Unable to get backing for a stage production, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar was originally released as a concept rock opera album in 1970.  Its success has led to multiple stage productions over the last five decades. Many in last night’s audience had been there at the very beginning.

Timothy Sheader, now Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, directs this re-imagined Regents Park Open Theatre re-make of the iconic show. Driven along by an 8-strong band placed high up over the stage, this production has won the Olivier and Evening Standard Best Musical Awards.

Stepping into some big shoes, Ian McIntosh as Jesus was more than able to emulate the soaring high notes of his illustrious predecessor, Ian Anderson of Deep Purple, while Shem Omari James was equally intense as the conflicted Judas, but had to contend with overly loud lead guitar runs that obliterated many of his lyrics. A member of the audience later said “It’s a good job I already knew the words, otherwise I would have been lost.” Given that Judas’s narrative is the crucial one to follow in Superstar, Head of Sound Jeff Thomson needs to address the levels on the desk. This otherwise pulsating and high-octane performance was marred by the overbearing and, what sometimes felt borderline dangerous decibel levels that had this reviewer holding fingers to ears for tracts of the show.

The concept of Jesus as a superstar was a moment of genius from Lloyd Webber, who connected with the very heart of the sixties social revolution. It must have been cathartic then to witness such a sacred story receive such a rocket boost. But it feels like the rock n’ roll is competing with the story-telling here, affording little subtlety to understanding Jesus’s character or Judas’s internal musings on the direction of travel. And as mentioned before, with Judas buried under torrents of screaming lead guitar, his complex and rapidly delivered lines are sometimes lost to us, leaving us to read the action rather than the emotional tension of his thoughts. Because this is rock, the genre seems to have promoted a harder edge, with an ensemble sometimes taking on the aspect of a martial arts class on speed, rather than an adoring following of believers.

Inhabiting an altogether different galaxy to all around her, Hannah Richardson as Mary Magdalene produced three delicate, intensely beautiful moments. Her solos, Everything’s All Right, I Don’t Know How to Love Him and Could We Start Again Please were examples of high drama and lyrical expression without the need for a battle of amps behind her to connect us to the sentiments.

Also on his own planet was the gloriously gold-attired Timo Tatzber as the dastardly be-glittered Herod. All posturing and posing, his gloriously narcistic sovereign provides a punchy if short-lived visual to the proceedings. Ryan O’Donnell had great presence as reluctant hard man Pilate, while the sublime bass of Jad Habchi as High Priest Caiaphas rumbled out malignant threats from a pleasingly low register.

Tom Scutt’s stage design features a large supine cross stage right that doubles as a walkway and long dining table, with a balcony construction above that housed the band. It was more Lee Curran’s lighting effects which injected form into the show, culminating with a backlit crucifixion scene.

Superstardom is still there for the taking in this half-century-old musical, but the magic resides in the lyrics. Let them be heard!

★★★☆☆     Simon Bishop   12 March 2024

photographers credit @ Paul Coltas