Christians come to Jesus (Christ Superstar)
How churches began to embrace the musical
Please spread the word about The Broadway Maven’s Weekly Blast by forwarding this FREE preview issue to Broadway lovers. They’ll be able to see this full issue and they can subscribe below for FREE. The full paid version is $5/month or $36/year.
Shalom!
This week, The Broadway Maven looks at City of Angels and Jesus Christ Superstar.
• On Monday, August 8 at Noon ET ONLY there will be a FREE class with a special guest, City of Angels lyricist David Zippel. Register here.
• On Thursday, August 11 at Noon and 7 pm ET we’ll continue our Andrew Lloyd Webber series with a class on Jesus Christ Superstar. $5. Register here.
• This Weekly Blast includes:
A) an ESSAY about the ways Christians have made peace with Jesus Christ Superstar;
B) a YouTube GEM from co-host Mateo Chavez Lewis about the vocal ranges of the orphans in Annie;
C) a YouTube GEM highlighting the career of City of Angels lyricist David Zippel;
D) a student RAVE about Witnesses, a new Holocaust-themed musical;
E) a POLL about The Broadway Maven in 2023; and
F) LAST BLASTS about The Sound of Music, West Side Story, and Oklahoma!.
(Last Blasts are a new FREE Weekly Blast feature: quick witty, thought-provoking, or challenging thoughts about Broadway shows.)
When Jesus Christ Superstar opened in 1971, it was widely rejected by the Christian world, which denounced it and picketed it. A half-century later, the show was the live Easter Sunday special on NBC, with only scattered protests.
How and why did Christians come to accept Superstar?
First of all, the show was not created by atheists or anti-Christian activists. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice were both raised Anglican, and Superstar was their second Biblical show, after Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
They envisioned the show as a retelling of the Gospels from the point of view of Judas. Of course, critics initially considered that blasphemy, and objected as well to the intimation of a romantic relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene and to the lack of a resurrection scene.
(The ADL also denounced the show early on, for its portrayal of Jews as the enemies of Christ.)
The show was initially banned by the BBC as sacrilegious, and in 1971, a Baptist minister told The New York Times that the show should be called Judas Superstar.
Ironically, though, the show’s lack of strict religious dogma may have opened more theatergoers to Christian messages than a more heavy-handed approach would have.
Further, the music itself is so lush and inviting, it’s easy (especially after several hearings) to warm to it.
And guess what? Christians, by and large, did eventually come to Jesus. Some even incorporated it in Bible study classes, and in 1999 the Vatican officially endorsed it, mounting a production the following year.
The mixed feelings of traditional Christians were well-summarized last year in a National Catholic Reporter interview with Mark Goodacre, professor of religious studies at Duke University. "As a New Testament scholar, I have all sorts of problems with it. But I so love the music. And I also think that a lot of Tim Rice's rather cheesy lyrics occasionally hit that moment of genius."
Here, Broadway Maven co-host Mateo Chavez Lewis explains why the vocal parts in Annie are so difficult for the children playing the orphans (and especially Annie).
YouTube GEM: This mini-biography of David Zippel (City of Angels) is part of a series of biographies of contributors to Disney projects. It’s a great way to prepare for Monday’s interview.
STUDENT RAVE: Ellen Lorang: I was a little wary of a Holocaust-themed musical – would this be like the repugnant “Springtime for Hitler” in The Producers? Or, just a major downer? It was neither.
The world premiere production of Witnesses at the California Center for the Arts, in Escondido, California, was a profound, sensitive, and captivating portrayal of five Jewish teenagers, ages 12-18, each from different cities in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust. These teens lived through extraordinarily horrendous times while experiencing the everyday events of growing up. Their diaries survived but they did not.
Selected passages from their diaries with common themes - crushes, bullying, sibling relationships - are artfully woven together into production numbers with music and motion. The music, often melancholic, also contained uplifting tunes, such as the theme song “We Will All Be Witnesses.” Near the end, we learn when and how each child perished and how their diaries were recovered.
Comments about next year’s classes and special events are welcome.
David Zippel (Mulan, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella) launched his Broadway career with City of Angels, a funny and gripping homage to film noir and pulp fiction of the 1940s. He’ll be talking to us about that show and his lyric-writing process. Mr. Zippel has agreed to stay the full hour and will be taking student questions.
This FREE class meets Monday, August 8 at Noon ET ONLY. ALL ACCESS Passholders do not need to sign up.
Jesus Christ Superstar was the first smash hit from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. How is the show constructed? How is it different from later Lloyd Webber shows? What are some of the strongest - and weakest - lyrics? And is it blasphemous? The class meets Thursday, August 11 at Noon and 7 pm ET. $5. ALL-ACCESS Passholders do not need to pay or sign up.
Watch this video about the best lyrics in City of Angels. Choose your favorite lyric and explain in the comments why you chose it.
Here’s one GEM each from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s major shows. For your Jesus Christ Superstar homework, choose your favorite Lloyd Webber show. Explain your answer in the comments.
Last Blast: When Pamela Wise Rosenberg visited our Sound of Music class last week, she said that her father, director Robert Wise, modeled that film’s opening scenes of the Alps from high above after his earlier film West Side Story, which began with a cityscape of New York from above.
Last Blast: The first thing the audience sees in the groundbreaking musical Oklahoma! is an old woman (Aunt Eller) churning butter alone on stage. Why churning butter? It represents a change of state, from liquid to solid (like Oklahoma is changing from territory to state). Further, milk comes from cows, and Curly is a cowboy about to be domesticated into a farmer’s life (not that he knows it yet).
Note: links to register for ALL classes are ALWAYS available at TheBroadwayMaven.com.
• Sunday, August 7 Watch Party: Fosse’s Cabaret (7 pm ET, ALL-ACCESS Exclusive)
• Monday, August 8 City of Angels with lyricist David Zippel (Noon ET ONLY, FREE)
• Thursday, August 11 Jesus Christ Superstar (Noon and 7 pm ET, $5)
• Sunday, August 14 Fosse’s Cabaret (Noon ET, FREE)
• Monday, August 15 Fosse’s Cabaret (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE)
• Thursday, August 18 CATS (Noon and 7 pm ET, $5)
• Sunday, August 21 Evita (Noon ET, FREE)
• Monday, August 22 Evita (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE)
• Tuesday, August 23 Trivia Party (Noon and 7 pm ET, ALL-ACCESS Exclusive)
• Thursday, August 25 The Phantom of the Opera (Noon and 7 pm ET, $5)
• Sunday, August 28 Into the Woods (Noon ET, FREE, registration opens soon)
• Monday, August 29 Into the Woods (Noon and 7 pm ET, FREE, registration opens soon)
Reminder: ALL-ACCESS Passholders do not need to sign up or pay for anything. Just show up!
The Broadway Maven, David Benkof, helps students further their appreciation of musical theater through his classes, his YouTube Channel, and his Weekly Blast. Contact him at DavidBenkof@gmail.com.
All of your proposed 2023 options sound fascinating1
I need the later class hour which is 2 am for you since I am usually in class at the earlier class. Loved the recent Mormon class.