Word: berwick
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Directed by Dan Berwick...
This is precisely the reason why the Loeb Mainstage production ultimately proves so ineffectual: director Daniel Berwick '01 has a style which approaches the material solely on its own terms, allowing the script (or rather the songs) to drive the show rather than maintaining control over the theatrical experience. This approach results in two things: a pervasive sense of confusion and a profound lack of connection between the audience and much of the action on stage. The palpable anticipation of what is arguably this season's major theatrical event was met with, and disappointed by, the repeated failure...
...situation was not abated by the excessive cast: the chorus is referred to in the script as "The 50,000," and Berwick seems to have taken this a bit too literally, casting a truly overwhelming number of actors. Although a large cast, directed so as to focus rather than diffuse the audience on the central action, can work to a show's, this production's overabundance of actors only bolsters the audience's already confused state. Is the crowd happy with Jesus? Angry at him? Leprous? Is their back-slapping friendly, or is it violent? Although the level of dissonance...
...What barriers do minority performers face inside the audition? Some directors note that they let their vision of a particular character be shaped by the actors who come to audition. "I actually had a slight bias toward a diverse cast," says director Dan Berwick '01. "The main character in Jesus Christ Superstar is a mob of people, and I wanted people who looked different from each other." Fortenberry notes her own decision to cast an African-American woman in a part written for a Jewish woman. "She was the best person," she says. "I decided to be race-blind...
...Starring: Dan Berwick, Steve Toub, Jac Huberman, Ryan Shrime, Jason McNeely, Jody Flader