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April 10, 2020 6:12 PM

For the next several weeks, The Shows Must Go On will be making an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical available on YouTube for 48 hours as of 7 p.m. BST/2 p.m. EDT each Friday, in its entirety and for free. Today, they've aired Jesus Christ Superstar, directed by Laurence Connor and starring Tim Minchin, Mel C and Chris Moyles.
posted by mandolin conspiracy (43 comments total)

I love this version of JCS!!! Tim Minchin plays Judas, obviously.
posted by Lyn Never at 6:17 PM on April 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

He's great in this version!
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:22 PM on April 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

I am a JCS obsessed weirdo, but I'll keep it brief: This version drew from Occupy Wallstreet and reality TV to build a devastatingly effective contemporary setting.

The image of the Roman guard in full riot gear emerging and hammering their batons on their riots shields before advancing to disperse a protest haunts me. It was heavy at the time (2012) and has only taken on more baggage every year as militarised police and the inevitable brutal displays of excess force that follows become more common. I am anxious and tearing up just thinking about it to type this.

I would rewatch the whole thing right now were I not headed to work.
posted by seraphine at 7:20 PM on April 10, 2020 [8 favorites]

I love JCS and expected to hate this but I loved it! Thanks!
posted by antiquated at 7:50 PM on April 10, 2020

brb rewatching the Cats movie

for some reason
posted by DoctorFedora at 8:02 PM on April 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

Just watched the movie version this morning!
posted by Chrysostom at 8:29 PM on April 10, 2020

I was really digging Minchin's opening song, but at just over 9 minutes in I'm suddenly thinking I'd really love to hear him belting it out without autotune... :\
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:32 PM on April 10, 2020 [4 favorites]

Also, Mel C manages to sing the word "ointment" mellifluously (sorry), which I'd imagine was difficult to pull off.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:44 PM on April 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

  Hark!
 -with-
HEROD

That was a nice touch.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:46 PM on April 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

I'm a half-hour in and amazed at how good this is.
posted by desuetude at 10:20 PM on April 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

Another nice touch: the red MAGA caps at about 1:22:30 ...ouch.

To those with a better grasp of music theory than me: the key that keeps cropping up especially in the darkest parts - GmM7#11 ?
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:22 PM on April 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

Even though I'm irritated every time at the treatment of Mary. First of all for perpetuating the horseshit prostitution implication, but even more because her character is so underwritten as to make no damn sense.
posted by desuetude at 10:28 PM on April 10, 2020 [4 favorites]

Sexy corset-and-panty clad angels seem needlessly impious
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:31 PM on April 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

I know very little about Tim Minchin, but wow, he's good in this.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:50 PM on April 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

As well-done (apart from the quibbles stated upthread) and compelling as that was, I come away even more fundamentally pissed-off at what a bunch of utter shit both religion specifically and power structures in general are, and how much humanity sucks. Clearly I need a lot more legal intoxicants to quell my urge to rage and howl.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:54 PM on April 10, 2020 [3 favorites]

Oh, I forgot to mention the...interesting salival choices Pontius made.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:32 PM on April 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

I had to switch it off after 10 minutes... Who the hell auto tunes Tim Minchin ?!?!
posted by Pendragon at 12:18 AM on April 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

The auto-tune was indeed very weird and ugh.
posted by desuetude at 12:39 AM on April 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

I was... underwhelmed. The singing was good, some of the acting was good, but they often just kind of stood and stared awkwardly while singing, the staging was usually crowded and confusing, I didn’t like the screen behind them showing live video of them, and I thought the lighting was frankly awful. You get a follow spot if you’re Jesus, Mary, Judas, or some bad guys, but everyone else is practically in darkness. With bright spots on the stairs next to them where the lights are shining to make the beam patterns in the haze. I just expected so much better.
posted by Weeping_angel at 1:34 AM on April 11, 2020

The switch from real Judas to projected Judas hanging himself was slick, though.
posted by Weeping_angel at 1:36 AM on April 11, 2020 [3 favorites]

Second prize is two Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:16 AM on April 11, 2020 [7 favorites]

I love this and everything about it. I forgot how much of this musical I actually remember.

