The choreography was exceptionally good as were the dancers and most of the singing. A consistent flaw with the cast is lack of cohesive phrasing but overall, it was very well done.
Leo Grinberg, in the title role was terrific. He lives every character he plays. I believe I wrote about him after I saw the same company perform Rent. As always in a Webber production, the ensemble scenes were the best. Shelly Wozniak did a great job directing.
This is not one of my favorite shows and I could not find anyone to go with me, other than of course, my student's parents. I am thinking it brought back bad 70's memories. Like my older sister dragging me to discoes which I hated...I don't have good Anchorage parking karma and ended up in a garage, but street level. Oddly enough, City Hall parking is free til 6 pm, but you have to be there right at 6 to pay or else. Saw the mayor working behind the bar at his place.
JCS was very controversial when it first came out in 1971.
The following paragragh is straight from Wikipedia: Tim Rice who wrote the lyrics said, "It happens that we don't see Christ as God but simply the right man at the right time at the right place." Some Christians consider these comments to be blasphemous, the character of Judas too sympathetic and some of his criticisms of Jesus offensive. At the same time, some Jews said that it bolstered the anti-Semitic claim that the Jews are responsible for Jesus' death by showing most of the villains as Jewish (Caiaphas and the other priests, Herod) and showing the crowd in Jerusalem calling for the crucifixion. The musical was banned in South Africa for being "irreligious".
40 years later, it is still causing controversy. Five members of the Dress audience stood up at Intermission and politely expressed their belief that this show was disgraceful and blasphemous and does not belong in Anchorage, which has a large and devout fundamentally religious population.
When I was a child, our family attended a Baptist church and the preacher got up and ranted against the show and urged a boycott. I can still see his red his face and hear his loud voice. Of course when the film came out, everybody wanted to see what all the hoopla was about. The musician, Ted Neely, played Jesus and looked very like the stereotype with his flowing locks and soulful eyes.
Once again Mike Dunham, Anchorage Daily News critic failed to review. He needs to go to more Theatre Artist United productions to see this exceptionally talented cast.
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