Jesus Christ Not-So-Super-Star
– The O2 Arena, Saturday 22nd September
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest commercial offering promised to be ‘an arena spectacular’, which as anyone who is a fan of Australian comedy ‘Summer Heights High’ knows all too well, that if a musical has that as a subtitle, the production needs to be big, over the top and in your face. Sadly ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ was none of these, dwarfed by London’s 02 arena like the proverbial pea on a drum. Despite originating as a rock concert in the 1970s following the success of the original concept album, in bringing the rock-opera back to its original roots the show seemed thoroughly underwhelming. Despite marketing the four London performance as ‘sell outs’, tranches of seats went unsold, resulting in producers papering the house to get bums on seats. After officially opening last Friday, just a quick search on Twitter or Google would reveal how to pick up free tickets to one of the weekend performances; something that must have stung those who had forked out up to £90 for a ticket.
The major problem with this production has to be the scale. Having taken the decision to actively remove the show from its more traditional theatre environment, nothing was gained by having the show in an arena setting. The set is simplistic, featuring a huge projection screen used to change location, at sometimes suggesting the action is taking place underneath the National Theatre. As queen of the arena tours Lady Gaga says, projections and video are a ‘lazy’ way of delivering a stage concept, and the lack of physical structure meant that nothing on stage was tangible or substantial; a criticism that sadly extended to many of the performances. The stage wouldn’t have looked out of place at the London Palladium, or one of the largest West End houses, and fails to utilise the space or extend past the first block of seating. Those further back become reliant on the video screen to show the action on-stage, and too much detail was lost for the majority of the audience. Given the nature of the venues on this tour, no effort had been made to push the boundaries in terms of production or staging, making the whole exercise seem somewhat pointless. Those who have visited the O2 for performances such as ‘Cirque du Soleil’ will feel underwhelmed and left wondering exactly where their extortionate ticket price has been spent.
The show itself withstands updating, as seen in Gale Edward’s stunning Lyceum production and the touring version that was thankfully captured on film. Laurence Conner gives us Jesus in an age of Twitter, riots and the Occupy movement, which translates well until the title song where a resurrected Judas asking ‘if you’d come today you would have moved a whole nation / Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication’ sadly becomes redundant. Attempts to self consciously poke fun at itself by staging Herod’s Song as a reality TV text vote teeter on the edge of being clever and tacky, as art imitates life and Ben Forster’s fate is once again left up to an audience vote, which in this case is much more life changing. Chris Moyles manages to outstay his welcome despite being given only 3 minutes of stage time as the repulsive Herod, leaving the audience thankful that the Passion doesn’t feature his character too heavily.
All eyes were on ex-Spice Girl Melanie C to deliver as the tortured Mary Magdalene, and despite a strong set of lungs, her tuning and brash vowel sounds gave one of the Lord’s most memorable numbers ‘I Don’t Know How To Love Him’ the subtlety of a crown of thorns. Tim Minchin’s Judas clearly provided the aesthetic for the whole concept, complete with Gothic dreadlocks and guy-liner, but his performance lacked the insight or connection the role requires. Bad diction resulted in many of Tim Rice’s frequent witticisms being lost amongst the band mix, and the whole character came across as one dimensional. It was left then to Ben Forster to steal the show as ‘the people’s Jesus’, but despite delivering vocally, the scale of the production didn’t enhance his overall stage presence in larger scenes, although his delivery of ‘Gethsemane’ showed off exactly why he won the ITV competition. The most dignified performance of the evening came from Alexander Hanson’s Pilate, who despite some distracting directorial decisions managed to command the stage and add a much needed touch of class to the whole event.
It is always a pleasure to hear the score delivered by a full scale rock band, and the arrangements remained fresh whilst maintaining a sense of familiarity. An attempt to push ‘The Temple’ into the 2012 club scene was perhaps a bridge too far, but overall the sound design and musical supervision proved to be the highlight of the project. Understandably many will be able to enjoy the production more when it is released on DVD in time for the Christmas market, as the detail and performances will be easier to appreciate. Anyone hoping for an ‘arena spectacular’ will sadly be disappointed.
