Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical on the life and betrayal of Jesus is one of the most popular and well-known pieces in the West End and worldwide. But challenging parts and a completely sung musical mean a staging of the production by amateur groups often falls short of the spectacle one may expect in London. Therefore, it was a great pleasure to watch a Manchester theatre group come together to execute Jesus in all the glory of a professional show.
The storyline is much the same as that of the Bible scriptures: Jesus leads 12 apostles and preaches one God until one of these followers betrays him and he falls in to the hands of officials of state that declare him dangerous and have him crucified. The part of Judas in the musical however is much more voiced: he is seen as troubled, misled and wanting justice – not understanding how Jesus should come to claim to be the son of God.
It is a rock opera where the cast often face plenty of challenges; both Jesus and Judas are expected to achieve top A and top respectively; this is almost unheard of for Tenor roles. The dedication and vocal talent of Jonty Rigby (Jesus) should be noted as one of the highlights of the staging: his part sung almost flawlessly, despite lashings, being beaten, having to carry his cross through the audience and other numerous obstacles.
In addition, this remarkable production benefitted from the stage presence of Joe Schofield (Judas). Charting Judas’ descent into psychological turmoil, Schofield ensured a great delicacy to his performance: a threatening figure over that of Jesus, thrown about and forced down under Caiaphas. His interaction with those on stage always had a certain poise: whether lurking in the shadows or leading a chorus of angels, there was a strong sense that the musical was driven by his troubled state. Mary’s role of counsellor to a struggling Jesus was equally managed: the most touching aspect of Rebecca Baines’ portrayal was Mary’s own sacrifice in being unable to fulfil her love: allowing other people and beggars a closer relationship to Jesus than herself.
As a modern era retell of the life of the prophet, it questions not only betrayal and redemption in a religious sense, but how far religion still has a place in our society. The production included cameras following the leads, newspaper stories and plasma screen televisions, replaying the images of surrounding scenes. Since the stage often found itself in darkness, the set was little more than scaffolding, which helped to pattern images of downfall, resurrection, and being lost between states; the cast ran between the two levels to denote how quick and far one may fall in an age of so many new and variant technologies.
Despite the serious dialogue, the show steal came from Kiefer Heatherington’s appearance as King Herod. Complete with throne, a lighting staircase and a fleet of tap dancers, Heatherington managed to render one of the most important moments in Jesus’ journey to crucifixion as light-hearted and laughable through zany dance moves, camp acting and glittery costume.
Jesus Christ Superstar has become more than religious iconography: it is a musical concerned with morals, self-sacrifice, love and power struggles. And in this production especially, one walks away with the message of one man’s simple good nature, forming the basis for the audience themselves to continue such good actions to enjoy a better life.
If the sound of a modern Jesus Christ rock-story has piqued an interest, the opening song from the 1973 film adaptation justifies all reasons to watch the show in full:
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