read by Jim Dale, and I really ought to find a fan mail address for him and send a thank you letter because that man taught me how to read.

I’m dyslexic and learning to read was a struggle for me, but long before I was diagnosed I learned to read by reading along over and over to the first few Harry Potter books. And, come to think of it, I’m not sure but I think my mom’s original copies must have been British editions because I picked up some British terminology and spellings that I’m pretty sure the original American releases localized.

As the series went on, I grew up with it, and was introduced to the concept of fannish community through it. My first written fanfic and my first published fanfic were for HP—that first published one is no longer up, and thinking back on it I cringe, but there’s also a fondness there for my unabashed unashamed enthusiasm and the real fun I had with that obvious self insert OC.

I learned media analysis and began honing my own story instincts, sitting down with my mom with those fan theory and prediction books that used to come out between HP book releases. We’d talk through the theories in those books, discuss their merits, how likely we thought they were based on the narrative trajectory so far. There’s a few things I called years before they were revealed, and in a couple cases, before me or my mom had seen anyone else in the fandom speculate about them.

That process, starting from when I was quite young, undoubtedly contributed to molding my brain into the story machine it is now and pointed me to my career and my calling as a writer.

I went from younger than the main cast, to their age, to older than them. Now I’m closer in age to Remus and Sirius. And, not entirely unlike them, I’ve had this dear part of my growing up cut off and the associations with it tainted by a betrayal from someone I respected and trusted.

That may sound overdramatic, and yeah yeah “it’s just a book,” but the sense of betrayal and loss is real.

There’s a line that I wrote in a fic a while back, where Remus is talking about finding a happy memory to cast a patronus, and the fact that all the memories he has for that are painful now, they’re bittersweet at best, because of the loss and betrayal that have come since. But regardless of all of that, they will always have been happy moments when he lived them, and that’s what he has to remember.

That’s kinda how I feel about the Harry Potter fandom now. It will always have been what it was to me, and no one can take that away.

[oh-jesus-in-the-air]

@nico-di-angelfish tagged me,, and I forget to do these if I don’t do them immediately so here are my 9 (current) favorite albums:

1 and 2 are both albums by The Clash. The first is their debut album, which has Remote Control, Garageland, and Hate and War. I love how gritty and honest it all is; strummer and jones both sound so sincere. Sandinista is my favorite album by them. It's a weird mishmash of sounds, but it's true. If you want to understand the album, listen to Washington Bullets, Corner Soul, and Something about England. I realize London Calling's absence is controversial.

3 is The Black Parade. This album got me through my first semester in college. I could listen to it for hours with friends trying to decipher what on earth is going on. Every time I think I've got a good grasp on it- it slips away.

4 is Sweeney Todd. I had to include Sondheim somehow, and I think this is one of his best works. Johanna (quartet), Epiphany, and the final sequence are unskippable. Also,, "and though I'll think of you I guess until the day I die, I think I miss you less and less as every day goes by, Johanna" it's not sad, it's just... you sort of forget as you're watching that it's the system that made Sweeney, and he's not inherently a bad guy. "And you'd be beautiful and pale and look too much like her. If only angels could prevail, we'd be the way we were". Sweeney throughout the show doesn't try to make the audience like him. sometimes he explains his world view, but it's not in search of acceptance. This is the one time where he's letting his softer emotions out and we see the man that once was.

5. I don't even know where to begin. I'm talking about the 1973 version. Nothing more to say.

6 is representative of Willam Finn in general, but @nico-di-angelfish already put falsettos. I think I listen to 25th Annual more anyway, especially lately. I made the mistake a few years ago of only listening to the first few songs and dismissing it. Do not do that. Listen to the end- watch it live if you can because the context is sort of important. Not the context- but you need to know the characters so that you can let yourself feel. If you get to "the I love you song" and still don't get it... I don't know what else to tell you

spring awakening is my 7th pick. I love spring awakening but I fully realize that if I hadn't seen a production of it this year, it wouldn't be in the running. but I did, so it's here.

Phantom of the Opera is here because apparently Jesus Christ Superstar wasn't enough Lloyd Webber for me. I'm talking specifically about the original cast album with brightman and crawford. It's a beautiful album and playing it will always brighten (ha!) my day. Like,,, the clash is many things, but it's not beautiful. Sure, Dickinson might say beauty and truth are one- but the distinction is there because the clash is so true it's beautiful, while phantom is so beautiful it's true.

Hamilton is obligatory, because I owe Hamilton a lot. I hardly ever listen to it anymore but it belongs here.

I tag whoever wants to do this! Also I tag @bestoftimes-worstoflimes

@nico-di-angelfish did you know everything I would include?

[h0mocorrectus]

is Jesus Christ Superstar your favorite musical?

OMG IT WORKS! HI!

Yep, my mom is a big fan and I listened to it (the original cast recording) as soon as I learned some English (my first language is Russian), so I think at 8?

My faves are the 1973 movie (cuz classic) but I don't at all like Ted Neeley, Питерская Рок-опера (st Petersburg Rock Opera) but it has to be with Bayarunas as Jesus and Kazmin as Judas, and the Swedish version from 2012 in Stockholm. I am completely in love with Peter Johansson's Judas and this musical is actually the reason I got into Scandinavian languages! I'm studying Norwegian now, not Swedish, but there are a lot of similarities so I understand a pretty big part of the words. Also I have a life-sized cardboard version of Swedish Judas in my room (I'm moving in with my girlfriend @furciferangeli rn so ya better believe Judas is coming with me. I showed her the thing and she has a giant crush on him as well, so he is now ✨OUR✨ cardboard husband).

I am so mentally ill about Chriscariot (Jesus/Judas) that I wrote a very short angsty-ass fic in Russian about them at some point, but I've only showed it to the aforementioned girlfriend so it's just chilling in my notes app for now✌️

My blog was even named after JCS: it was originally scripturethumpinghack from the line "He's just another scripture-thumping hack from Galilee" from "Then we are decided", a duet between Caiaphas and Annas (it was only included in the st Petersburg version and the movie, it's not even in the original album), but I decided it would be easier for my ADHD brain to remember my usernames if I had them the same across the board :) I also had a TikTok account called jaded-mandarin I think, but I don't use it anymore for reasons of Russia lol

Also here's a gif of Swedish Judas singing Superstar because he is gorgeous and y'all deserve a treat (I think the gif is from @mgmpluto they had like a bunch of gifsets, but I've had this specific one in my gallery forever to stare at during lonely winter evenings ;)

Thanks for the ask uwu I think it's actually my first one! And happy new year!

[dreamlightofyourway]

happy easter and whatever

is now a good time to bring up the steampunk jcs costume designs I made freshman year that got jcs banned at my school :)

[omegothic]

i'm like. if i heard the musical once that's the only way i'm gonna be listening to it. the phantom of the opera? only sierra boggess and ramin karimloo idc. everyone else are impostors. jesus christ superstar? ted neeley and carl anderson. idc if y'all like ian gillan. hamilton? only the original cast.