I held off watching Jesus Christ Superstar for the longest time. I could not understand how Jesus and the apostles could be portrayed as hippies, which I thought was disrespectful and irreverent. I tried many times to start watching the film but found it difficult to get through those radical opening sequences featuring more of Judas than Christ. However, when I finally did get through that first song number, I found myself quite engrossed in the way the story of Christ's Passion was told and enacted in rock songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Yes, the sets and props were strangely anachronistic (like t-shirts, postcard racks and machine guns), but I guess that symbolizes the timelessness of the story.
The song "Gethsemane" was so vital, it is just breathtaking to hear. The lyrics capture the conflict within Jesus at that contemplative moment in the Garden perfectly. This song is Ted Neeley's high point in the whole film as Jesus Christ. Another song that moves me is "Could We Start Again Please." With a melody so simple and lyrics so bare, the emotional punch of this song is astounding. It moved me to tears, honestly, when I hear Yvonne Elliman (Mary Magdalene) and Philip Toubus (Simon Peter) sing those earnest words which echo our own sentiments with our own faults:
"I've been living to see you Dying to see you, but it shouldn't be like this This was unexpected, what do I do now? Could we start again please?
I think you've made your point now You've even gone a bit too far to get the message home Before it gets too frightening, we ought to call a halt So could we start again please?"
The Judas character plays a co-equal role in this interpretation and Carl Anderson so passionately portrays him. We see and hear a lot from him that was why this play was controversial back in the day. The words he sings vivify the conflicts within this disturbed man. Magdalene's love song "I Don't Know How to Love Him" takes on a different meaning when Judas sang it before his climactic suicide song. Talking about hanging, that scene was so chillingly and realistically shot.
Special mentions would be the odd but welcome comedy respite provided by Josh Mostel as King Herod, and the unusual contrast of the deep voice of Bob Bingham vis a vis the falsetto voice of Kurt Yagjihan, as the high priests Caiaphas and Annas. The 39 Lashes scene with Barry Dennen as Pontius Pilate was also very memorable.
The song "Gethsemane" was so vital, it is just breathtaking to hear. The lyrics capture the conflict within Jesus at that contemplative moment in the Garden perfectly. This song is Ted Neeley's high point in the whole film as Jesus Christ. Another song that moves me is "Could We Start Again Please." With a melody so simple and lyrics so bare, the emotional punch of this song is astounding. It moved me to tears, honestly, when I hear Yvonne Elliman (Mary Magdalene) and Philip Toubus (Simon Peter) sing those earnest words which echo our own sentiments with our own faults:
"I've been living to see you Dying to see you, but it shouldn't be like this This was unexpected, what do I do now? Could we start again please?
I think you've made your point now You've even gone a bit too far to get the message home Before it gets too frightening, we ought to call a halt So could we start again please?"
The Judas character plays a co-equal role in this interpretation and Carl Anderson so passionately portrays him. We see and hear a lot from him that was why this play was controversial back in the day. The words he sings vivify the conflicts within this disturbed man. Magdalene's love song "I Don't Know How to Love Him" takes on a different meaning when Judas sang it before his climactic suicide song. Talking about hanging, that scene was so chillingly and realistically shot.
Special mentions would be the odd but welcome comedy respite provided by Josh Mostel as King Herod, and the unusual contrast of the deep voice of Bob Bingham vis a vis the falsetto voice of Kurt Yagjihan, as the high priests Caiaphas and Annas. The 39 Lashes scene with Barry Dennen as Pontius Pilate was also very memorable.