Jesus Christ Superstar

[Looper]

A new batch of Tom Yam soup was the culinary call to summon Senorita to the forest for her fiery favourite.

So I thought it would be an opportune time, being lent this month with Holy Week just around the corner, to introduce her to the movie masterpiece that is... Jesus Christ Superstar

It was originally developed as a concept album in 1970 by Andrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics by Tim Rice. The album had Ian Gillan as Jesus.

It then had stage runs in the US and Australia and the UK before Norman Jewison made it into the movie that many of us saw as kids. Pope Paul 6th approved of it despite some conservatives saying the style was disrespectful.

Senorita was initially disappointed because it was 'old movie' but she was soon singing along to the events of The Passion

It is a ripper of a movie which I only reacquainted myself with recently, having not watched it since I was a kid.

Dramatised with a kind of jealousy/love triangle between Jesus, Judas and Mary Magdalene, all done with a hilariously gauche retro 70s vibe

King Herod's song is a hoot



There are many stage adaptations since then, some with a bit of woke revisionism.

The most important criteria for me are that

1. Jesus is a white male with long hair and a beard and wears white robes
2. Mary Magdalene is hot

Mary Magdalene in the movie is played by Yvonne Elliman, who also sings on the original album concept album. She is not that hot despite interesting Chinese/Japanese mother and Irish father but she is the original so gets a pass.



Senorita enjoyed it but was falling asleep by the time our Lord and Saviour was getting nailed up

So I roused her for the denoument

She was redeemed for her premature movie slumbers by embalming herself in her very own Shroud of Turin before falling asleep.

The stage versions vary in quality. I managed to find one where Jesus is played by a... black woman!

The original movie gets a 10 for Ted Neeley's inimitable Jesus which has never been matched. He went on to play the part on stage for many years after, even recently into his 70s.

[Joe 90]

Biblical!

[Salsa dancer]

The movie was quite iconic for its time.

Though I only saw it once, in 1973 or 74, I loved some of the settings, particularly the cave with light streaming down from an opening in the roof. And Mary seemed so genuinely compassionate.

I only just now realized that Herod reminds me of Newman from Seinfeld

[cyrille]

I remember an old song on the football terraces in the earlyish seventies...'Georgie Best! Superstar! Wears Frilly Knickers and a Playtex Bra!'

That's the limit of my contact, thankfully.

[Looper]

^I remember that as a generically applied ridicule, not specifically for George Best; but in our playground version it was ''****-*** *****! Superstar! Wears frilly knickers and a see-through bra' instead of '...a playtex bra'

Which is kind of strange now I think about it, as I never did encounter or hear of a 'see-through bra' in my later adult life.

[Mendip]

^ They exist.

I would have thought.

[Looper]

^I am slow to catch on!

As a kid I naively pictured the bra being referred to in the rhyme as some kind of transparent plastic, like what some raincoats are made of.

I am only just now realising 50 years later that it meant like a lacy see through bra!

[cyrille]

^I am slow to catch on!

As a kid I naively pictured the bra being referred to in the rhyme as some kind of transparent plastic, like what some raincoats are made of.

I am only just now realising 50 years later that it meant like a lacy see through bra!

Ah, the wonders of a religious Christian upbringing.

When I was a kid I went to a 'modeling club'.

No, no, not that kind of models. They provided airfix models, paint, glue...the lot for us to work on in the last 45 minutes, and in the first 45 minutes we had to listen to a load of religious guff and pretend we cared.

You might never have left.

I learned what decals were, and the ailerons of a Lancaster bomber caused me no end of grief.

[Looper]

^I would have renounced Christ 3 times before the cock crowed and converted to Islam for a free Lancaster bomber airfix kit at that age!

[david44]

I see you are taking a very hands on view with you co celbrants, I belive its called prosyletising in the trade.
Good on you we all need a bit of loving.I 'd love my neighbour were she not a toothless granny.

[Joe 90]

^I would have renounced Christ 3 times before the cock crowed and converted to Islam for a free Lancaster bomber airfix kit at that age!

Cyrille did!

[david44]

summon Senorita to the forest

Woody Wood Pecker?