Jesus Christ Superstar LIVE on NBC

I literally just finished watching it online. I love the movie. I have seen it at least a dozen times and it is my go to version of the music when I need a fix. I have seen it a couple times live and also have the original studio recording. My expectations were already too high simply because I love the musical and can't help but compare the NBC production to the movie.

John Legend (Jesus) - I really like him as a performer, but not in a rock styled broadway musical - he is too chill RnB. Just doesn't have the right kind of voice. Some songs were OK when they were more his speed and range, but I cringed a couple times when he had to hit higher notes. I agree when he tried to be charming and suave on stage he looked a bit goofy. Points for doing it his way, and he really wasn't bad per se, but really, just not the right casting. B

Sara Bareilles (Mary Magdelene) - I actually thought she was quite good, much better than passable. Maybe lacked that last bit of urgency and energy, but I like her voice and her look. I thought she acquitted herself quite well. A-

Brandon Victor Dixon (Judas) - I absolutely hated him at first. Too restrained, too clean, no emotion or rawness that conveyed the tortured nature of his relationship or decisions. Didn't convey the love/hate passion that he felt for Jesus. He definitely did much better towards the end of the show and ended pretty strongly, but it was too late to completely save the performance. Judas is really the main character in this version of the betrayal story, and I just didn't get what I wanted out of Brandon's performance - too uneven. He gets graded the harshest because he was going up against a ridiculously epic performance by Carl Anderson. B

Alice Cooper (King Herrod) - While it was fun to see him reprise his role from the 2000 UK run, he seemed too restrained (maybe due to age). More down to the choreography than his actual singing. His song is one that demands a little bit more silliness and movement that he didn't have. Plus he paused a little too much to soak in the idiotic audience. Great casting, though. B+

Norm Lewis (Caiaphas) and Jin Ha (Annas) - Fantastic. I couldn't have asked for much more from a modern performance of these roles. Both get strong A's.

Ben Daniels (Pontius Pilate) - I liked his performance. A little bit by the book, but didn't do anything wrong. I would say maybe he wasn't dynamic enough, but the sound mixing was really bad and could have been the leading cause. A-

Erik Gronwall (Simon Zealotes) - The right kind of voice and persona, but I think terrible mixing reared its ugly head again. Could have used a little more mania at the end of the song, but not bad overall. B+

Peter Tam (Peter) - Meh. Didn't like him, didn't hate him. Did just fine. B

I agree that the sound mixing was atrocious. Many of the singers had to strain to be heard over the music and that hurt the dynamic range that a lot of these songs have. It deprived them of the opportunity to convey the complexity of the emotions that were meant to be displayed. It really hurt the show. The guitarists were OK, playing it safe and the set design was solid given they decided not to do any real set changes.

Overall, I give it a B given how safe they played it. The original show, and particularly the movie, had some seriously raw passion in it, which befits the story. This production was too Sunday matinee. They played it safe, to their detriment. That all said, I am glad they made it.

EDIT: I hated the live audience and the f'ing fanboying/girling before and after every song. Happens all the time at live shows, and is the worst. It interrupts the flow and screws up the mood trying to be set.

 

So my wife has subjected me to this musical twice. Once was this version on DVD around 10 years ago:


And the second time was last night.

The punch line here is that I never knew about the '73 movie and she never thought to show me until this morning when on a whim she played the Simon Zealotes song on youtube.

Anyways, I need to watch the original movie...

 

Yikes, yes, please watch the original movie before judging the musical. If you still don't like it, so be it.

 

oh, I am almost positive I will like it based on the other performances I have watched on youtube since. For me, it was just more amazement that my wife tried to sell me on it by playing the watered down modern versions, then just casually slipped the "original" movie in as an afterthought.

Let me just add, that I concur with the rest, the sound mixing was terrible. Also, the crowd turned me off midway. They would just yell and scream throughout the performance and their volume was nearly matched to the lead performer's vocals.

 

Like Issey Miyake designed some Sith lord robes.

 

If you are a fan of the musical, it is probably still worth a watch as it is a slightly different take from the classic. If the mixing had been just a little better, I might have been more forgiving of the performances. Luckily for you, Sara's songs were nice and clear

 

I understand that the thread is old, but I'm very curious. Are there guys here who could first of all evaluate this from the point of view of the biblical canons? How do you like it?

 

This may not be what you wanted to hear, but I have a friend who is immersed in his faith to the core. He doesn't miss a single meeting with parishioners in First Church Love and is ready to talk about God for hours on end, but he is no less ready to talk about music I was very surprised when, to a similar question, he answered me that he didn't care about following canons in JCSS. Because he considers this work to be wonderful in terms of music and the disclosure of the human soul. He said that the human factor is more important to him there, and he understands that interpretation also has a right to exist in art.

 

This is the difference between open auditions where merit matters and choosing players based on factors other than performance. Coming soon to basically everything.