No Resurrection: Jesus Christ Superstar Closes Sept. 3 | Playbill

Related Articles
News No Resurrection: Jesus Christ Superstar Closes Sept. 3 After the tourist heavy summer months come to a close, Jesus Christ Superstar will close Sept. 3 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. The revival will have played 161 performances and 28 previews, after opening April 16.
//assets.playbill.com/editorial/c86c72d0c37935e60fe8807d720f8c24-ne_96830.gif
Glenn Carter in Jesus Christ Superstar. Photo by Photo by Joan Marcus

After the tourist heavy summer months come to a close, Jesus Christ Superstar will close Sept. 3 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. The revival will have played 161 performances and 28 previews, after opening April 16.

Ironically, Cats had joked in their Easter Bonnet 2000 skit that it was up in the air who would close first -- Superstar or their show. With Cats running through Sept. 10, they have their answer -- the Tim Rice-Andrew Lloyd Webber rock opera revival will be the first to shutter.

The road of this restaging from Newcastle, England to New York, NY had not been smooth. Early in previews, Superstar lost its second male lead as Tony Vincent stepped in to replace Jason Pebworth, the originally cast Judas.

Vincent began performances in the musical as Simon, the disciple who sings "Simon Zealots' Song," a call for violent takeover of Jerusalem by the Jews. A veteran of Rent on Broadway and on tour, he has released a self-titled album of his own.

Add to this trouble negative reviews and a general lack of appreciation for the new staging's gimmicks, costuming and set design, plus a fairly unknown Jesus. One can also assume this early closing signals someone's interest in the Ford Center for an late fall or winter opening in season 2000-01. The Trevor Nunn-Susan Stroman revival of Oklahoma! is widely expected to become the theatre's third tenant (after Ragtime and JCS). A spokesman for the show, however, could not confirm that Oklahoma! would find a fall home at the Ford Center.

 

Through Sept. 3, tickets are $81-$26. The Ford Center is located at 213 West 43rd Street. For tickets, call (212) 307-4100.

*

Jesus Christ is played by British newcomer Glenn Carter. Carter comes to the U.S. directly from leading London's Whistle Down The Wind as The Man, an escaped murderer mistaken as Jesus by a group of Southern children. That wasn't the actor's first brush with Christ; he went on to star in Jesus Christ Superstar's UK national tour, after performing Simon Zealots in the 1998 West End revival of the show.

Paul Kandel is King Herod, the wicked king who attempts to get the Son of God to "walk across [his] swimming pool," and Kevin Gray sings the conflicted Roman, Pontius Pilate, who allows Jesus Christ to be sentenced to death. Maya Days is Mary, as in Magdalene, the prostitute who becomes a follower of Christ. Rodney Hicks is Peter and Michael K. Lee is Simon, both disciples. Frederick B. Owens (five years in Smokey Joe's Cafe) plays Caiaphas, as he did in the recently-taped video of Superstar. Annas is played by Ray Walker.

Kandel last performed on Broadway as J. Bruce Ismay in Titanic. Other credits include Madison Square Garden's A Christmas Carol and a Tony-nominated turn as the child-molesting Uncle Ernie in The Who's Tommy.

Gray traveled the country as Thomas Andrews in Titanic and as the Engineer in Miss Saigon. Broadway roles have included both Raoul and the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera and the King in The King And I with Faith Prince.

Days made her Broadway debut as Mimi in Rent, a role she played in the first national company and in London. Hicks was in the original Broadway ensemble of Rent and understudied Benny.

Additional cast members include Christian Borle, Lisa Brescia, Hank Campbell, Merle Dandridge, D'Monroe, Bernard Dotson, Manoel Felciano, Deidre Goodwin (Chicago), Lana Gordon, Somer Lee Graham, J. Todd Howell, Michael K. Lee, Daniel C. Levine (Naked Boys Singing!), Anthony Manough, Joseph Melendez, Eric Millegan, Jessica Phillips (The Scarlet Pimpernel), Devin Richards, Michael Seelbach (Footloose), Alexander Selma, Adam Simmons, David St. Louis, Shayna Steele (Rent), Max von Essen, Timothy Warmen (The Who's Tommy), Joe Wilson, Jr. and Andrew Wright.

Australian Gale Edwards directs. In the West End, she directed the successful British revival and tour of Jesus Christ Superstar (which began in Newcastle) and Whistle Down the Wind. Other credits include the UK tour and Australian premiere of Aspects of Love and the Broadway-bound Peter Allen musical, The Boy From Oz. Anthony Van Laast joins her as choreographer.

Designing are Peter J. Davidson (sets), Roger Kirk (costumes), Mark McCullough (lighting) and Richard Ryan (sound). Lloyd Webber provided his own orchestrations.

Superstar, the musicalized story of Jesus Christ from Palm Sunday through the crucifixion, made its world premiere on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Oct. 12, 1971. It ran there 720 performances. The original London production ran for eight years and 3,358 performances, the fifth- longest running West End show. Songs from the piece include the U.S. chart hit "I Don't Know How to Love Him" and "Superstar."

 
RELATED:
Today’s Most Popular News:
 X

Blocking belongs
on the stage,
not on websites.

Our website is made possible by
displaying online advertisements to our visitors.

Please consider supporting us by
whitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.
Thank you!