SUPERSTAR STILL RISES

Nocturne Theatre’s high-concept staging
proves that even a familiar rock opera
can still feel fresh, fierce, and electrifying

First, a Biblical passage…
“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
— Hebrews 13:8

It is confounding when you learn that Jesus Christ Superstar, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, was initially unable to obtain financial backing for a stage production in London’s West End. This would force Webber and Rice to take the extraordinary step of releasing their rock opera as a concept album in 1970, which was not surprisingly an immediate success and ultimately led to the musical’s debut on Broadway in 1971 with Ben Vereen as Judas, Barry Dennen as Pilate, Bob Bingham as the High Priest Caiaphas, and Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene. Vereen would be replaced by Carl Anderson, who, in 1973, along with Elliman, Dennen, and Bingham, recreated their Broadway roles for the 1973 film version directed by Norman Jewison.

The show would finally open in London in 1972, running until 1980, and would hold the record for the West End’s longest-running musical for nearly a decade before that distinction was secured by another Webber musical, Cats, which would play for 21 years.

From the first, Christians found fault with the show’s sympathetic rendering of Judas and its omission of Jesus’s resurrection, while there has been criticism from some Jewish voices for its propagation of the anti-Semitic slander of “bloodguilt” by portraying Jews as calling for Jesus’s crucifixion.

Regardless of the naysayers, Jesus Christ Superstar has proved to be one of the most durable and successful musicals of all time. Over the years, there have been a dizzying number of productions worldwide. Productions have ranged from a concert version with Alice Cooper as King Herod, to a staging by eighty prisoners at Peru’s notorious Sarita Colonia prison, to a 1976 samurai-style Japanese production, which was praised by Webber as the best production he had ever seen.

When dealing with such an oft-produced work, the burden is two-fold: talent, of course, and presentation—how to make what has become so familiar feel fresh.

Glendale’s Nocturne Theatre production of Jesus Christ Superstar succeeds admirably on both points.

Details overflow from this production. The Roman soldiers occupying Jerusalem are like Battlestar Galactica Cylons—more instruments of the state than human beings; Caiaphas (Andrew Diego) and his fellow priests are arrayed like haute SS officers; and in the court of King Herod (Nathanael O’Neal, who earns the status of “personality kid” in this staging), all the sycophants cluttering about feature swine snouts.

Director Justin Meyer has lavished the show with the sparks and beams of blazing techno-imagery that, while some might find questionable in hindsight, are nevertheless wildly entertaining in the moment, such as flagellation with a lash of glowing red streamers, palm fronds serving as protest signs, and the crucifixion not atop Golgotha but a television set.

These touches and strokes are provided by the appreciable artistry of costume designer Tanya Cyr and the scenic craftsmanship of Jay Michael Roberts, illuminated by director Meyer’s lighting design.

Diego Huerta-Gutierrez’s Jesus fulfills the requirements of the role, which has often been criticized, paradoxically, as the character most neglected by Webber and Rice. Chess MacElvaine presents an intensely conflicted Mary Magdalene, while Troy Dailey’s Pontius Pilate commands every moment he strides the stage.

The presence of Andy Meyers’ Judas at times overwhelms that of Jesus, but this pays off nicely when he confronts his guilt in the form of Danny Castro’s volatile dancing “devil,” whom costumer Cyr portrays as bearing the horns of Amun, which Alexander the Great is often depicted with as representing his divinity (Daniel 8:21).

Throughout it all, the musical direction of Chris Wade, along with his talented trio of Lowell Wolfe on guitar, Audrey Bean on bass, and Eddy Barco on drums, guarantees audiences will not only leave the theatre humming the tunes, but that they continue doing so for the weeks that follow.

And the exceptional choreography of Melissa Meyer would have even atheists Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins toe-tapping with gleeful abandon.

All in all, a heavenly production.

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photos courtesy of Meyer2Meyer, The Nocturne Theatre

Jesus Christ Superstar
Meyer2Meyer Entertainment (Justin and Melissa Meyer)
The Nocturne Theatre, 324 N Orange St in Glendale
2 hours with intermission
ends on April 26, 2026
for tickets ($44.50-$73.50), visit Nocturne
(also find on Facebook and Instagram)

for more shows, visit Theatre in LA

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