Run and Tell That: Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!

Note: Okay so I once again repeat that I'm terrible at organizing my thoughts and editing my reviews. I'm also extremely tired due to the amount of work I have for college, but it's been forever since I've done a review and I really wanted to do one. So just bear with me people. I already know this is not going to be one of my best reviews quality wise and will not have any of my normal smooth transitions, but again bear with me. I'm tired.

"Every time Bareilles was on screen she was a giant ball of sunshine... her gorgeous tone and acting choices shined like a lighthouse."

I don't really have a backstory for this review other than I remember watching the 2002 TV Movie when I was younger and was mesmerized by the entirety of the "Superstar" sequence. So I'm just gonna start. Going into this I didn't really have high expectations for this show. I thought it was an ingenious idea to have it be broadcast on Easter Sunday, but I still wasn't sure what to expect. While I loved The Wiz Live! and thought that it was exceptional and a huge improvement over Peter Pan Live! and The Sound of Music Live!, but then NBC did Hairspray Live! which I found to be a huge disappointment compared to The Wiz Live! However, I decided to go into this with an open mind. Overall, I was not that impressed with this show. There were multiple times where it was extremely difficult to hear because the actors were overpowered by A) The crowd B) The orchestra or C) The crowd and the orchestra. It was especially difficult to hear in the 

Ensemble

beginning when everyone would make their entrances and people would just scream and drown out the singing. The other main thing that I had a problem with was the cameras. Instead of having these smooth and clean shots a lot of the time they were rough and at very strangle angles and therefore couldn't see much of what was going on. I don't think that the massiveness of the set help. The set was designed by Jason Ardizzone-West and was supposed to resemble a decrepit church while covered in scaffolding that the cast was constantly climbed and used as a jungle gym by the different ensemble members. However, because of the massiveness of this set and how spread out, it was this caused many problems with how it was directed and made it clunky, but we'll get into that aspect later. The main design aspect that I had a problem with was the costume design by Paul Tazewell and while I loved his crazy inventive designs for The Wiz Live! I felt that these designs were very lackluster. I did not get why everyone was wearing black, punk rockesque costumes except for Mary Magdalene, portrayed by Sara Bareilles, who wore a bright yellow dress. I was extremely disappointed in most of Tazewell's costumes for the night. His dark colored costumes made it difficult to see people and distinguish them from one another so they just looked like a blob when not in focus. I also found the costumes for the major number of "Superstar" to

Brandon Victor Dixon and Ensemble

be extremely lackluster and boring. Maybe I'm just used to seeing that number be this huge spectacle like the 2002 Movie or my personal favorite the Arena Tour version. All in all, I found the costumes very bland and lacking color. However, Tazewell did design those killer black hooded coats that the High Priests wore and they were outstanding. The best design element of the night has got to be the lighting design by Al Gurdon which I actually really enjoyed. I think that Gurdon gave the audience rock concert vibes, while still having a very musical theatre touch. Now before I move onto the director I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Camille A. Brown and her inventive choreography which was horribly captured by those awkward camera angles and rough shots. Now I have one more person to talk about before I move onto the actors, that person is director David Leveaux and I have so many problems with how he put this show on. The biggest problem I had with him was during the "Superstar" sequence which is supposed to be a hallucination that Jesus has before being put on the cross, but Jesus WASN'T ON STAGE for the number. Judas has *****SPOILER ALERT***** killed himself ****END SPOILER ALERT**** so it's not like Judas is actually there. Also this number was so lackluster as well when it really is the time to go all out! Maybe I'm just used to seeing it be this entire spectacle (Once again please look up the Arena tour with Tim Minchin to see how it's done), but "Superstar" was just disappointing. The same thing could be said about how he staged "King Herod's Song" because all Herod did, played by Alice Cooper, was stand and walk around (But we'll talk about that later). When Leveaux was not downplaying what should big production numbers he was making weird choice after weird choice. For example during the scene "The Temple" where thieves and gamblers are supposed to have

John Legend and Ensemble

overthrown the temple Leveaux staged it as, for lack of better words, a glitter orgy. There was this giant table in the shape of the cross that was just covered in tons of glitter with weird pink lights over head and the ensemble was writhing on said glitter covered table. Another strange choice was the musical chairs game that went on during "Damned For All Time/Blood Money" and the entire overture/opening with a table and white cloth being set up only for it to be taken down immediately after and then never seen again. Another part that confused me was the fire pit that they had and the Olympic opening ceremony style of lighting it. What was the point of that? I could go on and on about everything that I have questions about when it comes to Leveaux's directing choices, but I'm not writing a dissertation. Before I talk about the leads I want to give a huge shout out to the ensemble for being amazing and having stellar vocals throughout the performance and specifically my favorite part was during the "The Arrest" when they were all reporters and belting their faces off. Now onto specific actors and who better to start with than the first man cast Mr. Alice Cooper who was cast in the role of King Herod and was very underwhelming. I did not like his interpretation of King Herod at all. In my mind King Herod is supposed to be a game show host of sorts he's supposed to be this big, cartoon caricature of a person. However, Cooper portrayed him as a very stiff,

