A very good production.
A much much better show than I realized at the time, bringing crystal-clear focus to basic tenets and paradoxes in the Judeo-Christian culture, stories, and belief-systems.
I appreciated how gutturally Judas acted his role though I missed the soaring Broadway sound I would’ve liked for the higher notes. I guess it was a good rock performance, and very macho-sounding, but there was a vulnerability, both in sound and in movement, that he kept himself from.
And—-oh my goodness, what a grievous error attributable to the producers’ fear of law-suits, I imagine—TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO MISS JUDAS’ SUICIDE BY HAVING IT HAPPEN OFFSTAGE. (Political correctness at its most insidious; will we now be soon omitting Ophelia’s suicide, etc., etc....? Art is supposed to be a place where the culture’s shadow can be expressed!!!! Oi vey.)
Overall, though, the whole thing was very successful. (Too bad Alice Cooper hasn’t a voice to actually sing Herod’s wonderful song, though; one of the jollier camp-melodies in the whole thing.) |
