Friday, October 15, 2021
Review: 'Jesus Christ Superstar' in San Francisco an Awkward Resurrection
KQED: We live in Anniversary Hell. Our cultural calendar revolves around the 30th anniversary of this album, the 10th anniversary of that movie, the 17th anniversary of this episode of this one show on this one network, all while new and relevant art continues to be made, and not given prominence, all over the city, constantly, every single day.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I really wanted this show to be good, both because they were reviewing it in San Francisco, my home city, and because I really Like Jesus Christ Superstar, unfortunately this production seems absolutely horrible according to this reviewer. He really ripped into it for unoriginality and the weakness of the original things they did try to insert into the show. In general I think I would like this production much more than the reviewer because I hold space for cheesy revivals that I can just go watch for the nostalgia factor though I’m sure his many criticisms are valid. I must admit watching Jesus and Judas doing a tik tok dance does sound rather insufferable. One thing that reviewer didn’t touch on at all was the design, which I found very interesting. THe set looked very cool with the last supper table being a giant cross and the lighting was very high energy, however I was very disappointed by the dropped crotch 2015 baggy to tight pants on the disciples. Those were horrible.
While I have never been able to see Jesus Christ Superstar live and in person, I really enjoyed the Live TV rendition that was done a handful of years ago. Since then, I have always been interested in the show and had hoped I would get to see it live. Unfortunately, I have not got the chance to see that show, primarily because it has not made it to a city I am in while I am there. On top of that, even though I am pretty interested in seeing the show, I do not see myself traveling to see it. However, if this show stays in San Francisco for a little but, I could absolutely see myself making my way up there during a trip home and seeing the show. On top of getting to the show, I could use it as a chance to catch up with friends who live up there and I haven't seen in a while.
While this review of the Jesus Christ Superstar tour is quite cynical and snarky, it definitely brings up good points, the main one of those being that the show itself is outdated. Don’t get me wrong, I actually really like both JCS and Andrew Lloyd Webber in general, but this tour is trying to modernize it cosmetically while not realizing that it’s the content and message that doesn’t click for modern audiences. The show isn’t rebellious anymore, the music style isn’t popular anymore, and it certainly isn’t as iconic or timeless as Phantom. I’ve seen it done well before, really keeping true to the dream and spectacle that this show is built to produce. But based on this review, it seems to be just a normal production that has tried to appeal to both the original audience from 50 years ago and use new cosmetics to drag in new audiences. Apparently it fails on both ends.
Listen. We can't judge the people for what they want to see and if they want to see a cheesy rock and roll musical, they should've found someone putting on the great and timeless jukebox musical, Rock of Ages. Frankly, I had a blast reading this article that is basically roasting to hell this rendition of Jesus Christ Superstar. All of the updates that they put in the show to try to be more relatable to the "youths" is very cheesy and kinda sad, because they really are just trying to sell tickets and put on something good. But it just falls flat in every regard according to KQED. The line 'walking Reductress headline" actually made me exhale out of my nose briefly, but not full on laugh out loud. I don't know, if my mother taught me anything, it's that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. But she said nothing about reading or writing anything!
"It is certainly a collection of people, on a stage, doing things that people can do." One of the more scathing reviews I've read in recent times. A very entertaining read, that seemed to deservedly bash this production for unoriginality and a lack of vision beyond "make it Gen Z". When you revive a show or do a new production, you need to decide what you want to say with it. If it's just "we're going to do this show again, it's been a while and people will want to see it", that's ok! But if you want to say something new with it, truly take the show in a new direction, you have to be willing to put your faith in God. But as the article says, the show only says "this thing existed once, and now it exists again", which does not inspire hope in the vision of the production. Anniversary cash-grabs serve their purpose in society, but I hope that they don't crowd out the opportunity for new art on the horizon.
Post a Comment