Hey, the good news is that musicals are back. The bad news is that they’re remaking Jesus Christ Superstar. Now, to be honest I don’t think I’ve ever seen the whole original movie. My father said it was “just a bunch of hippies” so it wasn’t ever turned on in our house. But since then I’ve seen parts of it and I conclude it’s “just a bunch of hippies.”
But hippies are out and I’m not even sure what’s in at this point. But they’re remaking it.
BuzzSugar reports:
After Mamma Mia!’s global earnings of $600 million last year, Universal may be looking toward Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber for its next movie musical success. The studio is apparently developing an adaptation of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar with an interesting directorial choice: 500 Days of Summer director Marc Webb. Here’s more:
The story . . . is generally is seen as decidedly a product of the ’70s, with some characters played as hippies. And Webb, well, he’s a product of the modern era, fashioning a career out of stylish but emotionally potent music videos for the likes of Green Day (and then, of course, the musical melancholy of Summer).
But Webb has long had an affinity for the project, a rock opera that (perhaps a little like parts of Summer) mixes spiritual uplift with the pop-music type. And just as [director Norman] Jewison’s involvement brought a ’70s sensibility to the original, Webb could bring a modern, hipstery take.
Hipsters? What does that even mean?
But Jesus Christ Superstar has a number of problems in that it leaves open the question of Christ’s divinity and pushes Judas ahead as probably more sympathetic than Jesus. Tim Rice, the writer, said, “It happens that we don’t see Christ as God but simply the right man at the right time at the right place.”
No wonder Hollywood loves it so much. I, for one, doubt I’ll see it. But maybe I’m wrong. Anyone who’s actually seen the whole thing maybe could tell me more.
August 4, 2009 at 6:04 am
Andrew Lloyd Webber is to music as Ashton Kutcher is to acting. Both are talentless and past their prime, but someone somewhere thought they had talent and managed to fool the idiots into buying tickets.
August 4, 2009 at 10:49 am
At best it's irreverent with a capital i. At worst, there's no limit to what could be done with it. I wouldn't go near it.
August 4, 2009 at 2:03 pm
1970-71 saw the emergence of three (in)famous productions: Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Leonard Berstein's Mass. Godspell is probably the best of the lot, but Jesus Christ here performs no miracles, or gives no evidence of his divinity, and simply waxes hippyspeak for the most part.
Superstar is pretty much as you describe. A sympathetic Judas, and Jesus who isn't divine, merely misunderstood.
But the bottom of the barrel has to be Leonard Bernstein's Mass which, at the climax, the celebrant hurls the Eucharist to the ground. Even my atheistic music history professor made the comment that, "although we see secular melodies showing up in the liturgy in the medieval period, there is no such thing as a secular Mass….except perhaps the Leonard Bernstein atrocity."
My advice, get The Who's Tommy instead. It's just as silly story-wise, but at least the music's better.
August 4, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Pundette is right with the worst case scenario. I saw a production demonstrating that very point. Fortunately the production was horrible — the review title was "40 Lashes for JCS."
My 6th grade catholic school teacher played JCS for us throughout Lent. Now I still can't get the Hosanna and Gethsemane songs out of my head during Holy Week.
August 4, 2009 at 4:04 pm
I have seen both the original movie and the last remake (yes, there HAS been another recent remake — only a couple of years ago). They end differently. The original ends with Christ's death, and all the "players" get in a bus and drive away. It's a real downer, as people used to say. It's one of those "It's up to you" things — was he divine, or wasn't he?
The new one has, obviously, better production values. But it ends with Judas (who is dead, I think) looking down and Mary Magdalene looking up — a sort of update on the "it's up to you" thing, implying that some people think he was divine and some people don't.
In both, Jesus comes across as more of a crazy man than anything.
As far as "Mass" goes, I remember someone I went to college with (who has since become something of a gay activist) really loving it but it's almost impossible to get ahold of now, so I guess he was one of the few. I saw "Godspell" as a teenager and I still love it, what can I say? Yeah, there are no miracles in it. But I'd call myself pretty orthodox, it didn't hurt my faith. It's a better telling of the story than "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" tells Joseph, and I love that too (despite its bizarre implication that you can be just like Joseph! Any dream will do!)
August 4, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I'll leave all of the playwrite and drama critic stuff to the side.
I absolutely agree that Lloyd-Webber was, himself, in the right place and at the right time to be mistakenly lauded as a first-rate musical theatre composer. Within his own era, he couldn't carry Sondheim's water bottle, much less those of his Broadway or London forebears.
All that aside, I believe JCS is comprised of his best musical bits, literally. Somehow, in this one compilation, he avoided the British Dance Hall silliness of Joseph, and the faux-Mozart precious sincerity that drips from his "masterpiece," "Phantom…"
JCS is actually more authentic music than the other mega-theatre work, "Requiem," another one-hit wonder in the tradition of Bernstein's Mass (for which Sarah Brightman should offer her ex perpetual thanks for elevating her second-rate diva status as well.)
