Jesus Christ Superstar

A contemporary setting of Multi-Deck scaffold and colourful graffiti alerts you instantly that this will be a modern interpretation of rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar.

You'd have managed better if you'd had it planned.

Now why'd you choose such a backward time and such a strange land?

If you'd come today, you would have reached the whole nation.

Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication.

Judas’s late show message to Jesus feels like the mantra for Meg Day’s production at Engadine Musical Society.

What if Jesus arrived in the Middle East today?

Day always pushes the envelope in community theatre, conceiving original and intriguing interpretations. This time it’s her use of slickly produced video and media which takes this show to the next level.

As Alan Steadman’s impressive orchestra launches into the overture, an edgy contemporary vision of street violence and armoured riot police sets the scene.

TV news reports and newspaper headlines, very credibly produced and interspersed with file footage, kick in, screened on the expansive cyclorama, making it clear that this non-time specific contemporary setting pitches Jesus as a popular revolutionary leader, challenging secular and religious authoritarianism in an age of instantaneous global media communication.

It’s a raw, physical, youthful contemporary production, energized from the outset by an enthusiastic ensemble; at times you’re reminded of the vibrant protest energy of Hair, Superstar’s contemporary, but there’s something way more repressive, edgy and bleaker happening here, with clothing in mostly dark tones, a far cry from the vibrant, colourful 60s protest movement of that tribal love musical.

In this parallel interpretation of Superstar, the characters’ appearance differs rather than their essentials. The relationship between James Gander (Jesus) and Daniel O’Connell (Judas) remains a ripping rock music confrontation, though now they’re dressed in contrasting contemporary white shirt and jeans (Jesus) and black (Judas). Gander’s Jesus is not so meek and mild, maybe a touch cocky and arrogant, and needing to be restrained from striking out at the persistently niggling Judas. Tanya Boyle’s Mary Magdalene definitely implies that something physical or emotional is going on with Jesus. Her ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him’ builds affectingly from introspection to a bravura climax.

The priests are now boardroom corporates, with mobile phones, meeting around a board table in dark suits with red ties, an effective image of contemporary power. As their leader and mouthpiece, Ciaphas, James Jonathon has a great vocal range and the perfect bass register for those familiar deep notes, while conveying a cold, ruthless persona. His fellow priests resonate as shadowy, archetypal ‘faceless men’, a nice fit for this interpretation.

Pilate (Greg Windred), is identically dressed to the priests, except for a cloak denoting his office, which immediately tars him with the same brush. But his contemplative dream song marks him apart, while there’s a sense of both the pragmatic and conflicted in his driven rock confrontations with Jesus. Windred, for mine, is the stand-out rock vocalist.

Ethan Harvey’s young, flamboyantly dressed Herod is a Bieber-esque spoilt teen brat, an interesting switch from the usual vaudeville interpretation, supported by a delightful crew of backing girls putting over some snappy, sassy Craig Nhobbs choreography, before providing slinky support to Judas in the show’s title song.

Striking visual and choreographic moment of the night, however, has to go to a crowd surfing Jesus in the red-light Temple scene, spectacularly raised above the heads of the seething ensemble.

The hanging of Judas, tough to do safely on an amateur stage, gets a symbolic, choreographed treatment, continuing a motif established earlier and woven through other relevant moments of the Judas narrative.

Jesus Christ Superstar will never be to all tastes; ‘too noisy’ I heard someone mutter in the foyer at interval (and yes, it is a Rock Opera). Likewise, the particularly drunken depiction of the Last Supper may offend (but this secular retelling of Christ’s story has sparked protests since its premiere). However, for everyone else, this original multi-media take on the first great rock opera is well worth the trip to Sutherland.

Neil Litchfield

Images: Perfect Images Photography.