Jesus Christ! That's no Superstar.

Last night, Yale and I went to see W. Keddler Ltd. Presents Jesus Christ Superstar. While it was nice to get out of the house, the two Hurricane Katrinas and one Mardi Tai I had before partaking of the show did not help me actually enjoy it.
The character of Jesus was played by Ted Neeley, the guy who portrayed him in the 1970s movie version of the musical. While I did not care for his style in the movie, I did go into the show thinking that a man’s performance must change over the 30 some odd years he’s been playing this part in various other productions. Boy, was I mistaken. His screeching through his musical numbers whenever he was supposed to hit a high note (yeah, that’s not called singing) made me feel comfortably at home—and remember, my home has a 6 month old who enjoys the reign of terror he has upon the household to its fullest extent. And by the way, I’ve seen more emoting from marionettes. Although when the actor is of social security age, it does make one wonder if his arthritis was simply acting up—and that would have been all the acting he did all night!
James Delisco was amazing as Judas; he just reinforced my belief that all the apostles should be talented black men with cornrows. I didn’t have very good seats and I could feel his commitment to the role where I was sitting. The highlight of the night was when he reappeared after Judas’ death and not only out sang everyone else but outdanced everyone else too.
The actual production elements were sad. Exhibit one: Costuming. Jesus was dressed in a white robe that looked like an overgrown costume from the Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Wow, putting Jesus in a white robe, how creative. I am so glad that Mary Magdalene was wearing a red dress. You never see that—the “scarlet woman” wearing red. I really hope the designer trademarks that idea because I know it will be copied in droves. However, someone didn’t light test their fabric, or at least they’re not listening to Tim Gunn and using Tide Total Care, because it wasn’t so much red as light maroon. When you put a woman in red, put her in RED. Anything else is just lazy. And why is it that when a woman becomes “good” you just put a blazer on her and she’s fixed? Give me a break. She also put on what seemed strangely like a mantilla at the death of Jesus. Why? The rest of the cast wore various rags in off white, brown, and mustard with the requisite sandals. Don’t hurt yourself now with the creativity; I wouldn’t want the costuming to get too out there or maybe I wouldn’t recognize the play. I actually enjoyed Herod—a man in purple lamé and knee high gold boots is always a fun time.
The set and light design were also very run of the mill. I realize that a touring show can’t have much in the way of scenery, but please, in the entrance to Jerusalem scene, could we not use palm fronds? Even fake ones would have been better than the potato sacks the actors were forced to twirl instead. Oh, but I forget—they probably blew the set budget on the big cross and the wires used to “resurrect” Jesus into the catwalk. I was almost suffocated by the cliché. What really pushed me over the edge was the final overlay of a light film that shot the shroud of Turin onto a big sheet from the catwalk to the floor. WTF?