Decca says the album is the label's most-requested recorded version of the pop-rock telling of the last days of Jesus. The original cast album features Jeff Fenholt (Jesus), Ben Vereen (Judas) and Yvonne Elliman (Mary).

The release is timed to coincide with the Easter season. The show spawned the hit, "I Don't Know How to Love Him."

Following a Los Angeles run, Jesus Christ Superstar opened Oct. 12, 1971 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on Broadway, with opposition from religious groups, though some religious folk embraced the show as a way to get young people involved in Christianity. A run in London's West End lasted for more than a decade.

A 2000 Broadway revival of the show offered contemporary Middle-Eastern references was a flop at the Ford Center.

JCS has been translated into 11 languages and staged in over 22 countries. A film version was also made. The show heralded the arrival of composer Lloyd Webber, who would become internationally famous not only for JCS, but Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Evita (with Rice) and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (with Rice).