Singer John Legend will play Jesus Christ in a live broadcast of Jesus Christ Superstar on Easter Sunday on NBC at 8pm. That’s a lot of pressure. It’s one thing to do live TV, another to sing on live TV — and then there’s the tiny matter of portraying the Son of God while doing it. Now there’s a character about whom nearly everyone has an opinion. Legend is a confident performer, no doubt.
Legend’s confidence is surely given a big boost by the material he’s working with. Jesus Christ Superstar has theatrical pedigree like few shows. Here are some interesting facts about the show, which debuted on Broadway in 1971. (It followed perhaps the most famous rock opera, The Who’s Tommy, by a couple of years.)
John Legend, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, photo: James Dimmock/NBC
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 1: The music was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who has written 13 musicals including Cats, Evita and Phantom of the Opera.
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 2: The lyrics were written by Tim Rice, longtime collaborator of Webber. Rice has also worked with rock superstar Elton John on Aida and The Lion King for Disney.
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 3: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice were both knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Webber in 1992 and Rice in 1994. So they have been Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Sir Timothy Rice for more than two decades.
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 4: Unlike many musicals, Jesus Christ Superstar is mainly sung all the way through, with almost no spoken dialogue.
Sara Bareilles as Mary Magadalene, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, photo: James Dimmock NBC
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 5: The contretemps between Judas and Jesus is mostly Rice’s invention. Where much of the action on stage is loosely based on biblical accounts from the Gospels, there is little in the Bible about Jesus and Judas that could fuel the dramatic action of the musical.
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 6: Jesus gets a little petulant. Granted, he’s having a bad week. But it may shock some new to the play when the Christ character accuses the apostles of not caring about him one bit. OMG, Jesus! (pun regrettably intended) — they’re hanging on your every word!
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 7: the musical includes the famous Temple scene, where Jesus becomes enraged at the commercialism and flips out over the money-changers tables. He’s also overwhelmed at work. He performs a few miracles, healing the sick, the crippled and the lepers — but there are just too many of them. Heal yourselves, he advises, in a moment that didn’t win him a lot of fans in the leprosy community.
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 8: Judas doesn’t seem that bad really. Or at least he’s pretty good at justification. Judas seems to turn Jesus in for what he thinks is his own good — before all this acting-like-God stuff gets him killed. And those 30 pieces of silver? That’s for charity. And Judas really does seem upset when the Romans start roughing up Jesus.
Brandon Victor Dixon as Judas, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, James Dimmock/NBC
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 9: At the Last Supper, Jesus sounds sort of whiny again, saying to apostles who aren’t focussed enough on him: “for all you care, this wine could be my blood…” For all you care? It’s not like the apostles didn’t show up, you know? Even if they didn’t all sit on the same side of the table like in the painting, they were there.
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 10: Jesus just does not cop to being the Son of God. Even when Pontius Pilate tries to get him to admit it, Christ says look, “that’s what you say.”
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 10: Judas is the character who sings “Superstar”, the song that gives the musical its name. Or Judas’ ghost sings it, because Judas kills himself before the crucifixion. (“Superstar” actually came out on record first in 1969, so was contemporaneous with Tommy, the Who’s superstar character.) The song is all Judas asking questions, with Jesus giving no answers. Anybody who has tried to talk to Jesus will recognize this conversational reluctance on his part.
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 11: In the original production, Jesus was played by Jeff Fenhold, a white man, who today is a 67-ish Christian heavy metal singer and musician.
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 12: In the original production, Judas was played by Ben Vereen, an African American actor who today is a 71-ish working actor, singer, dancer and all-around cool guy. Vereen won a Tony for the role.
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 13: In the NBC/John Legend Jesus Christ Superstar, an African-American plays Christ and a white man plays Judas. Maybe significant, a measure of a changed world, or maybe not. Just sayin’.
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 14: There is a 1973 movie version produced by Norman Jewison and Saturday Night Fever producer Robert Stigwood!
Jesus Christ Superstar Fact 15: For Superstar Andrew Lloyd Webber won a Drama Desk Award for “MOST PROMISING COMPOSER.” Still, they had no idea quite how promising.
