Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar toured through The Netherlands, featuring Ted Neeley (who played Jesus in the 1973 movie and toured with Meat Loaf early in the 1980s) and a whole load of Italians. This seemed too good a thing to let it pass by, so we bought tickets.
Then this thing happened, and it was kinda uncertain whether we could make it. But in the end, we did make it — my first big trip out of the door in a month — and it was awesome.
Even at age 73, Ted Neeley was the absolute highlight. His “Gethsemane” was freaking unbelievable. One of my favorite bits of the movie is “King Herod’s Song” — with the magnificent line “Prove to me that you’re no fool: walk across my swimming pool” — and here it was gloriously over the top. Kajafas and Annas hammed it up nicely, and their “Must die, must die, this Jesus must die” melody grooved quite well. Judas, who after Jesus probably has the best parts, was another highlight. Dangit, it was awesome all around. I could nitpick on the accented English, but I didn’t mind that. No, I had a great time.
- Seen live
- Jesus Christ Superstar starring Ted Neeley at World Forum Theater, Den Haag on December 27th, 2016