Yeah, Jesus Loves Me but What Do I Think of Him?

"Jesus Christ Superstar"
Fox Theatre, Detroit
March 14, 2008

For a girl's night out some of the women at work invited me to join them for some Lenten rock 'n' roll. Not being much of an Andrew Lloyd Webber fan myself, I really just went for the company and a night of laughter. I had never seen the show before and only ever saw the movie once so I didn't remember too much. On this tour the part of Jesus is being played by Ted Neeley, the original Jesus from the movie. That's the 1973 movie so seeing Neeley is rather like seeing Robert Goulet in "Camelot"-your pleasure at seeing the actual guy in the part is tempered by him being entirely too long in tooth for the role. I get the name recognition factor but the theatergoer really shouldn't be distracted by thoughts like Rogaine for Jesus (no more deep bows Ted Neeley!). Corey Glover played the part of Judas, who is of course the real focus of this story, which was also distracting as I was having Living Color flashbacks-"Cult of Personality" indeed!

Overall, my feeling is, much like the classic Beatles vs Stones question, you're either a "Jesus Christ Superstar" person or a "Godspell" person and after last night I can say I am a "Godspell" person. Amen!