Glenn Carter Shines as Jesus, But Not Brightly Enough to Save Superstar

I have always been a big fan of Jesus Christ Superstar, particularly of the songs themselves. I was privileged to see the show once in a local production, which was most impressive as I recall. Shortly thereafter, we purchased the 1973 Norman Jewison film. I was less impressed with this version. Although it had the advantage of being filmed on location, that vast expanse was often ill-suited to the style of the movie. I also was a bit turned-off by some of the extremely anachronistic touches, such as the tanks and B2 bombers stalking Judas and the disciples in hippie regalia. And because most of the performers were rock stars and not actors, the lack of skill in the latter area was sometimes apparent. Nonetheless, it has been a video that we pull out every year at Easter and watch.

Last year, I watched Joseph and the Amazing Techni-color Dreamcoat on PBS, and after the show I got a glimpse of several clips of the new production of JCS which would be coming out shortly on video. I'm not sure why I held such high hopes for this remake. Perhaps it was my immense satisfaction with the same company's production of Joseph. Perhaps it was my immediate attraction to Glenn Carter. Or perhaps it was just wishful thinking. At any rate, I became convinced that WHYY's offering would turn out to be the perfect performance of Jesus Christ Superstar. I'm afraid that the reality fell short of expectations.

You see, I held out hope that this movie would "get right what the first one got wrong", at least in my opinion. First of all, there was the cinematography. I would say that this aspect of the new version was handled quite well, and it would have made for a more watchable film than the first if it had not been for the choice of setting and costumes.

Most of the film took place in a large room which served a variety of purposes, from Heaven on their Minds to Gethsemane. There was no Judas running frantically down the cliffs of the desert or Jesus scaling the heights of the garden hills to make his plea more audible. It was just a big room. Then there was the long wall covered with graffiti, which we see as the film first begins. There's the temple, which looks like a casino/strip joint, and there's the hang-out of the Sanhedrin, which is centered around a long black table.

The costumes were certainly not biblical. Jesus' disciples all looked like a bunch of punk rockers, and Judas, the oldest of the bunch by far, was similarly decked out in jeans, a t-shirt, and a leather jacket. Mary Magdalene wore a red dress, and Jesus wore jeans and a white shirt, later a white robe. The high priests all looked like something out of The Matrix, and the members of the media, also dressed all in black, resembled witches. The people who cry out to Jesus for help are dressed similarly but covered with web-like bandages, looking like death itself. Finally, the Roman officials, Pilate in particular, look to me like members of the gestapo. I really didn't get much out of the attempt to put this in a modern setting; I saw Godspell, and that was one of my major complaints as well. They're trying to make this story happen 2000 years ago and today, both at the same time. I don't think it works very well.

But now to the meat of the movie. The characters are all well done, though I prefer the characterizations in the first film to some of these. Jerome Pradon does a fine job as presenting Judas as a conflicted individual, though his vocal talents and energy don't come close to matching those of Carl Anderson in the first film. He's also not as easy to like as that first Judas. From the beginning, he seems beady-eyed, sinister, and sarcastic. Throughout the film, his face contorts to show his affection for Jesus despite his growing frustration, and when he turns Jesus in he is overwhelmed with guilt.

Judas is undeniably Superstar's hero in the Greek sense of the word, meaning the individual who undergoes the most radical change from beginning to end. But this production messes it up. Judas has just become so crippled by his own guilt, so remorseful, that he hangs himself. But shortly thereafter, as Jesus is preparing to carry his cross to Calvary, Judas, along with a herum of leather-clad floozies, takes the opportunity to stand over Jesus and gloat. He seems to be saying, "Ha-ha, Jesus, you're so stupid," and Jesus just remains hunched over under his cross, a grotesque ezpression of agony on his face. It's my least favorite scene in the film. Nobody seems to be rooting for Jesus here; the "angels" in leather bikinis are as sarcastic and cruel as Judas' demon girls. And if Judas is talking to Jesus right before the crucifixion, in some sort of vision or something, how is he talking about the current day? It just doesn't jive. And then, as soon as Jesus makes his journey to the hill, Judas sobers up and goes back to being remorseful. That whole scene just blew Judas' credibility out of the water, and it removed the one indication of resurrection that existed in the first film. I was, quite frankly, disgusted, but it set up an expectation that they were going ot give us one doozy of a finale, a real resurrection that would leave no doubt as to Jesus' triumph and perhaps bring poor old Judas some peace. But that didn't happen either. I waited in vain. The closest the movie came to anything like that was the blinding cross in bright lights that blazed behind Jesus at the moment of his death. That certainly spoke of the supernatural, but it wasn't enough to satisfy me.

