BWW Reviews: JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR at Carlisle is a Truly Relevant Twist on History

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR is one of those shows that's been around as long if not longer than most of its audience has - Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber introduced it as a rock opera concert album in 1970 and put it on stage back in 1971. It's a story that's plainly set in a specific historical period - that it's in the Gospels certainly indicates that. But much of the story within JCS itself isn't within the Gospels, it's "additional color" - the fleshing out of arguments between Jesus and Judas, the debates of the priesthood, and the like, as well as vignettes that don't clearly exist in a particular time or place (King Herod's Song" and "Superstar," as normally staged, seem outside of space and time no matter what). That makes it susceptible to restagings, and the most recent Australian version, which also toured here, went with a major updating.

Dustin LeBlanc, artistic director of Carlisle Theatre Company, has gone with the updated staging, which is one of the more perfect updatings of a show that's been tried. Set in the modern world, with priests in business suits at a conference table, with apostles sharing texts of #thetwelve, its political context makes very clear sense, as Roman leadership anticipates an Occupy Jerusalem atmosphere. It's a world of Roman leadership as big government, the Temple priesthood as Big Business closely tied in with big government, and Jesus and his followers as an Occupy movement that's torn between the political and the spiritual. That the stage movement is projected onto a giant screen - both a rock concert usage and a reminiscence of watching protests on big-screen televisions - and that the screen also shows apostle Facebook messages and follower tweets to #thetwelve only solidifies the air of modern rebellion, of the Occupy demonstrators or of Egypt's Arab Spring.

Such a setting requires a strong group of actors at its core, and LeBlanc has assembled that. Judas, who wants Jesus to strike a blow for the poor and the underprivileged, is played by area theatre veteran Jeremy Patterson, who moves from disillusioned protestor with Jesus to black suited, fedoraed hipster performer in "Superstar," all seamlessly. Patterson's portrayal is an excellent take on Judas, serving Jesus as his spin doctor and finally hitting a wall when he can't determine how to sell the public on Jesus' relationship with Mary Magdalene. Patterson, as the performer whose character all but dominates the show, is fortunately a triple threat, not only a strong actor but a singer-dancer who makes bopping with the Soul Sisters and some angels during the Crucifixion look not only easy but slick.

Magdalene is played by Emily Falvey, who's now a veteran of the part, and it shows. Her solo of the show's breakout song, "I Don't Know How to Love Him," is astonishingly lovely, without any exaggeration. Drawing on her previous Mary Magdalene, and with perhaps a touch of her Sally Bowles from York's production of CABARET, she gives us a character who's both hard-bitten and vulnerable at the same time, and who, unlike Judas, believes that Jesus needs to focus on himself in order to be able to help anyone else.

Michael Miller's Jesus is a solid one, fixed on a goal, both accepting and astonished at the same time of his fate, as if he knows but doesn't quite believe in what's happening around him. It's possible to sense in his performance just why the priesthood fears his emergence on the political scene.

Matthew Robinson's Caiaphas should make anyone who loves serious bass singing cheer. He's got the chops, as well as the nuances to make an audience imagine a speaker whose pronouncements indeed carry gravitas. Ryan Boyles as Pilate, and Ric LeBlanc as Herod, are equally fine in their parts, and Herod's performance of the trial of Jesus as a mixture of reality show and Jerry Springer episode simply works.

The set, by Mike Motto, is notable from the moment of coming into the theatre, as the "Rome Lies" graffiti dominates the stage. The graffiti, the projections of Facebook and Twitter messages spurring on public action, conspire to make this not only a concert performance but a perfectly set comparison of ancient political clashes with modern ones.

This production is what JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR needs to be - a well-acted, well-sung show that can shake cobwebs from its audience's minds. The restaging should make almost anyone draw the necessary parallels to see that the more things change, the more they do indeed stay the same. Kudos to CTC for pulling this off.

At Carlisle Theatre Company, at the Carlisle Theatre, through October 18. Call 717-258-0666 or visit www.carlisletheatrecompany.com for tickets and information.

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