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Half a century of 'Jesus Christ Superstar'

21 Comments
By Henry Bial

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Jesus died on the cross, because it was prescribed for Non Roman citizen,not because he came too save somebody Google Dying On The Cross As Punishment

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

Your faith will save you and I loved this musical. Great piece of work.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Quite an impact of stage musical production no matter how nonsense the subject matter.

Then again Cats, Starlight Express and others are all works of fiction too.

Just hated the way we were constantly shown the movie version of this at school by zealots as a "cool" way to indoctrinate us into organised religious mumbo jumbo.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

There's a reason why more people follow Jesus than any person in history, and why He is the subject of more books, songs, poems, plays, works of art, etc. than any other person in history by a long stretch.

He's easily the most popular person ever. With me too.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Never been a fan of musicals and the like but there's one I've always wanted to go see. Book Of Mormon, written by South Park creators.

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Blasphemous pathetic musical..

-15 ( +0 / -15 )

Blasphemous pathetic musical..

Blasphemous? You Christian now? LOL!

5 ( +8 / -3 )

I saw the Indian version of "Jesus Christ Superstar" in Mumbai and liked the play.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Never saw on stage, only saw the movie and listened to the album again and again. Probably my favourites.

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Ian Gillan, the voice of Jesus in the original recording, went on to become the lead singer for Black Sabbath. Go figure.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Only if you can tell me what Judas and the guys from ABBA have in common and just how Rick from the Young Ones fits into all of this.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Yeah i saw deep purple live also .

Fantastic !

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

A little off topic perhaps, but around the time of Jesus Christ Superstar being released, the comedian Billy Connolly gave his own version of the Last Supper and Crucifixion. There were some protests outside his gigs by dour "Free Church" types, but it was also reported that groups of nuns sometimes attended and laughed their heads off.

Anyway, I have to wonder which was closer to the truth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WgXPBDrd8s

1 ( +1 / -0 )

More of a psycodelic version

0 ( +0 / -0 )

BigYenApr. 13  07:53 am JST

By far the best thing Lloyd Webber and Rice ever did, a great piece of music in its time and still worthwhile today. I’m not a believer, but you can’t deny the power of the story. I even went to see the Australian stage production, and that was a powerful piece of theatre. I don’t agree with descriptions of the musical as “irreverent”. Even for atheists like me, the respect the writers had for a man who means so much to many people was obvious, and was crucial to its success as a piece of musical art and history.

I think it is a terrific theatrical way to tell the story of Jesus. In a way, it's just a modern Passion Play like the ones held in Oberhau, Germany every 10 years. I've seen the original and a cheap PBS version on TV. And yet so many 'Christians' condemn it, saying 'oh it has nudity, somebody says this-or-that', bleh bleh bleh'. They always pop off the chops about what they don't know. I've heard it all!

The best thing is to see it for yourself and then decide. The original by Lloyd Webber and Rice is quite good.

BigYenApr. 13  07:51 pm JST

shinhiyata:

Ian Gillan was the singer for Deep Purple,

And if I recall, Murray Head is there too. In 1985 he scored on his own with 'One Night In Bangkok' which hit #3 in the USA. And in a recent TV airing, Alice Cooper plays King Herod and he's a Christian.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I'd like to point out that @shinhiyata was correct to say that Gillan also sang for Sabbath, although it was for a relatively brief period in the '80s and many people (including Ian Gillan) would agree that it wasn't the finest work that either of them did. 

Starring in a religious-themed play doesn't mean you are that character - good or bad. Besides, the band Black Sabbath is not, NOT in the least 'satanic'. The very band name came from a comical silent horror film with no satanic overtones whatsoever. Black Sabbath songs (the best ones) are about mental illness, antiwar, anti-drugs, etc. Yet those Christian 'fundies' keep flapping their big mouths like Pac-Man about these things because they CHOOSE to be ignorant.

Jesus Christ, Superstar, do you think you're what they say you are?"

And in school we had these 'badass' chumps singing, 'Jesus Christ, Superstar, who in the hell do you think you are?" as a moronic 'joke' That 'stirred the pot' even more when I was in elementary and middle school. And that ain't funny at all.

Once again, many times it's just best to see some things for yourself.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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