Word: jesus
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...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...
...Jesus is munching on popcorn chicken in Loker Commons. This isn't your Father's Jesus: he's clean-shaven, cherubic, a genial-looking guy in a comfortable sweater--J. Crew, the official sponsor of the Second Coming. Meet Jeffery E. Fowler '01, who will play Jesus in this fall's production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Not that the two are one and the same: Fowler is the first to admit that he is no celebrity (or divinity, for that matter), and it's clear that this whole Jesus thing has not gone to his head. Getting into the character...
...could it be that Jeff Fowler was destined to play this part? He did sing Jesus' big solo, "Gethsemane," for his Common Casting audition, but there are more obvious similarities. Just as the ancients had problems accepting Jesus' teachings, so too did Harvard defer this Jesus' proposal for a special concentration. And then there's the long hair, which the then-crewcutted Fowler began growing out in the spring of this year in mental and physiological preparation for the role he hoped to take on."Growing out my hair was sort of positive reinforcement, looking in the mirror every...
...Jesus Christ Superstar was set to be (and is) one of the major productions of the fall theater lineup--quite a goal for someone who had never broken a leg on a Harvard stage. Fowler has an extensive background in theater, but this is his first "official" show at Harvard. He's a singer at heart, and spent his freshman and sophomore years living it up with the Harvard Krokodiloes. The Kroks may not have been a seminary, but they sound divine (ahem) and no doubt prepared Jeff for Superstardom. His background as a vocalist also allows him to approach...
...Nevertheless, most would say that taking on the part of Jesus Christ seems to require some degree of egotism (these are the same people who say "Hey, Jesus!" to Fowler when they see him around campus). The fact of the matter is that the Jesus of Jesus Christ Superstar is no walk-on-water, parable-loving "other." In Sir Lloyd Weber's version of the Passion, Jesus is a man--not da man, not the Son of Man, just a normal man who is fighting against his own Superstardom to get a very simple message across...