And Tim Minchin was perfect.

A memory - My parents took us to see this in Pittsburgh sometime in the 1990's. Halfway through the show my younger brother leaned over and whispered "Hey, was in Starman!" (the television series).

I no longer remember the actor or the character he was referring to, but that actor was, indeed, in Starman.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 5:32 AM on April 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

Some context for the staging: this was a short UK tour, not a show that ran for days or weeks in a single theatre, and if I remember right this broadcast version was cut together between one or two live performances and one no-audience run-through (so they could do the crane shots etc), possibly in two different venues. So if you set your expectations closer to "rock band live show" rather than "well-executed televised theatre production" some of the choices make more sense.

I am choosing to believe the Autotune was a stylistic nod to dance music. Tim Minchin does not need Autotune.

(For those of you new to Tim, start with "Tim Minchin And The Heritage Orchestra Live" - netflix US, amazon, youtube audio only)
posted by Lyn Never at 8:07 AM on April 11, 2020 [4 favorites]

To those with a better grasp of music theory than me: the key that keeps cropping up especially in the darkest parts - GmM7#11 ?

The Judas key.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:52 AM on April 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

Since the days of the brown and yellow vinyl album.

My mom still has that original concept album on vinyl (Ian Gillan as Jesus, Murray Head as Judas, and Yvonne Elliman as Mary, fantastic orchestra!!!), and that was how I first heard any of the songs from the musical, so I can relate.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:27 AM on April 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

Jesus is making me think of Charles Manson.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 3:26 PM on April 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

Elliman is Mary in the movie, too.
posted by Chrysostom at 4:47 PM on April 11, 2020

Yeah, reviewing it again today I don't know where I got that Gm business from. The driving urgent ostinato of the intro does seem to be in the key of Dm (other than that angular b9). In any case it's a riveting musical device that won't let me stop thinking about it.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:43 PM on April 11, 2020 [1 favorite]

Jesus is making me think of Charles Manson.

HE IS DANGEROOOOUS.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:28 PM on April 11, 2020 [2 favorites]

I grew up areligious and Jesus Christ Superstar (the 1973 film on VHS in the 80s) was essentially my first introduction to Christianity. It didn't convert me, but it's been a favorite of mine ever since. It was also a thing my mom and I both really enjoyed, so it reminds me of her.

Tim Minchin was perfect, but the chemistry between Jesus and Judas was lacking.

Also, yes, why the autotune? Blah.
posted by thedward at 2:26 AM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

Jesus is making me think of Charles Manson.

He made me think of Toast of London.

But a great production, with lots of nice touches and a terrific performance from Tim Minchin (fortunately that early moment of auto-tune was the only noticeable one). The last 20-30 minutes were fantastic.
posted by rory at 2:48 AM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

I saw this production when it toured Australia in 2013. It was amazing. Most of the cast was the same, apart from Herod, played by Australian game show host Andrew O'Keefe, and Pontius Pilate, played by Jon Stevens, the lead singer of Noiseworks who had played Judas in the 1992 version.

The 1992 version was huge, featuring John Farnham as Jesus, Kate Ceberano as Mary and Angry Anderson as Herod. Everything's Alright was a top 10 single. My parents even took us out of school for the day so we could go to Sydney to see it.
posted by Kris10_b at 5:19 AM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

I really liked the casting for Caiaphas, Annas, and Pontius Pilate. They looked the part. I would expect to see Caiaphas and Annas in any board room, and Pontius Pilate looks like he could be a British barrister. They’re not huge parts I know, at least not the former, but they’re like the Opera house owners in Phantom of the Opera — I always enjoy seeing them, and when they’re well casted it just makes everything that much better.

