Ted Neeley

Carl Anderson

Yvonne Elliman

Barry Dennen

Bob Bingham

Larry Marshall

Josh Mostel

Kurt Yaghjian

Paul Thomas

Pi Douglass

Robert LuPone

Jonathan Wynne

Thommie Walsh

Richard Molinare

David Devir

Jeff Hyslop

Richard Orbach

Shooki Wagner

Darcel Wynne

Marcia McBroom

Sally Neal

Leeyan Granger

Vera Biloshisky

Kate Wright

Wendy Maltby

Denise Pence

Baayork Lee

Wyetta Turner

Susie Allanson

Tamar Zafria

Ellen Hoffman

Riki Oren

Judith Daby

Lea Kestin

Adaya Pilo

Zvulun Cohen

Amity Razi

Meir Israel

Avi Ben-Haim

Itzhak Sidranski

Haim Bashi

David Rejwan

David Duack

Steve Boockvor

Cliff Michaelevski

Peter Luria

Tom Guest

David Barkan

Stephen Denenberg

Danny Basevitch

Didi Liekov

Doron Gaash

Zvi Lehat

Noam Cohen

Moshe Uziel

Norman Jewison

Melvyn Bragg

Robert Stigwood

Douglas Slocombe

Antony Gibbs

Michael Shurtleff

Richard Macdonald

John Clark

Yvonne Blake

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Tim Rice

Keith Grant

David James

Music

Drama

Jesus Christ Superstar

Universal Pictures

United States of America

English

dance

israel

christianity

crucifixion

musical

judas

religion

rock opera

jesus christ

non-traditional casting

Andres Gomez

Risky adaptation of a great musical with catchy songs. Carl Anderson performs a great Judas. Some of the other actors are quite good too, like Barry Dennen as Pontius Pilate but Ted Neeley as Jesus is quite a whimp.

In any case, a very interesting adaptation of a musical which deserves to be watched at least once.

CinemaSerf

Norman Jewison shipped everyone to Israel to help give this adaptation of the Lloyd Webber/Rice hit rock opera as much authenticity as possible for the big screen. Ted Neeley dons the robes for the title role and ably aided by a very much on form Carl Anderson (Judas) and Yvonne Elliman (Mary Magdalene) reimagines the stage performances that take us from modern day through the ages to the lifetime of Christ. Neeley certainly has that established look to him, but I actually found him rather underwhelming (it doesn't help that his are certainly not the best numbers). As the story gathers momentum the other two very much come into their own leading an ensemble cast that mixes historical and contemporary styles of music and dance, language and imagery to try to modernise (1970s style) this provocative story. Josh Mostel turns in quite a fun routine as the slightly camp King Herod, and Barry Dennen likewise as the conflicted governor Pilate but for me the whole thing really belongs to Anderson's traitor. The settings serve it well, Douglas Slocombe knows well how to use the ancient monuments and some modern lighting to deliver that extra layer to differentiate it from the stage performance - which, at times, this all too closely resembles. Groundbreaking it certainly was, but time hasn't been especially kind to it and fifty years on it almost comes across as much of a parody as "Life of Brian" (1979). Still, "I Don't Know How to Love Him", "Everything's Alright", "Heaven on their Minds" and the powerful "Gethsemane" offer robust lyrics for the unfolding story of the last few days of Jesus. I did enjoy this on stage, but this film not so much...

Darren Bousman on JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

Jesus Christ Superstar Original Trailer (1973)

Jesus Christ Superstar( 1973)

And now the film…

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A review by Andres Gomez

Written by Andres Gomez on Tue Mar 29 2016

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