Lloyd-Webber is not without talent. A deeper delving into, say, "Cats," reveals at least an arranger of musical elements that is clever and studied, and thus interesting. But genius that sees a whole work through. IMO, only to be found musically, repeat MUSICALLY in JCS.
August 4, 2009 at 5:08 pm
I went to the most recent touring stage production of JC Superstar and it actually had the best end to it of any of them. After Christ died they had him on cables and pulled him up to the ceiling off the Cross after he died and then instead of the curtan closing a giant reproduction of the shrould of turin dropped down covering the stage. ONly version of it that seems to show Jesus as having risen from the dead. That same theatrical version had the play start off after Jesus's death and flash back to the whole story but it starts with Christians talking about the whole ordeal and doing the whole trace your foot in the sand to make a half fish, if the other person completes it your both christian so its safe thing.
I like the play because the music ia actually pretty good. Even if the theological message isnt dead on the music is pretty good.
But the movies are definetly a bunch of hippies dancing around. And the 2000 remake makes the apostles look very gay men.
August 4, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Charles: I agree, the music is pretty good. And as far as "Joseph" goes, the dance-hall silliness is what I like about it. It was originally written for children, not as a Broadway show, and my kids have always loved singing the songs. I think he could have been a good popular musical composer; he just got pretentious and thought he was an opera composer. "Phantom" is a good show but mostly because of the costumes and sets. The music by itself drives me nuts! JCS thinks it is an "important" piece when it is really just playing around with the Gospel; that's the sort of thing I mean by his being pretentious.
August 4, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Hipsters are like scene kids matthew, don't know if you know what those are either. But you see them all the time, they walk around in skinny jeans and play whiny indie music and think they're way cooler and more fashion conscious than everyone else. It's the in thing for teens and twenty somethings.
August 4, 2009 at 11:04 pm
This comment has been removed by the author.
August 4, 2009 at 11:09 pm
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August 5, 2009 at 12:04 am
Can't we just belt-sand our faces off instead?
August 5, 2009 at 2:42 am
I agree with the above comments about the theological silliness, but I must say that JCS has the best, bar none, bass line of any modern musical/operetta/what-have-you (and I'm not a bass player).
August 5, 2009 at 3:44 am
mary magdalene sings
"hes a man, hes just a man. and ive had so many men before, in very many ways..hes just one more"
that line in itself causes me to blush and be sick all at the same time. us hippies used to get together around the campfire and sing the whole musical…and yours truley was mary magdalene. I burn with shame and embarassment that i ever sung those words.
It sucks eggs, stay away
S. Marie
August 5, 2009 at 4:23 am
S Marie – the odd thing there is the church disavowed the "Mary Magdalene as the women caught in adultery" scenario back in the 17th century and essentially apologised to Mary Magdalene for this association. Note: even if it were true, it of course does not take away from Mary Magdalene's sainthood. Anyway, it's just odd that the heretics decided to continue that angle on her. Maybe it's just "jucier" that way.
August 5, 2009 at 5:45 am
Put me down for a good ol face belt sanding. Anyone else?
August 5, 2009 at 5:50 am
I don't plan on seeing the remake. I finally got curious and saw the original a few years ago. It is, indeed, basically just dancing hippies. It makes some very Hollywoody implications. Honestly, though, if you just take it as it is and don't treat it as a source of theological truth, some of the songs are pretty catchy.
August 5, 2009 at 2:58 pm
I actually love JCS, I think it's musically fantastic.
That being said, I agree that it's theologically bad news. The best that can be said of it is that it shows an interesting persepective on the human side of Christ, which we often forget. Sadly, that human side isn't balanced with the GOD side of Christ. As in, he is Lord.
If a remake is coming, I think the result will be the same as the first time around – some will use the subject matter to bolster their belief that Jesus was just a man, nothing more. And others will be exposed to a side of Christ they never considered and be led to investigate Chritianity on a deeper, more meaningful level than they had previoulsy. Yes, this may mean more kumbaya-type Christians in the world. But we are supposed to rejoice when anyone finds Christ, even if they find him in the most liberal sense.
August 6, 2009 at 5:04 am
Never saw it from the start, the title put me off, sounded demeaning to the lord.
August 6, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Nonsense,
Andrew Lloyd Weber is a great guy and a truly devout Christian. No one, but no one has done more to uphold High Church tradition and Liturgy in England, even stopping by to support the RC now and then.
His stagings may not to be to everyone's taste, but by no means should Lloyd Weber's devotion be trivialized by including it anywhere near Leonard Bernstein's sacrilege.
JBP