“Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Who are you? What have you sacrificed?”
If you don’t know it, the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” is a beloved, yet somewhat controversial, telling of the last days of Jesus. And my wife and I saw the most revelatory version of it this last weekend at the iconic Hollywood Bowl.
Cynthia Erivo plays Jesus Christ, and Adam Lambert is Judas – and the result is astounding! Here is the show’s opening, as Cynthia arrives to the stage:
Not sure if YouTube is allowing this due to copyright…sorry!
Here is another powerful moment, with Cynthia performing as Phillipa Soo, playing Mary Magdalene, joins her:
Of course, the casting of Errivo was controversial, but for no reason – as Playbill noted the issue in their terrific review:
“The question had an extra resonance on Friday, August 1, when the Hollywood Bowl kicked off a sold-out three-night run of Jesus Christ Superstar, starring Cynthia Erivo in the titular role that is usually played by a male actor. This concert staging of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical didn’t alter a single lyric or swap any pronouns. But 55 years after its debut, the Erivo’s gender-blind take on the Son of God felt refreshing and revelatory. It was as close to a religious experience as a musical theatre performance can get.”
The Hollywood Bowl was sold out all three nights the show was performed. 17,500 people each night – more than 50,000 people experienced an incredible night of art.
Jesus Christ Superstar was the first “rock opera” with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. As noted in wikipedia, the musical is “loosely based on the Gospels’ accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with much of the plot centred on Judas, who is dissatisfied with the direction in which Jesus is steering his disciples.”
Here’s a show stopping moment when Soo sings the iconic ballad “I Don’t Know How To Love Him”:
YouTube is acting up…not sure who can see this clip.
Josh Gad was scheduled to be in the show but tested positive for Covid – however, a day later he tested negative and showed up Sunday for his one song showstopper!
The crowd was primed for this performance, and he delivered!
It was, however, a show for Erivo and Lambert to own, and they did: mesmerizing in every single moment together.
Both Adam Lambert and Cynthia Erivo are incredibly powerful in the show…performances for the ages.
And the ending is stunning: here is the moment when Judas leads Jesus to the passion:
Talk about a performance! Here is Lambert once more with the powerful ending to the show:
The crowd went wild: here is the curtain call for the show:
This was an incredible night of theater: and I hope it was filmed for television later, as it is a timeless classic.
I have been lucky to see a number of great shows at The Hollywood Bowl:
Those are lightsabers: thousands of them at the Bowl…take a look:
Whenever there is a “Star Wars” music night, the lightsabers comes out strong!
Here’s an in-depth look at this magical night:
I also shared a special “all Rachmaninoff” night at the Bowl…clickhere for lots of videos!
If you enjoy these posts, why not subscribe and never miss out? It’s easy, and there are NO ads of any kind, just stuff I like…click on the main page and “follow” me on the upper right…
If you enjoy these posts, please help me get the word out and share on social media and with your friends!
Categories: 70's Music, Art, Film Fight Club, Hollywood, Memoirs, Music, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities, Travel Memoir
johnrieber 
I really enjoyed your post and the video shorts to give us a feel for the musical. I might appreciate it extra becuse so far, 2025 has been dry for us in the sense of good plays and musicals. The plahoue we normally go to has a horrible line up this year – and but the two years before that we enjoyed amazing shows. This year’s choices are just not for us – so with that said, maybe I am getting some of the musical needs met via posts – ha! And also, the choice to have Erivo’s gender-blind was a good one because they nailed the part. And it was a good choice to leave the words as is.
LikeLiked by 1 person
those are great points about Cynthia and the words as written…we’ve seen some great stuff in the past few months and avoided some that just seemed derivative, pandering, or NO point! I am open to anything, but turning a decent movie from years ago into a MUSICAL for no reason at all is not for me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
oh I understand what you mean!
and on a side note – I saw the play “social security” earlier this year and it was the worst play I have ever seen (and I have seen a lot over the decades) and not sure if you heard of it – it was new for me – but we almost left at intermission – and wish we did leave then – the writing was so “off” and it was all sex based – but not realistic and done in poor taste – I found it hard to believe sucha. sucky play was licensing its content out – and that people were performing it.
The play Social Security won two Drama Desk Awards in 1986: Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, awarded to Joanna Gleason, and Outstanding Set Design, awarded to Tony Walton.
LikeLike
I saw this in DC in the early 70’s. And, I was at the Hollywood Bowl when Liza Minelli performed. Lucky me. Cynthia sounds like Tina Turner! What a great event.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I went to see the first London stage production of the musical in 1972, starring the British actor Paul Nicholas as Jesus. I thought it was just about so-so, to be honest. But Lambert is a great singer, so that must help.
Best wishes, Pete.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I started seeing clips flood social media showing various parts of this performance and I have to say that Cynthia and Adam are absolutely incredible singers. Their performance, and all the other cast, seems to have been awe-inspiring. What a triumph!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the note…it really was incredible with performances that were astounding!
LikeLike
Adam Lambert is a great singer. We’ve seen him a couple of times at Wembley and Manchester when he sang with Queen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great point on his Queen shows…really a terrific singer – thanks so much for sharing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Looks like a great experience. I like the musical a lot after having been playing in a production of it at school.
LikeLike
Thanks, John. I like a lot Adam Lambert’s music. Here’s one of my favorites that I’m sure you remember:
LikeLike
I wasn’t able to access all of them, but wow what powerful voices!!!!
LikeLike
Great post, John! Looks like a very exciting show. What I want to know, though, is…what is up with those shoes Adam is wearing?
LikeLiked by 1 person
He really wanted to tower over Cynthia – part of how he wanted to play the part – they were both incredible – thanks for noticing that and commenting on it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Seems like quite a show! Two of the videos weren’t available I’m afraid.
I’ve shared this link in my post today that tells you if and where videos are restricted:
https://polsy.org.uk/stuff/ytrestrict.cgi
Worth a try?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for this!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome. It’s a useful link which I’ve been using for a couple of weeks. It hasn’t failed me yet!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What an amazing performance that must have been. Thanks for the clips. There were only two that I couldn’t watch.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, YouTube is deciding what is sharable and not…the show was incredible and I appreciate your comment!
LikeLiked by 1 person