This past Easter Sunday, NBC performed Jesus Christ Superstar as a live concert event. The musical detailed Jesus’ final week from the perspective of his infamous betrayer, Judas Iscariot. Even if you aren’t Christian or religious, the storyline and music are incredible. Not to mention John Legend as Jesus Christ and Sara Bareilles as Mary Magdalene. What cast could be more perfect? It’s one of the best live musicals I have seen. Here’s what made it so successful.
The musical was actually not cringe-worthy
A live audience can work wonders. Working off of an audience that is happy and excited to be in a room creates energy for actors. I kept wondering why NBC was saying the musical would be “live in concert,” but now it all makes sense. Jesus Christ Superstar had seating like an arena of an actual concert.
The actors never filmed scenes away from the audience. All of the action on stage was in front of real people cheering them on. This created the acting and audience reaction to feel authentic. If you look back at one of NBC’s first live performances, Peter Pan, it was incredibly awkward to watch. And when you watch you’ll notice — no audience. Live musicals as concerts are the way to go.
Can John Legend walk on water?
John Legend has an amazing singing voice and was perfectly cast as Jesus. Not only is Legend talented, but he is as beautiful as I would imagine Jesus to be. I loved when John Legend came out to meet his followers (audience members) and reached out to touch them. I kept imagining them to scream, “Oh my God it’s John Legend! Oh wait, no, I mean, oh my God it’s Jesus!” It really played into the fact that Jesus had a lot of fake followers that didn’t stick by him in the end.
John Legend also had great chemistry working with Brandon Victor Dixen as Judas Iscariot. I had never heard of Dixen before Jesus Christ Superstar, but boy was I impressed. Not only does he play the villain of Judas, but also the villain of Aaron Burr in Hamilton. Even while playing these infamous characters, everyone still loves him. And we can’t forget those sparkly pants.
Production value: A+
The set. The lights. The music. The costumes. If it wasn’t for the director, all of those decisions wouldn’t have been made. It all came together so seamlessly. The amount of practice and dedication it must’ve taken was incredible. And the cast was huge. I was so surprised by all of the dancers and how entertaining they were. The stage direction was superb and the film direction as well. I loved the long shots of the entire stage and the close ups of the tension between Jesus and Judas. There was never a dull moment.
I think we can take away a lot from this production on how to further advance live musical performances: quality over quantity. Jesus Christ Superstar didn’t have elaborate props or sets because they had fantastic performers. By staging the musical with a live audience, it created energy and hype. This is by far the best NBC live musical yet and I can’t wait to see which musical they decide to broadcast next.