Jesus Christ Superstar – New Wimbledon Theatre and Touring

Picture: Paul Coltas

Jesus Christ Superstar was reviewed at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London where it runs until 18 May 2024, and then tours until 17 August 2024.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

When it first burst onto the musical theatre scene in 1971, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar courted controversy. British musicals had long been looking for a hit since Oliver! ten years previously but Superstar broke all the rules. Giving the subject of Holy Week a secular treatment was another bone of contention with some Christian groups, but the sing-through musical with its progressive score proved a hit with audiences young and old.

More than 50 years later and arguably Lloyd Webber’s finest score undoubtedly still has that power. This touring production, first seen at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2016, directed by Timothy Sheader and choreographed by Drew McOnie, is something of a hybrid. A fusion of visual styles, choreographic language and popular culture. Its spirit rings true to the original but has its unique flavour. Sheader’s production seems as much informed by The X Factor as it is by the Gospels. It’s a huge leap of faith, but there are parallels to be made as Jesus wrestles with his conscience while negotiating a fickle crowd. Resigned to his fate, Jesus finds himself on trial, beaten insensible by his persecutors and finally crucified on a mic stand lashed to a speaker tower.

Just as Lloyd Webber strives to tell the story using the modern idiom of rock music, so Sheader is extending this to his interpretation of the story, making it more accessible to a whole new generation of young people. McOnie’s choreography is a little mannered at times, but generally complements the dramatic score and comes into its own during ‘The 39 Lashes’, where the frenzy of the crowd reaches its peak.

Tom Scutt’s moody design struggles to fit onto the New Wimbledon stage, and there’s so much haze that we almost miss the actual crucifixion, but otherwise, this is a striking and occasionally moving staging that embraces the score.

However, it’s all about the music and voices and the producers have pulled together an exceptional company that delivers a staggeringly strong performance. Ian McIntosh makes for a stunning, suitably conflicted Jesus, capturing all the angst of ‘Gethsemane’ with rockstar musical credentials. McIntosh is matched, if occasionally overshadowed by Shem Omari James in a spirited performance as Judas. It has been said that this is Judas’ musical – he does get the title number – and both the vocal and dramatic power that James brings to the table here is outstanding.

In a musical dominated by male vocals, there’s the almost comic counterpoint between Matt Bateman’s screeching Annas and Jad Habchi’s booming bass Caiaphas, while Timo Tatzber offers a refreshingly restrained turn as Herod, accompanied by a curious chorus of what appear to be beheaded victims. Ryan O’Donnell is a marvellous, brooding, deliberate Pilate, mastering the dramatic complexity of the trial scene with supreme control.

Amid all this muscly testosterone, there are  the melodic tones of Hannah Richardson’s Mary, whose ‘Everything’s Alright’ massages a soothing balm into the angst-ridden score. Of course, Richardson gets her own moment in the spotlight with the show’s only real break-out mainstream hit ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him’. Covered by many artists from Helen Reddy to Mel C, Richardson makes the number her own and a highlight in a production packed with standout performances.

The further Jesus Christ Superstar moves away from its origins as a groundbreaking, career-changing rock opera, the more peculiar a beast it seems. Its low-key ending – the exquisite and melancholy ‘John 19:41’ – is a huge contrast to what has come before and seems out of step with the megamix endings we are used to today. Sheader’s production might nudge the show into the 21st century but this is undoubtedly a timeless score and musical director Grant Walsh and his band deserve an equal share of the limelight.

Paul Vale