Jesus Christ superstar
| Musical dates | |
|---|---|
| Original title: | Jesus Christ superstar |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
| Book: | Tim Rice |
| Literary source: | Gospel |
| Original direction: | Tom O'Horgan |
| Premiere: | October 12, 1971 |
| Place of premiere: | Mark Hellinger Theater, New York City |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 hours 15 minutes |
| Place and time of the action: | Israel , around A.D. 30 |
| Roles / people | |
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera that premiered on October 12, 1971 at the Mark Hellinger Theater in New York City . The music was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber , who was still unknown at the time , and Tim Rice wrote the lyrics based on the Bible stories of the last seven days of Jesus.
action
The overture is followed by a thoughtful aria by the apostle Judas , in which he addresses the absent Jesus ( Heaven on their minds ). While many people think Jesus is the Son of God, Judas does not believe in it. He fears that the situation and the enthusiastic crowd will slip out of Jesus' hands and that this will put everyone in danger.
On Friday evening, Jesus, the apostles and several women, including Mary Magdalene , are together in Bethany . Judas criticizes Jesus' friendship with the prostitute Maria Magdalena, who sings a lullaby to Jesus ( Try not to get worried, try not to turn on to / Problems that upset you, oh ). Jesus has forgiven the young woman for her guilt and takes pleasure in her tenderness. Rice follows a problematic Christian tradition, probably for dramaturgical reasons, which the apostle Mary from Magdala ( Lk 8.1-3 EU ) mistakenly shared with Mary of Bethany and the nameless “sinner” from Naïn ( Lk 7.36-50 EU ) has merged.
On Palm Sunday, the high priests discuss the situation in the palace of Kajaphas in Jerusalem . Kajaphas sees great dangers, fears a war with the Romans ( I see bad things arising - the crowd crown him king / Which the Romans would ban ). Therefore, he suggests to the others to kill Jesus in time, as one killed John the Baptist before ( So like John before him, this Jesus must die ). Outside the palace, the crowd gathers and cheers Jesus ( Hosanna Heysanna Sanna Sanna Ho / Sanna Hey Sanna Ho Sanna ). Caiaphas begs Jesus in vain to silence the crowd. The apostle Simon Zelotes calls on Jesus to call the crowd to fight for freedom against the Romans. But Jesus rejects this and complains about Jerusalem, which closes its eyes to the truth.
On Monday, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate has a dream and foresees the later situation in which he will have to condemn an innocent man because the crowd demands it of him. Jesus drives the moneylenders and traders out of the temple ( temple cleaning ) and is harassed by a large crowd of blind, lame and lepers, all of whom want to be healed. He flees to Maria Magdalena, who confronts her timid love for Jesus in an aria ( I don't know how to love him ), fascinated by Jesus' words and deeds, at the same time frightened by her past to trust a man.
On Tuesday, Judas, believing that he would have to stop Jesus in order to save his and his disciples' lives, confided in Kajaphas and the other high priests. They persuade him, for a reward, to reveal a time and place where they can arrest Jesus, undisturbed by the crowd ( You know his movements - we know the law ).
On Maundy Thursday , Jesus and his twelve apostles would like to celebrate the Passover again . He breaks the bread and blesses the wine, telling his followers that this will be their last communion together before he is executed. The apostles cannot believe what they are hearing and do not seem to understand the seriousness of the matter at all. “I've always wanted to be an apostle,” they sing and tell each other that they will one day write the Gospels . They are obviously only after the fame that friendship with Jesus brings. Against this backdrop of simple-minded disciples , Jesus and Judas engage in a violent battle of words, in which Jesus predicts that Judas will betray him that very evening. Judas, for his part, replies that this is after all Jesus' will. Then he disappears to fetch the high priests and their guards .
Jesus is alone in the garden of Gethsemane , praying to God. None of the disciples watch with him, although he asked Peter , John and James twice to do so. In a great aria ( I only want to say / if there is a way / take this cup away from me ) Jesus turns to God and asks him to let the "bitter cup" of death on the cross pass him by. He expresses his doubts as to whether his sacrifice can bring about human salvation at all or whether he gives his life in vain, and asks God for a sign. In the end he overcomes doubts and submits to the divine command ( God thy will is hard / but you hold every card ).
Judas enters the garden with the high priests' guards and gives Jesus a brotherly kiss as a sign of identification. “Judas, will you betray me with a kiss?” Jesus asks him and Judas begins to cry. But Jesus has already forgiven him, knowing that everything has to come like this. The apostles wake up and want to fight the guards, but Jesus stops them. He allows himself to be arrested without resistance, and the crowd asks him in the style of reporters: Tell me Christ how you feel tonight / Do you plan to put up a fight? While Jesus is being interrogated by the high priests, Peter denies by the fire to people who recognize him three times that he knew Jesus.
