Okay, the moment you've all been waiting for. Well, maybe not ALL of you, but still........

Now, somehow I lost my program, so forgive me if I can't remember everybody's name, or if I get it wrong. As you know, I try to make all my reviews as factually correct as possible, within the constraints of making up 90% of them.......

Jesus Christ Superstar: Messiah Gets Jiggy Wid It. Words and Music by Andrew Lloyd Weber, whom you may know better as the terrorist who released Cats on Broadway when his demands weren't met, and the area is still contaminated to this day......

Anyway, JCS is now at the ART, under the able direction of TED Lewis, whome you may know better, if you had absolutely nothing else to do that weekend and went to the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire, as "the old guy with the mace."

Basically, JCS is an extended version of your church's annual Christmas Story play, but with better hymns. And instead of dressing as shepherds, the younger children wear tights and engage in erotic dancing. And everyone wears 70's clothes and prominently displays their belly button piercings. So essentially, we can see that JCS is absolutely nothing like your annual church Christmas Story play. You probably don't even GO to church, you heretic!

The story itself is pretty much in line with the Bible, except it either leaves out or just skims over the boring parts, which is a big plus. There's Jesus "El Saviorrrrrrrrrr" Christ, Judas, Mary Magdalene, Pilate, The Professor, Mary Ann, the Apostles, the 1906 Chicago Cubs, and a giant exploding penguin, just like in the Bible. (Due to technical problems, the giant penguin never exploded, or even made it onstage, but you just know it was back there.) Actually, it's good to be at least halfway familiar with the underlying story, because the play doesn't offer a lot of exposition; it jumps right in with both feet, those feet being Jesus's, which are annointed by a teenage prostitute. That pretty much sets you up for how the rest of the play is going to go.

A scene-by-scene review (of the scenes I can remember, anyway):

Pre-show, the band warms up its instruments and the crowd by playing some tunes, while you can marvel at Cristine Antolak's absolutely gorgeous set graphics, which are so detailed as to include little juniper bushes in the background. As the show starts, the late Jerry Garcia takes the stage with an electric guitar and plays some chords reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix's rendition of the National Anthem. The entire cast then comes energetically on stage and changse into their costumes, apparently because the stage was the only place in the theater big enough for all of them to get dressed at once. Then everybody gets in a big concentric huddle to do warm-ups, led by Choreographer and Evil Taskmaster Sunshine Andrei-Chambers. Then most of the people leave, while Judas launches into a song. (As an interesting side note, most every bit of dialogue in the play is not spoken, but sung.....kinda like an Elvis movie, except that the people in JCS can actually act.)

Then some more stuff happens (Well, not really STUFF, per se, but there are some more songs). And then the play ends. I'd go into more detail, but since I lost my program, I'd just be making most of it up anyway, so let's move on to: The Acting.

Taken as a whole, the cast of JCS can best be summed up in 3 simple words: Fire Code Violation. But they're also pretty gosh-darn talented, in dancing, singing, and acting. Some of the best individual performances:

Frank Edmonson as Judas: In a way, it's a good thing that Judas doesn't have more stage time than he does, because if he did, Frank would've just run away with this show. If you've seen him before, you know what he can do. If you haven't, go do it now. His singing invites comparisons to Luther Vandross, Aaron Neville and Teddy Pendergrass (all of whom, as far as I can tell, are the same person). Add in some Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, and cheddar cheese, and you've got some absolutely scrumptious scalloped potatoes! Wait, where was I? Oh yeah......Frank makes a strong, but also sympathetic Judas, and his death scene is very well done.

Michael Pruitt as Jesus: I always thought Michael looked a little like Jesus, so it was only appropriate that he get the part. And he does a very nice job with it. My favorite part is during the Last Supper when he playfully slips Rohypnol into each of the Apostles' glasses of wine, putting them to sleep so he can sing another solo.

Shannon Wright as Mary: I came into this play thinking that Shannon was too young to pull off this role. And while I still think she looks a little young for it, she more than made up for that by turning in an absolutely flawless performance. And if you close your eyes and just listen to her sing, you would swear there was no way that voice was coming from a 14-year-old. And you can hear the emotion and feeling in it. If she's this good now, in a few years, she'll be downright dangerous.

Jimmy Keaton as Pilate: You may remember Jimmy as Matt from The Fantasticks at GCP, a role he should have won an Apple for, but didn't. As Pilate, he does a wonderful job in this play, making Pilate into a sympathetic figure who doesn't want to kill Jesus, but who, like any effective politician, ultimately gives in to mob rule.

Other notables:

King Herod (can't remember his/her name): This was one of the most entertaining performances of the night, despite being disturbing on so many levels....

Cristine Antolak: In addition to doing the graphic design, Cristine is also perfectly cast as the Roman goddess of beauty, spear-chucking, and sexy, sexy legs.....

The dancers: They can dance if they want to. They can leave their friends behind. Even the kids were really good.

The Apostles: I'd mention them by character name, but I don't think most of them are sure which character they are either.......

Sarah MacKay: Not only was she great in the show, but I loved how she sang at auditions. Plus, she manages this store in the mall that gives away free fudge.....

So, there it is. All in all, a very nice piece of work. I'm sure there's people I meant to mention, but forgot to, because there is an overload of great performances in this show. I plan on seeing it myself a few more times at least. It's that good. Much better than Cats.......

-john

John Bollinger (venkman@gator.net)