Timeless message, or wistful nostalgia? In the summer before its 1971 Broadway debut, "Jesus Christ Superstar" already was a phenomenon. A banner headline in the Minneapolis Star on July 14 reported that 3,000 people had jammed two ragtag concert productions of the rock opera at local churches. With barely a word of advance publicity, performances were selling out. Audiences considered "Superstar" a perfect distillation of the cultural and religious zeitgeist.
"Superstar" roared across the country, assaulting both religious and theatrical convention. The Broadway event received mixed reviews, but the show played for two years. Two key elements fueled the popularity. "Superstar" was the first Broadway musical to start as a rock 'n' roll concept album. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice had written the single "Superstar" and released it in 1969, with vocalist Murray Head. They then expanded this single idea to a full album, which they called a rock opera. The Who had already released "Tommy," but that didn't make it to Broadway until 1993. More significantly, Lloyd Webber and Rice ignited debates among religionists appalled by what they considered Jesus' diminished divinity. He was a rebel, he kissed a girl, he yelled, he doubted and he encouraged his followers to love one another. In this respect, "Superstar" tapped into a specific moment in U.S. history. "Superstar's popularity is a symptom and partial result of the current wave of spiritual fervor among the young known as the Jesus Revolution," wrote Time magazine in 1971. Forty years later, the counterculture continues to sell off scrap pieces of itself for advertising jingles; the Jesus Revolution has melted into the mainstream markets of WWJD merchandise and Christian Rock. And "Jesus Christ Superstar," once a cultural bellwether, is opening a six-month run at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. Ben Bakken plays Jesus and Jared Oxborough portrays Judas, the show's other star. Some critics dismiss "Superstar" as hopelessly dated, but Michelle Carter, who plays Mary Magdalene in Chanhassen's production, feels it still has life. "The more you examine it," she said, "this is a timeless story." Jesus, the outsider "There is no historical task which so reveals a man's true self as the writing of a Life of Jesus," wrote Albert Schweitzer in his seminal 1906 book, "The Quest of the Historical Jesus." This was the modest task that Lloyd Webber and Rice set for themselves when they cobbled together a few songs and proposed a new vision of Jesus. In this age of snark, it is difficult to imagine how radical their idea was. After all, cartoon Jesus has a public-access show and occasionally spars with Santa and Satan on "South Park," and in Martin Scorsese's "Last Temptation of Christ," he fought sexual urges. Entertainments before "Superstar" tended to depict Jesus as a monotone God disguised as a man. Reviewing "The Greatest Story Ever Told," one critic said the problem with God's only son was that he was boring. American Christianity always had emphasized the divinity at the expense of the humanity. Lloyd Webber and Rice offered an outsider's critique on those conventions. "It told the Christian story in a Christian nation from the location of the counterculture, which is a more legitimate way to read the gospels," said Andrew Root, a Luther Seminary professor who studies pop culture. "Jesus was not part of the establishment, and that is a pretty powerful thing." Andrew Cooke, musical director for Chanhassen's production, reacted similarly to a touring production when he was in seventh grade. "Here were these characters you read about in Sunday school, and they were just guys, fallible humans," he said. Director Michael Brindisi is trying to keep alive some of that counterculture vibe in how he approaches the work. Before rehearsal, the cast sits in a circle and one actor reveals something about him or herself. "I think this play is about learning," Brindisi said. "Jesus was the great teacher, and we have the ability to be like him and teach each other." Carter worked for Brindisi in a 2004 production of "Hair," something of a Broadway soulmate with "Superstar." While the cast did similar "sharing moments" during "Hair" rehearsals, Carter does not consider "Superstar" a "hippie musical at all." Is it merely nostalgia? Chanhassen audiences must consider whether the timeless story within "Jesus Christ Superstar" can escape its time. "It becomes passé if all it does is evoke nostalgia," said Root. "If it can evoke the prophetic, then it lives on, and I do think there is something about the humanity of Christ in it that is incredibly prophetic." Unlike other attempts to humanize Jesus -- such as the theological movement known as the Jesus Seminar -- "Superstar" does not destroy the possibility of transcendence. Mary Magdalene's plaintive song "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was a lightning rod of criticism for its lyric, "He's a man; he's just a man." Carter, though, says that those words -- early in the song -- express Mary's emotional confusion. "By the end of the song, she's gone through a journey and sees him as something more," she said. That particular number rocked the charts back when show tunes got radio play. Its popularity testified to Lloyd Webber's ability to write a tune -- some would say a derivative and simple tune, but a tune that hangs in the head. The late Star Tribune critic Mike Steele put it well in a 1993 essay: "Lloyd Webber is the outlet for the emotional desires of modern audiences, for the romance and optimism and deep feeling that, for most of its history, has been the meat and potatoes of musical theater." Brindisi, once a snob about Lloyd Webber's pastiche style, has converted. In recent years, he's produced "Cats" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at Chanhassen. "Superstar," he feels, is his favorite. Root's question, though, remains the signal challenge for Chanhassen's production: Can "Superstar" escape its "I Love the '70s" moment and touch people with an ancient message of love, sacrifice, fate, destiny and self-exploration? Tamara Kangas Erickson, Chanhassen's choreographer, feels the answer is yes. In fact, she seemed mildly irritated that the conversation centered on whether the musical could refind the fizz of 1971. "I was barely born then," she said. "I didn't discover 'Superstar' until I was in high school in 1987. This play is not a relic." Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299 -- http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/onstage/115792234.html Via InstaFetch -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en.
