Jesus Christ Superstar on You Tube – KEEP AN OPEN MIND FOR THIS modern day version of an excellent production.
Q-tips say: Yes, watch! To keep the public entertained during the lock down, Lloyd Webber has made a selection of his most well-known musicals available to watch free of charge. Although the full schedule hasn’t been released potential options include The Phantom of the Opera, Evita, School of Rock, and even Cats.
Friday April 10: ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’
A different Lloyd Webber musical will stream each week on The Shows Must Go On!, a new YouTube channel devoted to this project. Each show will go live on the channel on Friday at 7pm BST (2pm EDT, 4am AEST), and will remain viewable for 48 hours afterward.
In this 1970 rock opera by Lloyd Webber and Rice, an anti-authoritarian Middle Eastern agitator gets arrested after kissing a guy in a park. Conceived as an album, then moved to the Broadway stage in 1971, the show is a motley union of high and low: classical strains and groovy rock riffs, biblical fidelity and savvy spin, timeless tale and of-its-moment storytelling. Rice’s libretto takes straightforward versions of New Testament figures and transplants them into the potted soil of post-Warhol media celebrity.
This 2012 recording, which debuts on Good Friday, captures the touring arena concert production that grew out of the British TV competition show ‘Superstar’. Ben Forster plays Jesus, with support from Tim Minchin as Judas, Chris Moyles as Herod and Melanie C (née Sporty Spice) as Mary Magdalene