it first hit the stage.
Great soundtrack!
or was that Godspell?
Oooh that would be a great handle.
BOps, can I change my name?
which theater. Loved it, however.
But I generally love live theater. Live performances of any kind, really.
....Although Andrew Lloyd Webber and his lyricist colleague Tim Rice had enjoyed reasonable success with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat a few years earlier, Jesus Christ Superstar (JCS) was a truly significant worldwide hit. In one way it's the culmination of a trend in England during the late 50s and early 60s of musicals set on Biblical themes, but it is a full-scale Broadway/West End-style musical in the same vein as Oklahoma or any of the other standards from the 40s and before. The musical style owes a lot to composers like Rodgers, Lowe, and other Broadway musical composers of the 40s and 50s.
The opening tune for "I Don't Know How To Love Him" is famously noted to be the same as the opening violin melody of the slow movement of Mendelssohn's E minor concerto. This isn't too surprising as he grew up in a musical household and probably heard a full range of the classics (his father was a noted composer and church organist/choir director). And no less a light than Leonard Bernstein seemed to filch the opening of the slow movement of the "Emperor" piano concerto for "There's A Place For Us" in West Side Story.
Another interesting aspect of JCS is that the album came out first, as a way of testing the public waters. The musical wasn't staged until a year later.
When I was a sophomore in a triple at the east end of the first floor of Morrissey Hall, a triple of freshmen was next door to us. One fellow, from Oklahoma, was a fan of JCS, such that he would play it at top volume constantly. This was the fall of 1973, so it was still pretty new. After our RA threatened to end the performances by breaking the LP over the freshman's head, he tuned it down.
The idea of having people of unexpected genders and complexions play these classic Biblical roles is clever, but this also goes back to the 1970s when producers were trying to be edgy (not that they've stopped). When I was the music director for Calvert House at U Chicago, I was also the liturgy planner for Holy week along with our chaplain. For the Easter Vigil service we used the intimate Bond Chapel, which has an organ/choir loft at the rear. For the old testament readings we used them all; the first is the Genesis 1:1 narrative. It was dark--we only had the candles that had taken light from the paschal candle at the beginning. Genesis 1:1, you will recall, has a narrator and then parts with God speaking. I had a young guy as narrator standing up front, intoning "In the beginning..." and so on. When he got to "..and then God said," I had a young woman in the choir loft, without a candle and thus completely in the dark, respond, "Let their be light." And so on throughout the narrative. Gloria Steinem would have been proud, I hope.
I learn a lot from your posts.Thank you!
help in this matter won’t go unrewarded.’
taught theology. He often said don't be afraid to ask hard questions. If your beliefs cannot handle hard questions, why would you place any credence in them. I like that outlook.