Great Herod too. I’ve seen a whole spectrum of Herods, everything from George Burns knock offs to Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca knock offs. Having him as a day time talk show host was an inspired choice.
posted by gc at 6:01 AM on April 12, 2020 [4 favorites]

Marvelous, and just in time for Easter! Years ago, I was working at a very small non-profit theater which put on a production of Jesus Christ Superstar that was inspired by this take on it. Our artistic director saw it, and was determined to put on their own version of it. At the time, I didn't know who Tim Minchin was, so I did not then realize that they had stuck my buddy who played Judas in a Tim Minchin wig, amazing.
posted by EatTheWeek at 9:47 AM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

... the key of Dm (other than that angular b9).

Which, it struck me today, means it's in Phrygian mode! (I think?)
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:57 AM on April 12, 2020

I wanted to like this more than I did, but that's OK. I haven't heard the original in ages, and I enjoyed the way it was staged. Tim Minchin is brilliant in spite of autotune, Mel C makes a wonderfully gritty Magdalene, and Chris Moyles is hilarious. For all that, I found Ben Forster utterly unconvincing as Jesus.

I know, I know, Judas is arguably the lead, and Mary gets the best tunes. But for JCS to work, Jesus needs be its emotional core, particularly in Gethsemane, his biggest moment. When we come face to face with Christ's Passion, there should be no dry eye in the house. Well, the tragedy unfolded and Forster, bless his heart, gave us all the passions of a petulant teenager. By the time the finale rolled around, his sacrifice looked like a case of mistaken identity, and Judas could have been pointing and laughing at him along with Herod for all I cared.

Maybe that was the whole point. Maybe the original benefitted from its inception in the smoking ruins of 1960's counterculture. It certainly has an energy I didn't feel here. How should I know what the point is anyway? I'm not even a Christian, and this is the only work by ALW I have any love for. I do know that, on Easter Sunday, I'd sooner hear Ian Gillan's angry, disappointed, fearful Messiah, calling on the last shreds of his faith, knowing that it's not too late, he can still change his mind. And yet he goes ahead to meet his fate.

Because without that choice, what exactly is the message? Is it that despotism is inevitable, faith is a sham and resistance is useless? Growing up in London in the 1980's, this was one of a handful of interpretations of the Gospels that ever got through to me, and at its best, I think it evokes that very English radicalism which originates in Christian dissent. For all its merits, this outing shies away from presenting Jesus himself as a dissenting voice, lest perish the thought, he might look like some kind of fanatic with beliefs and opinions of his own. Instead, the conflict with Judas is irrelevant, and the only betrayal is a deep conservatism at its secular heart.
posted by Elizabeth the Thirteenth at 12:18 PM on April 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

WHYYYYYYYYYYYY
posted by Chrysostom at 2:02 PM on April 12, 2020 [4 favorites]

I noticed a change in the lyrics for Gethsemane from what I'm familiar with:

God your will is hard / and you hold every card

to

God, your will be done / take your only son

How common is that switch? Is that standard for more recent productions, or new for this one? It makes it a fair bit more Christian; without that the only reference to "son of god" is the interrogation, when Jesus doesn't claim or disclaim it.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 3:45 PM on April 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

I noticed that lyrics change as well, and heard a few others along the way that I didn't stop to parse.
posted by desuetude at 5:19 PM on April 12, 2020

How common is that switch?

I noticed that too: it seemed out of keeping with the rest of the lyrics, which are so challenging.
posted by suelac at 8:47 PM on April 12, 2020

PSA...this week:

The Shows Must Go On continues with the Royal Albert Hall performance of The Phantom of the Opera, starring Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:42 PM on April 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

This week ... Love Never Dies starring Ben Lewis as The Phantom and Anna O'Byrne as Christine, the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:21 PM on April 24, 2020

BOOZY BADGER REVIEWED LOVE NEVER DIES?!? Yesssss!
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:55 PM on May 1, 2020