On Good Friday Jesus is cynically questioned by Pontius Pilate , but when he does not answer any of the questions asked and since he comes from Galilee , Pilate sends him to King Herod . He acts like a showmaster and asks the "superstar" to do a miracle to prove that he is actually God's son. Herod's aria and self-staging ( So you are the Christ, you're the great Jesus Christ / Prove to me that you're divine - change my water into wine ) is laid out like a revue . In the end, he is angry with Jesus because he is only silent and sends him back to Pilate.
Judas becomes aware of the result of his terrible act. In his desperation, he first turns to the high priests and then asks God why he, of all people, must have been the instrument that betrays Jesus. He hangs himself believing that he has been abused ( My God I am sick I've been used / And you knew all the time ) and that Jesus could never love him again.
During the second interrogation, Pilate begins a duet with Jesus. Jesus says: I look for truth and find that I get damned ( Joh 18,37 EU ), and Pilate asks him the question: “ What is truth? ". Unlike in ( Joh 18.38 EU ) he continues his train of thought: But what is truth? Is truth unchanging law? / We both have truths - are mine the same as yours? He wants to save Jesus, whom he believes to be innocent, and tries to calm the angry crowd by having Jesus flogged . But the crowd continues to call for Jesus' death on the cross and remind Pilate of his duty to the emperor in Rome to keep things calm. Pilate asks Jesus: Where are you from Jesus? What do you want Jesus? Tell me ( Joh 19,9 EU ), but he only says that Pilate has nothing in hand, everything is given. Pilate gives up his fight for Jesus and leaves it to the executioners ( Don't let me stop your great self-destruction ). Jesus is put on the crown of thorns and a heavy wooden cross is loaded onto Jesus , which he is supposed to carry to the place of execution on Golgotha .
On the way there, the voice of the dead Judas can be heard and in a colorful, weird pop song asks questions from the future, from 1970, to Jesus: Why did he choose such a past time and such a remote country for his mission as he did to Buddha and Mohammed stand if his death was really planned that way.
The rock opera ends with Jesus being nailed to the wooden cross with hands and feet. His last words follow ( Luke 23.34 EU ), ( John 19.28 EU ), ( John 19.30 EU ) and ( Luke 23.46 EU ): “Father, forgive them because they don't know what they are doing “, He says, before the cross is erected, and earns ridicule from the audience for it. Hanging on the cross, Jesus asks about his mother and finally his trust in his heavenly Father returns: "Father, I command my spirit into your hands." Jesus dies. The closing music accompanies the scene of Jesus' burial after ( Joh 19.41 EU ).
Commercial win
The premieres were met with protests from Christian conservative groups, who mainly complained that Judas was portrayed as a sympathetic figure. Nevertheless, the rock opera was a great success and brought it to 720 performances in the original production. It was only banned in South Africa and was even played on Vatican Radio . In 1970 a first version was released on record (even before the premiere on stage), with Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan as Jesus and Murray Head as Judas. In 1973, the substance of was Norman Jewison filmed ( Jesus Christ Superstar ) . In Germany, the Musical on 18 February 1972 which was Halle Münsterland in Münster in German with Reiner Schöne in the lead role premiered . It premiered on March 30, 1972 in Berlin. In 2000, a current English stage version was again put on film for a DVD or video version. The main roles are Glenn Carter as Jesus and Jérôme Pradon as Judas, as well as Rik Mayall as King Herod and Tony Vincent as Simon.
Since there are three versions of this rock opera (with a large orchestra, with a reduced orchestra and only with a rock band), the piece can be performed in both large and small theaters; in Germany there were several productions a year. In 2010 the Canadian electroclash singer Peaches brought the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar to the stage as a one-woman show under the title Peaches Christ Superstar in the Hebbel am Ufer -Theater Berlin. She played and sang all the roles herself and was only accompanied by Chilly Gonzales on the piano.
A German production was shown at Theater Dortmund in 2014/15 under the direction of Gil Mehmert with Alexander Klaws as Jesus. The premiere was so successful that all 17 performances and the four additional performances were sold out within three days and the production was awarded the “Opernfreund star”. In the elections for the online musical magazine Musical 1 , the production was voted best musical (short term) with 100,000 votes cast and Klaws was voted best musical actor for his portrayal as Jesus. At the Broadway World Awards - Germany - Gil Mehmert won second place in the “Best Director” category, and Klaws was named best actor in a musical. In 2015, too, the production reached number 1 in the “Short Run” category in the musical elections, and Klaws was once again voted best musical actor.