Glenn Carter was much more satisfactory than Pradon. Although I am pretty sure Jesus was not that gorgeous -- it just didn't seem to be his style -- Carter did a very convincing job. He has a heavenly voice, and his heart-felt rendition of Gethsemane was for me the most moving portion of the movie. His Jesus is straight out of Luke, and then some. His most striking attribute is the concern and compassion he has for everyone he meets, from the dying multitude to Judas to Pilate. Carter displays a wide range of passionate emotions, and it was much easier for me to connect with him quickly than was the case with Ted Neeley in the first film. At times, he is perhaps a bit too human. He spends the last scenes of the movie with a permanent agonized expression on his face, submitting himself to the whims of those who try to hurt him. It does give him a quiet authority, however. He refuses to fight back because he knows this is what must happen. Somehow, though, he seems to lose his control with Superstar, and it seems that he now is starting to wish he could get out of this. He appears helpless and terrified. He is a victim, not a triumph. And I'm sure Weber and Rice would have had it no other way. But Christians will have to look especially hard to see the determined savior in the eyes of that frightened deer-in-the-headlights.

Rene Castle as Mary Magdalene is excellent as well. Her voice is incredible, and as with Jesus, she plays her part with much more emotion than her predecessor (Yvonne Elliman) did. Unfortunately, her beautiful characterization takes one of the major complaints with the show by Christians and runs with it. Many Christians have been offended by the implication that there may have been a romance between Jesus and Mary. I simply did not see that in the first film. I saw a woman who loved a man who was different from any other man she had ever known. Because of this, she did not know how she was supposed to love him. Jesus' love for her was simply the love he had for any disciple, and I never got the impression that he was romantically inclined toward her. This film came a lot closer to implying that. Every time Jesus is with Mary, he has this rapturous expression on his face, and it is ultimately a confrontation between Judas and Jesus after Judas sees Mary kiss the sleeping savior that makes Judas decide to betray his friend.

The high priests are definitely sinister, but Annas goes far beyond that. He is downright creepy with his bald head, high voice, and cold eyes. Pilate, meanwhile, who was quite honestly my favorite character in the first film when it came to performance, comes across as a vicious gestapo leader here. He does sympathize with Jesus, and there is one touching moment in the trial when Jesus reaches up to comfort him, but overall I found his bellowing more obnoxious than anything else. In the original producation, Barry Dennen made Pilate extremely likable, pitiable and compassionate. I found his scene with Jesus to be the most moving scene in the whole film. This guy doesn't even come close.

And then there's Herod. I think whoever plays him is going to wind up looking like a fruitcake. The first movie's Herod at least tried to sing, even though his voice was pretty bare of talent. This guy, a British fellow who sounded like he had a stuffy nose and seemed to come straight out of the twenties, spent most of his song chanting instead of singing. He was not nearly as amusing as the first, nor was he menacing. He was just...there.

All in all, I must say that I was disappointed with this film. However, magnificent performances of Jesus and Mary as well as a few others (Simon Zealotes and Peter in particular) make it worth watching. The music is as fantastic as it ever was, and as easy to twist around to imply something different. This play can be very reverent, but this was obviously not the intent of the creators. Watch it if you get a chance, but listen to the soundtrack first and work out the rest of the story as you see it on your own. Because Jesus was more of a Superstar than either Webber or Rice could ever imagine.