Film star Carl Andersson, who played the role of Judas in the 1973 Norman Jewison and Robert Stigwood movie "Jesus Christ Superstar," will perform alongside soul singer Amii Stewart in a new Italian production of that musical which opens December 7 at Genoa's Politeama. The show will then move on to Milan's Teatro Nuovo (Dec. 14-Jan. 9), Turin's Teatro Alfieri (Jan. 18-23), Bologna's Teatro delle Celebrazioni (Jan. 25-Feb. 6), Trieste's Sala Tripcovich (Apr. 7-10), Naples' Teatro Augusteo (Apr. 11 16). On Apr. 21 the musical will open at Rome's Teatro Olimpico, in perfect time for the Easter celebrations which, in the year of the Millennium Jubileum, will attract millions of pilgrims to the Eternal City from all over the world. The Italian production of Jesus Christ Superstar will be directed by Massimo Romeo Piparo, who brought Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's rock opera to the Italian stages for the first time four years ago. In the last two seasons Piparo mounted successful productions of Webber's Evita, The Who's Tommy and Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady. The show will be produced by Planet Music, under the license of the Really Useful Group. Carl Andersson and Amii Stewart (who will be understudied at certain performances in the role of Mary by Olivia Cinquemani) will lead a cast of 14 and an orchestra of 12.

Jesus Christ Superstar is one of the most successful musicals of all time. The show originally opened on Broadway in 1971 and ran for 720 performances at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. The London production which made its debut at the Palace Theatre on Aug. 9, 1972, marked the beginning of Lloyd Webber's unstoppable series of musical hits that ran through the '80s and most of the '90s. The show ran in London for 3,358 performances and was for a long time the third-longest-running musical in the history of the London theatre. A major revival was staged at London's newly restored Lyceum Theatre in 1996, running for over two years. Over the years, thanks to the popularity of the film and its score, the musical enjoyed a phenomenal success all over the world. Jesus Christ Superstar is the second Andrew Lloyd Webber musical to be staged by an Italian company (the other being Evita).

For further information on the Milan leg of the Italian touring production of Jesus Christ Superstar visit the Teatro Nuovo website.