THE GREATEST STORY CONTINUES AT
COACHELLA VALLEY REPERTORY
CVRep’s Executive Artistic Director Adam Karsten helms Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s powerful, profound, and provocative rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar that will run March 5-23, 2025. Jesus Christ Superstar is a revelation. Webber and Rice are noted for exploring complex, controversial, and bigger-than-life personalities (Evita, Phantom of the Opera, Norma Desmond), and Jesus Christ Superstar stands among their most insightful achievements. They examine the final days of Jesus of Nazareth, the hero of the New Testament, through the music and ideas beyond the written words of the evangelists.” In many ways, the mindsets, priorities, and actions are shockingly relevant for today. Jesus Christ Superstar contains such now classic showstopping songs as “Superstar,” “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” and “Gethsemane
Steven Grant Douglas is Jesus
The cast of Jesus Christ Superstar features Steven Grant Douglas as Jesus, Christin Byrdsong as Judas Iscariot, Emily Kate Decker as Mary Magdalene, Jim J. Bullock as King Herod, Joseph Portoles as Peter, Noah William Canales as Ciaphas, Anthony Arpino as Annas, Sam Sherwood as Pilate, and Patrick Wallace as Simon. Stephen Hulsey (CVRep’s Cabaret and The Light In The Piazza) is music director. Choreography is by Karen Sieber (CVRep’s Cabaret, Summer Session With The Bones Brigade, The Light In The Piazza).
Also in the cast are Ali Kerner, A.J. Abrams, Alex Bernhardt, Anton LaMon, Beverly Durand, Carlos Garcia, Charlie Bostick, Erik Scott Romney, Hannah Staudinger, J.P. Stewart, Kate Fitzgerald, Kellen Green, Mark C. Reis, and Noelle Roth.
Jim J. Bullock is King HerodChoreography by Karen Sieber, sets by Jimmy Cuomo, costumes by Zoë Traufmann, hair and makeup design are by Lynda Shaeps, lighting design by Moira Wilkie Whitaker, sound design by Joshua Adams.
Director Karsten said, “This is a story that is known around the world. Most likely, more than any other. In our production, the show belongs to Judas, who in his mind believes he unjustifiably goes to hell. It is a conflict between two men (Jesus and Judas) and the fight for faith, belief and finding a “higher power” that controls our own individual destiny. To approach it, we will be looking at how this persons’ existence (Jesus or Judas) has affected our existence and the world we live in today.”
Emily Kate Decker is Mary Magdalene
In Jesus Christ Superstar, Judas is concerned that the followers of Jesus are getting out of control and may be viewed as a threat by religious and government leaders. He also warns Jesus about the impression his relationship with Mary Magdalene may be giving. Following his predicted betrayal of Jesus, Judas is horrified by the cruelty and death sentence meted out by Pontius Pilate. He returns the 30 pieces of silver paid to him by the High Priests Caiaphas and Annas to betray Jesus and kills himself. In a final moment of powerful supposition, the spirit of Judas returns to Jesus and asks him why he chose to arrive in the manner and time that he did, and was it all part of a divine plan after all?
It is astonishing that Rice and Lloyd Webber were only in their 20s when they wrote Jesus Christ Superstar. They met through a mutual acquaintance when they were teenagers. Their first collaboration was even earlier, with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Christin Byrdsong is Judas Iscariot
Following Joseph, they considered another work with a biblical subject, the prophet Samuel. As talks proceeded, Rice became intrigued by Bob Dylan’s question in his song “With God On Our Side” – Did Judas Iscariot have God on his side? Additionally, as Webber explained, “We were toying around with various subjects, and I think it was the dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral who said, ‘Why don’t you think about the story of Jesus?’ We kind of toyed with it and then thought, ‘Maybe yes, maybe no.’ ”
Rice said, “It’s logical that he [Judas] might’ve been worried about the man that he admired and had joined [that he] was kind of getting out of control. In the Bible, there is absolutely no motivation for Judas, other than that he is sort of a 100 percent figure of evil. And it seemed to me that that was probably not the case.”
Seeing the potential of dramatizing Jesus’ last days from Judas’s perspective, they wrote Superstar, using a chorus that would become one of Webber’s most famous three-chord tunes – the same one he initially sketched on a napkin at London’s Carlo’s Place restaurant and intended for Samuel. They explored the personal relationships and struggles between Jesus, Judas, Mary Magdalene, his disciples, and the uncompromising political powers of Jerusalem and the Roman Empire. The characters are given their humanity and treated with contemporary sensibility and enlightened compassion.
Superstar was first produced as an oratorio on a two-disk recording. As the record became No. 1 hit in the U.S., producers who had rejected the show for stage production before were clamoring for it. Finally on stage in New York, the original 1972 Broadway production was nominated for five Tonys, and, later that year, Webber won the Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Composer. According to Webber, “The initial reaction back home was rather disappointing. We got caught in the crossfire. The young people who liked the music thought the subject matter was boring and the older people just found it all blasphemous and incomprehensible.” However, it got a rock arena tour, critically acclaimed Broadway and West End productions, and was turned into a movie. Jesus Christ Superstar has never disappeared from stages around the world.
By the way: “Rock Opera.” Is Jesus Christ Superstar rock or opera? Don’t get all caught up in the definition. Don’t let the spoofs by the Marx Brothers or Bugs Bunny lead you to believe opera couldn’t possibly be for you. First, rest assured that Jesus Christ Superstar fits the rock genre. You are safe. What makes it an opera is simply that it’s “sung through.” There is no spoken dialogue, or as they call it on Broadway, the “book” or the script. In the most familiar operas, all words and lyrics are sung or written on a specific note. Les Misérables, Evita, RENT, Hamilton, and Miss Saigon are examples of the sung-through form. Feeling better?
Jesus Christ Superstar
Coachella Valley Repertory
68510 East Palm Canyon Dr in Cathedral City
Wed & Sat at 2 & 7; Thurs & Fri at 7; Sun at 2
March 5-23, 2025
for tickets ($55-$125), call 760.296.2966 x 0 or visit CVRep
