BOOKS

MOVIES

ALBUMS

THEATRE

GIGS

HOME

Jesus Christ Superstar should be on everybody's list of favourite things. It is a timeless classic of extraordinary proportions, with new innovations that keep the veteran viewer enthralled from first till last.

Glenn Carter, who played Jesus on video recently, as well as so successfully on Broadway, again takes the title role and makes it his own. "Definitive" is how the posters describe his portrayal of Jesus during the last seven days of his life and that description is very difficult indeed to argue against. Carter displays every possible emotion cut to the raw throughout and manages to sing with a voice so powerful and so clear, that it breathtaking to witness.

James Fox, finalist of last years Fame Academy in the UK and the UK's entrant for this years Eurovision, debuts on stage as Judas - from who's perspective the story is taken - with aplomb. His voice and sense of feeling for the character, that most reviled of men, is unfaltering and sympathetic on all counts and such performances must surely bode well, should he wish to continue in theatre. His version of Superstar takes the breath away !!

Emma Dears plays Mary Magdalene with a deftness of touch that defies her characters perceived persona. A voice of an absolute angel brings out more from I Don't Know How To Love Him, than is imaginable, whereas her tears at the foot of the cross cannot fail to move.

However, the talents of Timothy Churchill must take precedence. His role of Pilate was so clear, so well defined and so well acted that it put many of his predecessors to the part well and truly in the shade.

The set is bigger, the sound perfect and the costumes and lighting authentic and atmospheric. If there is to be one quibble, it is minor; the scourging of Jesus should revert the style of that shown on video - if only to keep pace with Gibson's Passion cruelty.

If this production arrives near you, then please go!!! Like throwing away that favourite jumper, you'll only regret it later if you don't.

BOOKS | MOVIES | ALBUMS | THEATRE | GIGS