Broadway’s ‘worst idea in history’

[Dave Grubb]

Fifty years ago, the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” — with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice — opened on Broadway. Outside the sold-out shows, protesters called the musical blasphemous.

The production was a risk. It tells the story of the last seven days of Jesus’ life through the eyes of one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot. As Lloyd Webber recently told the British newspaper The Telegraph, producers considered it “the worst idea in history” and didn’t want to put it onstage.

Some initial reactions echoed those fears. The Times critic Clive Barnes panned the production: “It all rather resembled one’s first sight of the Empire State Building. Not at all uninteresting, but somewhat unsurprising and of minimal artistic value.”

Ultimately, the show won over audiences. A spectacle that married rock and musical theater, the musical paved the way for shows like “Les Misérables” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” Sarah Bahr writes in The Times. — Claire Moses, a Morning writer

My family and me were temporarily living in Westfield NJ, very near to NYC, while I worked on a project in nearby Linden NJ. We went to see our first Broadway play. It was an "experience"

I think my wife and me were among the very few in the theater not smoking pot-----during the show, but despite that we enjoyed immensely the play and the music

It served to make life long Broadway patrons of both my wife and me.

[UTAH]

JCS came out when I was in High School. I adored it - and worked for weeks to ensure I could document and play the music that accompanied it.

The play came to SLC, up at the Pioneer Theater, in 2015. Wifey and I attended and were excited to see Ted Neeley perform before he left the production company. I remember being impressed he could still hit the high notes, as when he was young. And, the part of Judas was played by the singer of the band Living Color - Corey Glover.

The production and acting/singing were incredible. At the end, when Jesus dies, we wept.

Hunter

[Blue74]

You might see when it is playing? Never been to Broadway but I enjoyed the music.
Tommy