CL’s Chanté LaGon and Curt Holman chat about Alliance Theatre’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar GOSPEL. (Through Feb. 22)
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(Photo by Joeff Davis)
HAND OUTS: Followers beg Jesus (Darius de Haas, center) for healing.
Devout apostles of musical theater should flock to the Alliance Theatre for Jesus Christ Superstar GOSPEL as soon as possible. Watching Darius de Haas’ performance as Jesus, particularly his solo of “Gethsemane,” offers such breathtaking thrills, it’s like being present at the creation.
“Gethsemane” finds Jesus on the eve of his execution, confronting God with fear and rage: “Take this cup away from me.” Anxiety, indignation and other emotions seem to ripple across his features, while he raises a voice that seems capable of shaking heaven’s foundations. It may be a miracle if de Haas can sustain the song’s power throughout the show’s entire run, providing justification to make haste to the Alliance. (more…)
Broadway and film composer and music director Louis St. Louis may be best known for his treatments of 1950s and 1960s rock ’n’ roll with Smokey Joe’s Café, Grease and Grease 2. (He even hints that his real name appears somewhere in Grease 2.) For the Alliance Theatre’s Jesus Christ Superstar GOSPEL (opening Jan. 21), he received permission from hit-making composer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber to reinterpret the rock opera through the prism of contemporary black gospel music.
You’re credited as the music supervisor, dance arranger and conceiver of the show. How did you get the idea to “gospelize” the material? It seems like a natural fit.
That’s what everything seems to think, but no one ever did it. I was conducting a concert for the New York League of Theatres in 2002 called Broadway Rocks. All of the women wanted to do “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar. Generally, if I can up come up with a new slant on something in a half hour, I’m excited about it. We gave the song a gospel treatment, with an African-American singer on one side of the stage and a white one on the other. It was plugged in the center of an 80-minute concert and brought the house down. The next morning, I had the revelation that I could do the whole show that way. I wrote a letter to Andrew asking permission in intentionally the worst Shakespearean language I could muster: “I beseech thee on bended knee, my lord…” Someone told me that when Sir Andrew heard about my idea, he said “None of you a-holes ever knew what to do with the old material. Who is this?”
How well did you know the material?
Jesus Christ Superstar has always been my favorite Andrew Lloyd Webber piece, and I can honestly say that I like all his work. In 1971, I auditioned 12 times for Judas on Broadway, but after awhile they started saying “You should come back for Herod.”
(more…)
1) Kevin Blechdom performs at Drunken Unicorn.
2) Jesus Christ Superstar Gospel opens at the Alliance Theatre.
3) The Atlanta Jewish Film Fest kicks off.
4) Tom Rush plays Eddie’s Attic.
5) PushPush Theater hosts the Doug Dank Project.
(Photo by Crackerfarm)
