Word: jesus
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...medieval saints believed in Jesus, with a fervor bordering on lust, Rosetta believes in employment. Work is her religion: when she gets it, she does it harder (and glummer) than anyone else. When she has no job, she focuses on getting one so maniacally that she is in danger of destroying herself and the one fellow who befriends her. In the trailer park where she lives with her slutty, alcoholic mother, she methodically does the chores. For Rosetta, living is one job she can't lose. Unless she fires--kills--herself. And when she does decide to commit suicide...
...single attempt has been made to remedy the audience's puzzlement, and its seemliness is tenuous at best: Berwick has the Priests who wish Jesus dead, led by a strong-voiced Steve Toub '01, demonstrate their depravity by smoking cigarettes (Judas is offered what appears to be a Marlboro Light when he chooses to join the dark side) and performing acts of homoeroticism during their suggestive dance breaks. The world of the Apostles is one of happiness, light, and heterosexuality; that of the priests is smoky, dark, and categorically...
...surmountable if a production manages to create some connection between the audience and the action on stage. However, in this rendition the audience is offered no character with whom to identify. As it is written,Superstar can be performed either as a story of Judas or one of Jesus. In the case of the former, the director must allow the audience to recognize the character of Judas as a narrator. He sings the expositional opening number and the flashy closing number; between these two, if he is visible and relevant to the audience on stage, he can become a sort...
...other hand, if the evening's story is to belong to Jesus, his character must be seen as an actual superstar. He must be dynamic, commanding, and so appealing that the audience truly cares what happens to him. While Jeffery E. Fowler '00 turns in an admirable performance in the title role and his voice is quite strong, he seems to have been offered little in the way of character direction. For a brief moment, Fowler demonstrates to the audience's delight that he is, in fact, an energetic and charistmatic dancer, but a less than appreciative direction misuses...
...that Jesus Christ Superstar must be the story of one or the other of the two leads is admittedly the limited opinion of one critic; but to say that this production lacks that character direction needed to inspire sympathy is the right of any audience member. To exercise that or not becomes a question of what we demand of theater...