Major Disappointment

 

Last Sunday evening I attended the Broadway touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar, a performance I was eagerly looking forward to.  I'm a huge fan of everything the duo of Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice have created and I hadn't seen this particular musical in many years.  I was excited to experience its power and passion once again.  What a major disappointment it turned out to be.  

In many cases I've enjoyed revivals of plays.  Seeing a familiar play in a different context is sometimes very stimulating.  In this particular instance it was a bit of disaster. Let me summarize what I think went wrong.  We'll start with the singing.  I wouldn't actually call it singing, it was more like screaming.  The power of Tim Rice's lyrics does not require the singer to scream them at the audience.  The screaming combined with ear-piercing level of volume made it impossible to make out the words to any of the beautiful songs from the play.  

My next complaint was the choreography.  From the moment the play started, the cast was jerking and twisting their bodies as if they were in serious pain or possibly possessed by demons.  Their movements did not convey a message of loving admiration for the play's namesake.  It conveyed fear and terror instead.  

Moving on the the costumes composed mostly of workout clothes that you might see at a dance rehearsal. I could have adjusted to that type of costume if it hadn't been for the Nike trainers.  My imagination could have adapted to the tattered joggers but the trainers emblazoned with the Nike swoosh was a little too much. 

There is a lot more I could add to this but This post is already a lot longer than I had planned.  I will say that at first I worried that my dislike of this production was related to my advanced age however, I've read way too many like-minded reviews many written by students agreeing with everything I've just said and more.  This was just a bad revival.  The producers need to go back to the drawing board.