"Jesus Christ Superstar" - Runaway Stage Productions

Left: Cast at bows.


Steve Winlock reprised the role of Judas (he played the same role in 1987 at DMTC). Excellent actor and singer!

I liked Julia Mosby's singing in "Everything's Alright" and "I Don't Know How To Love Him".



Your own personal Jesus, Tevye Ditter.

Tev also played this role at DMTC in January, 2005. He was great there, but he is even better here - totally mesmerizing! With great depth of experience, Tev just gets better and better with the rock falsettos!







King Herod (Michael McElroy), together with Ed and Marge Hand, directors of West Valley Light Opera, in Saratoga.

I asked MikeMac whom he had modeled his King Herod character after - there was a special undefinable familiarity about his Roman-style corruption. A George Bush caricature came to mind, but it seemed wide of the mark.





MikeMac said that someone had remarked that MikeMac's King Herod reminded him not of a person, but rather, a muppet, in 1983's "Return of the Jedi", in the scene with the fabulously-corrupt Jabba The Hut.

This muppet is likely Jabba's sidekick, Salacious Crumb.

Jabba The Hut had many failings as an empathetic creature, but his taste in dancing girls was top-notch (as is MikeMac's King Herod's taste too).




Choreographer Pamela Kay Lourentzos and Dance Captain Charlotte Hartshorne.

Pam's choreography of "Simon Zealotes/Poor Jerusalem" was fantastic - just about the best I've ever seen from her! The placement of the raked star center-stage gave her several substages to work with. With Judas' (Steve Winlock's) entry at the beginning stage-right (weighed down by the Tormentors) to Simon's (Joshua James') stellar singing and dancing stage-left, to the final scattering into the aisles at the end, it was just great! The aisles of the 24th Street Theater have been used for many purposes in many shows, but I think this is the first time I've ever seen them used to handle what amounted to a detonation on stage - Pam's Big Bang, with the theater as the Universe!

A pretty rose, just outside the 24th Street Theater main entrance.


There were several criticisms I heard regarding the show:

1.) the troubles with stage microphones were maddening;
2.) spotlights and flashing lights bugged some people;
3.) it was too loud; and,
4.) there was a lack of warmth about the show - in particular, having the apostles dance around rather than listen to Christ ("What's The Buzz?" "The Last Supper"). Pilate didn't seem terribly warm either, or even that conflicted.

I agreed about the stage mikes - I wondered if there was sound board confusion from having so many people miked. I had no trouble with the lights or the volume (if anything, I would have had it louder).

Regarding warmth, I had a different take. The differences in age and stature between the apostles and both Judas and Jesus were great enough to cause a significant tension. But then again, Christ's and Judas' positions were singularly lonely and unique: the trials of the apostles came later, after Jesus' crucifixion. Admittedly, the apostles did seem heedless and young, just one step above the street, less like apostles, and more like groupies. To me, though, I thought that was a reasonable interpretation. And remember, this is rock opera, among musical theater's most kinetic forms. I don't think warmth when I think rock opera anyway, and having the apostles do something, anything, other than sit around was a good idea. It's gotta move!

Dack Lack played Pontius Pilate in an imperial manner, but, once again, I thought was well within bounds. His conflicts were explicit, I thought, and if Pilate seemed a bit disinterested, even callous - well, welcome to the Roman Empire!

So, apart from stage mike problems, I thought it was a grand show. Go see it!

I understand that at auditions for this show, a person appeared who looked, for all the world, like Jesus Christ. Matters of practicality prevented this person from being cast (he lives in San Diego), but it calls to mind just how important appearances are for certain roles and how we are all swayed by the hunger for a Messiah. I suspect the musical theater community is peculiarly vulnerable to this emotional appeal - after all, the Pied Piper was a musician.

Which brings to mind a college class on American Social, Cultural, and Religious History I once took, taught by Ferenc Szasz, at the University of New Mexico. His professional interest was late-19th Century American Protestantism. I can't immediately find a link, so I'm working from memory here....

One day, in 19th-Century frontier New Mexico, a mysterious, selfless, humble stranger appeared, who looked, for all the world, like Jesus Christ. People who encountered him were astonished at the eerie parallels between the Bible, and the person they saw with their own eyes sitting before them. Before you could say the word 'cult', this person had a devoted following that travelled from town to town....

Perhaps the local musical theater community needs a Messiah. It would be helpful if he were a stranger. So, we'll pick up the guy from San Diego, and we can send Tev to Reno, and maybe with all this shuffling, we'll all be happier as a result.