@ Edinburgh Playhouse until Sat 11 Apr 2015
Forty-four years on and Jesus Christ Superstar still has a power seldom matched in a musical. The ‘greatest story ever told‘ subject matter helps, obviously, but the deftness of the composition, the formula-busting groove of it and the sometimes jarring melodic leaps remain enthralling. Its a fully-formed musical whose melancholic numbers still send a shiver down the spine.
Enjoyable for that reason, this production adds little to a masterpiece. The set is relatively simple, but effective; a crown of thorns hovers above like a UFO and huge carved pillars flank the stage. Lighting is alternately beatific or satanic depending on the scene. Musically, there’s no obvious update of its seventies long-hairiness. If anything, the keyboard sounds and funk grooves have been cheesed up.
The cast are a mixed bag. Early on, Glenn Carter‘s Jesus is overly meek and mild, a little short on presence and charisma, but he does step up when it really matters – angry and desperate in the Garden of Gethsemane and during the [SPOILER ALERT!] crucifixion – to deliver an effective emotional punch. Judas (Tim Rogers) rages well, sometimes at the expense of clarity, and is generally watchable. Mary Magdalene is a real weak link though. A ‘fallen woman’, she requires something of the rough diamond about her, either some rock huskiness or soulful sass. Rachel Adedeji‘s pop-operatic tones, very pleasant as they are, don’t cut it in this show. There’s no hint of forbidden love in her voice during I Don’t Know How To Love Him, and Everything’s Alright lacks sensuality.
More positively, the big chorus numbers – Hosanna, The Temple, Superstar – all work very well, and there are some excellent turns from more minor players. Cavin Cornwall hits low notes deeper than the River Jordan as a gravitas-rich high priest Caiaphas. Tom Gilling tones down the camp for Herod’s song, but is successful with a more jollily sinister approach. And X-Factor star Rhydian Roberts (absent tonight) will have to go some to match his understudy Johnathan Tweedie‘s masterful Pontius Pilate to prove he’s not just a celebrity name on the tour poster.
Affecting stuff, whether or not you are a fan of religion, Lloyd-Webber, or indeed musicals, and always worth a look, although there have been, and will be, more absorbing versions.