Track list
1st act
| Original English title | German title | roll | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Overture | overture | orchestra |
| 2 | Heaven on Their Minds | Because they are oh so holy | Judas |
| 3 | What's the buzz? | What's happening? | Apostles, Jesus, Mary |
| 4th | Strange thing, mystifying | It remains a mystery to me | Judas, Jesus, Apostles |
| 5 | Then We Are Decided 1 | Kaiaphas, Annas | |
| 6th | Everything's alright | Everything will be good | Mary, women, Judas, Jesus, apostles |
| 7th | This Jesus Must Die | Jesus has to go | Annas, Kaiaphas, people, priests |
| 8th | Hosanna | Hosanna | People, Kaiaphas, Jesus |
| 9 | Simon Zealotes | Simon Zelotes | People, Simon |
| 10 | Poor Jerusalem | Poor Jerusalem | Jesus |
| 11 | Pilate's Dream | Pilate's dream | Pilate |
| 12 | The Temple | The temple | Choir, jesus |
| 13 | Everything's Alright ( reprise ) | Everything will be fine (recapitulation) | Mary, Jesus |
| 14th | I don't know how to love him | How am I supposed to love him? | Maria |
| 15th | Damned for All Time | Damn it for all time | Judas |
| 16 | Blood Money | Blood money | Annas, Kaiaphas, Judas, choir |
1 The song “Then We Are Decided” was part of the 1973 film adaptation , but is not part of the stage production.
2nd act
| Original English title | German title | roll | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Last Supper | The last supper | Apostles, Jesus, Judas |
| 2 | Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say) | gethsemane | Jesus |
| 3 | The arrest | The arrest | Judas, Jesus, choir, Annas, Kaiaphas |
| 4th | Peter's Denial | Peter denies Jesus | Girl by the fire, Peter, soldier, old man, Mary |
| 5 | Pilate and Christ | Pilate and Christ | Pilate, soldier, Jesus |
| 6th | Hosanna (recapitulation) | Hosanna (recapitulation) | Choir |
| 7th | Herod's Song (Try It And See) | Herod's song | Herod |
| 8th | Could We Start Again, Please² | Let's start over | Mary, apostle, Peter |
| 9 | Judas' Death | Death of Judas | Judas, Annas, Kaiaphas, choir |
| 10 | Trial Before Pilate / 39 Lashes | Pilate's interrogation / 39 lashes | Pilate, Kaiaphas, Annas, Jesus, choir |
| 11 | Superstar | Superstar | Judas, choir |
| 12 | Crucifixion | crucifixion | Jesus |
| 13 | John Nineteen: Forty-One | John 19:41 | orchestra |
² This song was not included on the first record release in 1970 (double LP).
Trivia
The musical was banned in Belarus in 2012 on the grounds that many Orthodox believers had complained about the play. In an open letter it was criticized that the musical presented the traitor Judas as a personable figure.
The melody of the piece “The Last Supper” was given a different text, also known as a hymn under the title “Take, oh God, the gifts that we bring” in German-speaking countries. In 2013 it was included in the new praise of God under the number 188 . It was already included in some diocesan appendices in the old praise of God from 1975.
literature
- Edgar Reuber: Analysis of the work of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar . Musical-theological perspectives. Projekt-Verlag Cornelius, Halle 2007, ISBN 978-3-86634-263-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ musicalzentrale.de. Retrieved April 16, 2020 .
- ↑ 40 years ago: "Gosse" or "Gospel" - jesus.de October 12, 2011. Retrieved April 16, 2020 .
- ↑ http://rockinberlin.de/index.php?title=30._M%C3%A4rz_-_9._April_1972_Jesus_Christ_Superstar website RockInBerlin accessed on December 16, 2015.
- ↑ http://www.theaterdo.de/detail/event/jesus-christ-superstar/
- ↑ http://opernmagazin.de/opernfreund-stern-fuer-die-dortmunder-jesus-christ-superstar-inszenierung/
- ↑ http://www.musical1.de/wahlen/
- ↑ http://www.broadwayworld.com/germany/article/Time-is-Ticking-to-Vote-for-the-BroadwayWorld-Germany-Awards-20141219
- ↑ http://www.musical1.de/news/musical1-musicalwahlen-2015-das-sind-die-gewinner/
- ↑ "Minsk does not want" Jesus Christ Superstar "" , " Die Südostschweiz ", March 1, 2012