Digitally Disillusioned

On Monday night we went to see Jesus Christ Superstar, the latest rendition of the ever so mildly controversial Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. This is, I guess, part of the Ted Neely Farewell Tour - Ted being the guy who played Jesus in the really quite excellent Norman Jewison film version of said musical from 1973. 35 years later and the guy is still playing Jesus, albeit with a lot thinner hair and looking a hell of a lot older. This “tour” apparently started in 2006 and will undoubtedly go until Ted Neely drops dead, perhaps to resume again 3 days later depending on whose theology is actually representative of the natural order of the universe, and if you allow me to stretch a metaphor horribly.

And as you can see on the poster, the production also drug Corey Glover from Living Color out of the archives to play Judas.

I really have no idea how the show looked when it first hit the stage - back when the dinosaurs ruled the earth - but this production felt more like a homage to its years of infamy. Stage production was tremendously minimal, and outside the songs nothing was done to demonstrate any kind of plot advancement. It was basically a bunch of people on stage singing all the songs you remember. The only standout things were how much like a zombie Ted Neely looked like, how little enthusiasm Corey Glover put into anything at all, and how nice the tits were on Mary Magdaline. Let me tell you if she was working the temples I’d be a lot more regular in my attendance.

Of course, we discovered that this show would be in town quite late, so we didn’t get the best seats in the world. Rented binoculars came in handy, but having totally uneven vision makes binoculars a pain. Here is what it looked like - 4 rows from the absolute back of the Jubilee Auditorium.