I attended the April 25 performance of Jesus Christ Superstar at The Duluth Playhouse, and there will be shows on Thursday, April 30, through Sunday, May 3, if you are interested, and if the performance has not already sold out. I acquired a recording back in the spring of 1970, and I attended a touring, concertized, version in Louisville, KY, in the mid-seventies. I have yet to understand what attracts throngs of people to this 1970 musical, but the profit has certainly reaped rewards for its creators.
As I left, I overheard a patron comment, ‘Well, that was certainly unpleasant, wasn’t it?’ I turned and replied, ‘I think that’s actually a rather complex statement,’ although the conversation went no further. I’ll save some of the complexity for the end of this column.
The Duluth Playhouse was sold out Saturday night, the amplification was certainly louder than necessary, yet the cast was powerful, the directing was creative, and the applause was clearly enthusiastic.
I try to remember to take ear plugs to musical productions at The Duluth Playhouse these days, but I forgot Saturday night, so I sat in the back row and tolerated the audial confrontation. Since the Metropolitan Opera seats 3,800 and does not use amplification, I have always been frustrated at The Duluth Playhouse with its ten rows/300 seats and increased amplification over the years. So it goes.
Guest director Dorothy Danner chose to use a Chicago gangster-era setting, with uniformed policemen, smooth-dressed men in suits and hats, high-kicking dancers, and then casting Jesus with the street people struggling to push up out of the slums and brothels. This worked quite well with the graffiti and frequently edgy, abrasive music coming from the modest, live pit band, led by Erin Cox.
Adam Sippola, as Jesus, must have been exhausted after the show, even though he had performed the same role on Thursday and Friday before. His vocal range, clean articulation, and expressive acting demanded our focus every moment he was on stage. Evan Tyler Wilson, as the duplicitous Judas, was equally versatile in the vocal demands required by the music. As Mary Magdalene, Sara Wabrowetz used her alluring voice and movements to comfort Jesus, sharing with the street gangs (and the audience) that ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him.’
Since this is no satire, the only humor in the production is at the swimming pool of Herod, where Jeff Madison (in yellow swim trunks) was surrounded by young girls as he mocked the reported pretensions of this upstart Galilean. Pontius Pilate (Calland Metts) sang very richly, but he is still forced to make the final death decision, since no one else has the authority. As everyone knows, the musical ends darkly, with Jesus being crucified in a public place, just like thousands of other residents of Judea (perhaps including Brian Cohen), year in and year out during the Roman occupation.
Tim Rice(25) and Andrew Lloyd-Webber(21), creators of Superstar, were clearly not Christian Testament scholars in 1968 as they began work on this project. That scholarship itself has richly changed over the past forty-seven years, and Rice and Lloyd-Webber have gone on to much more meaningful productions. I have some complex issues with musicals that attempt to overlap with parts of history. In Jesus Christ Superstar, the political, historical, and theological incorrectness can not be completely ignored.  
It’s difficult to walk away saying “What a great show!” This production was intense and creative, but I can only say that the vibrating music of the late 60s, and the flagrant misinterpretation of textual sources causes me to react, “Why are we revisiting this ‘vulgar travesty’,” in the words of Andrew Lloyd-Webber.
This past 100 years of The Duluth Playhouse have been remarkable, both for its incredible variety and its commitment to well-produced theater. This current production features more than two dozen very capable coaches, actors, dancers, and singers. While I thoroughly enjoyed the talents they displayed, I eagerly look forward to their presence in more relevant and entertaining productions in the coming years.