Jin Ha and Norm Lewis

boring and toned down character. The comedy is just written in the number, but I got zero funny from Cooper. Now on the opposite of that spectrum was Erik Grönwall as Simon Zealotes, one of the apostles of Jesus, had killer vocals and took his moment and shined. Grönwall killed it, brought it back to life and then killed it again! Another one of the apostles, Peter, portrayed by Jason Tam delivered a strong performance. Similar to Tam was Ben Daniels as Pontius Pilate who had a nice voice, but I honestly forget he was in the show... He wasn't good or bad he was just there. Meanwhile one of the highlights of the night goes to the amazing Jin Ha who absolutely killed as the high priest Annas and hit all of those high notes so effortlessly and without cracking. Ha's vocal chemistry with fellow high priest Norm Lewis as Caiaphas was to be quiet honest eargasmic. The crazy high notes that Ha belted out with Lewis' low vibrato tremblings were jaw-dropping and haunting. Speaking of Lewis, he absolutely killed as Caiaphas and I just don't have words to describe how much I love Lewis and his voice. Lewis' sexy baritone voice was perfectly suited for this music and unlike most singers when they get lower Lewis was still perfectly audible. His rich vibrato did nothing but enhance the words he sang. Now onto the role of Mary Magdalene, portrayed brilliantly by Sara Bareilles who was the standout performance of the night. Every time Bareilles was on screen she was a giant ball of sunshine, not only because of her costume but because of her personality. Bareilles was a perfect choice for the role of Magdalene and her gorgeous tone and acting choices shined like a lighthouse. You could see

Sara Bareilles

how much she loved Jesus, but also how confused and scared she was of him. I was also overjoyed by the fact that Bareilles hit those high notes in "I Don't Know How To Love Him" and sounded absolutely gorgeous because most singers I've seen often scream those notes. I'm glad that Bareilles has decided to join the theatre community and I look forward to seeing what she does next. However, while Bareilles shined I felt that Brandon Victor Dixon's performance as Judas Iscariot fell short. I don't understand why, but for some reason, everyone loved him as Judas (Which leaves me feeling like Erin when she met Holly for the first time in The Office). I personally struggled to hear him on multiple occasions because everything seemed to overpower him and even when I could hear him I could barely understand him because his diction, in my opinion, was weak. All of his acting choices were rather strange to me. As for his rendition of "Superstar" instead of it being a show stopping number it was just him screaming and what looked like an attempt at break dancing. (Maybe I'm just biased because I really loved Tim Minchin's performance in the arena tour and thought his vocals were absolutely stunning. It may also just be that I think overall the arena tour was a superior production and its direction had much better character development.) Dixon made it a stand out role, as in I wanted to stand and get out of the room whenever he was on screen. Now onto the main man of the night, Jesus, portrayed by the multiple-award-winning John Legend who, in my opinion, was completely miscast in this role. He couldn't handle the score at all especially during his breathy rendition of "Gethsemane" which he seemed to give up on trying to reach those notes halfway through it. Legend

John Legend

also has this weird tendency to either A) Show no emotion at all or B) Show the weirdest emotion possibly imaginable or C) Gave this weird half and half result that was extremely off-putting. Whenever he did show emotions though it was always halfway through a line. Legend, in my opinion, was anything, but legendary (I'll see myself out for that pun) in his performance as Jesus Christ. Overall, I was not that much of a fan of Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert! and I felt that while a little bit of a step up from Hairspray Live! was still several flights below what was accomplished on The Wiz Live! Normally this is where I'd say I'm looking forward to NBC's next live event, but I have no idea what that is... Bye Bye Birdie Live! got delayed yet again so I have no idea what they plan on doing next. I would personally love to see The Music Man Live! or Sister Act Live! but who knows what NBC has up their sleeve. I am looking forward to Rent Live! on Fox in 2019 though. If you made it this far I congratulate you and wish you luck in life. I have to go paint some sets... Peace out!

"Everything's alright yes, everything's fine and we want you to sleep well tonight. Let the world turn without you tonight."