Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus Christ Superstar is an extremely demanding rock opera, using sung narrative from the Gospels within the lyrics written by Tim Rice to portray the last seven days of Christ's life and crucifixion.  The action centres around the personal struggle between Jesus and Judas and this was brought dramatically to life by the very powerful and emotional performances from both Richard Foster as Jesus, in his first production with BSMTC, and James Humphreys, a very accomplished and talented performer with the company over many years, as Judas.

They were admirably supported by the other principals.  Alex Outlaw gave an impassioned and convincing performance as Mary Magdalene, her solo "I Don't Know How To Love Him" deeply moving.  Mike Sykes brought an air of formidable authority to his role as Caiaphas, ably assisted by Jay Brown as The Priest and, for this production, Annas The High Priest was cast as a woman, which worked well with Cat Quigley in the role.  Together, this trio plot with Judas to have Jesus arrested and killed.  A good performance, too, from Graham Tarran as Simon Zealotes, bringing a necessary hint of rebellion in his musical number "Poor Jerusalem", with Jesus and the Ensemble.

The opening scene in Act II with Jesus and the Apostles at The Last Supper was extremely well-acted and effective, as was the musicality of the emotional number "Could We Start Again, Please?" with Mary and Peter, played here by Garry Bray, another new-comer to the company.

There were other moments of pure dramatic pathos, notably in Gareth Cheesman's role as Pilate, as he struggles with his personal dilemma over convicting Jesus.  In vivid contrast, Sean Burke's fun performance in his cameo role as Herod, with his well-executed comic song and dance routine with the maids, was a welcome tough of light relief from the mounting tension.

The open set was simply devised, with the use of bleachers and stark metal towers and an effective lighting plot creating just the right atmosphere.  Just occasionally, the follow-spot was not accurately placed, particularly noticeably during Mary's solo, leaving her sometimes in shadow, though this did not detract significantly from the drama of the scene.  The costume plot was an interesting mix of hippy, modern and more formal dress attire, which for the most part worked well and was visually pleasing.  Musically, the cast accomplished a very high standard, coping extremely well with the complexities of Andrew Lloyd Webber's dramatic score.  The small eight-piece orchestra under the superb direction of Stephen Kenna, maintained a good balance throughout the performance, but the pit choir voices were sometimes difficult to hear, due, possibly, to a slight imbalance with the sound system.

The choreography that Jim Snell had devised was a little blocky and repetitive in some of the full company scenes due, perhaps, to the large cast having to cope with a reduced depth of stage.  However, the final dramatic scenes of Jesus's flogging and crucifixion were astonishingly powerful and brought to a close a very memorable and creditable performance, solid proof of a well-directed production, many months of rehearsal by the cast and the professionalism which BSMTC strive for in their productions.

This was a departure for the company from their more usual musical shows, but one which, in the words of their President Bernie Bush, "ticked all the right boxes" and has obviously proved to be popular with both the cast and their audiences, with "Sold Out" notices for almost all performances.  Well done!

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.