Sydney Reviews

To see the inimitable Mahalia Barnes performing two iconic songs, I Don’t Know How to Love Him and Everything’s Alright is enough for you to buy a ticket. To be presented with a full-blown rock opera with blazing electric guitars, concert lighting, a company of talented singers and dancers, and a devilishly funny star turn by the outrageous Reuben Kaye, guarantees a lot of fun.

In 1970, two 20-year-old, aspiring musical geniuses, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, created the rock opera, Jesus Christ Super Star. Much like The Who’s Tommy, it started as a concept album and later became a theatre production based on the strength of the music.

Webber and Rice drew on the zeitgeist of the 1970s, including prog-rock, hippies, peace, love, fandom, protest, radicalism and cults. While dealing with religious subject matter, Webber and Rice pose the very humanist question – what happens “if you strip away the myth from the man”? This version of the Passion of Christ emphasises the human frailty of Jesus, depicting him very much as a man.

The drama centres on Judas’s justification of his betrayal. Thinking that Jesus’s popularity has gone to his head, Judas is angry that Jesus has dared to proclaim he is God. He also fears that the Pharisees and the Roman rulers will violently squash Jesus and his disciples for their activism.

This is all expressed magnificently by Javon King as Judas in the opening number Heaven on Their Minds. King’s fiery portrayal of Judas is just right, constantly wrangling his twitching resentment, outrage and guilt.

True to the tradition of the show, rock musicians, Michael Paynter and Mahalia Barnes are cast as Jesus and Mary Magdalene (Jon English played Judas in the original Australian production; Trevor White and Jon Legend have previously played Jesus; Marcia Hines and Sara Bareilles have played Mary Magdalene). Their voices are wonderful and in a score of big notes and bravura musical range, they absolutely deliver.

The brilliant chorus does much of the work to bring emotional and dramatic heft. It functions like a Greek Chorus in moving the drama forward and signalling the tone of each scene. Under Tom Deering’s musical supervision, their harmonies sounded particularly fresh and lovely. Costume designer Tom Scutt dressed them simply in pale, tonal sweats and sneakers yet brilliantly managed to evoke the period and place. Similarly, adding red and blue shawls for The Last Supper and white gowns for The Passion set the mood perfectly.

Drew McOnie’s choreography is sensational and exhilarating. It is mostly high-octane 1970s-style funk layered with a very contemporary aesthetic. There is a particular way the Chorus held their hands to their foreheads during What’s the Buzz that was scarily cultish, giving weight to Judas’s suspicions about Jesus.

Two minor quibbles regard the structure of the show and the use of microphones. There is a tension in the structure because it started as an album. The book is caught between being a rock concert and musical theatre in style – something that was resolved in the film version.

The show is entirely sung, but the songs are either solos or chorus. The transitions between action and the next song were sometimes awkward, with a soloist standing in front of a microphone to perform their number, then going off stage, leaving the feeling of a lack of cohesion.

The hand-held and stand microphones used by the lead performers got in the way of the acting; they obscured the performers’ ability to project their character and blocked the emotional connection with the audience. Much of this could be overcome with body mics which would give the performers a chance to express themselves fully.

There were performers whose work overrode the constraints of the microphones – the divine Reuben Kaye, who, in staggering heels, fishnet stockings and with a cheeky Charleston routine, immediately had the audience in the palm of his hand. His big, brash character work was not to be deterred by a microphone. Neither was Tana Laga’Aia, as Peter, whose low-key yet magnetic performing style was so genuine and whose voice was so natural that every intention was clear.

Quibbles aside, from the distinctive sliding guitar chords and the haunting woodwind at the start, through the innumerable sensational ballads and ditties to the powerful anthemic finale, Jesus Christ Super Star is adored for very good reasons. It is an enduring musical that pushed the genre forward and found new audiences for the form. It is both serious and a lot of fun. It’s a show that is all about the songs and the performances … and the dancing … and the lighting … go see it.