Jesus Christ Superstar, Without the Jesus?

By Alanna Taveras

Last weekend, January 30th, 31st and the first of February, the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar hit the stage and truly rocked out. They had crazy riffs, the full rockstar attire (designed and created by junior Thandi Galloway with assistance from junior Damaari Coombs), and even background dancers! The truth is, the cast and crew truly outdid themselves and this will be one for the books (or maybe I’m just biased-). 

"What's the Buzz" Sung by Rep's Advanced Musical Theater. (Rep Photography Club)

The director of the Advanced Musical Theatre ensemble, Mr. Morrow, or Keeshon as the cast calls him, has a deep connection with the musical having been a part of the cast his freshman year of college at Otterbein University where he played one of the apostles. He decided to revive Jesus Christ Superstar at Rep because he really wanted to do something the Rep stage had never seen before. He said, “ I was interested in doing a rock musical…I kinda knew that it had themes that are kind of universal, but yet so timeless, that we would be interested in exploring and in, like, bringing ourselves in it.”

"What's The Buzz?" sung by the cast of Rep's Advanced Musical Theater. (Daniel Rader)

He also spoke on the logistics within the choosing process, such as the advanced ensemble, that teachers have to take into account, including the talents, student interest, and general vibe of the rising juniors and seniors. The teachers want to give these students the opportunity to showcase their vast abilities, “What … skills do they have? Or, what skills do we want to push them to explore? And what kind of roles have been available to them, or haven’t been available to them?” For JCS, Morrow said, “I knew we have a lot of great vocalists and I knew that there are a lot of roles that could be featured, not just the three principal roles, there’s a lot of great vocal features in JCS so that made me excited.” 

"Hosanna" Sung by Rep's Advanced Musical Theater. (Daniel Rader)

He told the cast multiple times throughout the rehearsal process that there weren’t going to be any religious meanings behind the show; other than the lyrics in the songs, of course. Every director approaches a piece with a vision, the director's vision, but Mr. Morrow likes to do things a little differently, “I often wanna stage a show that scares me a little bit. Like, that, like, I don’t have all the answers to- that I don’t feel like I know fully because it’s more exciting for everybody to, like, create it together.” He did have a general idea, “I didn’t articulate a clear Director’s vision in words. … I wanted to do this musical about a very specific relationship in the story but kind of remove the religious connotation from it to talk about, you know, What does it mean to be a revolutionary? What does it mean to be called radical? What does it mean to want the same thing as somebody else and not know how to communicate about those aligning goals? And also, about the government’s involvement and the government’s position in either radicalizing someone or calling them “radical” or making them an outsider. What role does the government play in squashing a lot of that? I think historically we’ve seen a lot of really amazing leaders come and go at the hands of the government and those in power wanting to stay in power. I think that those are all very present and looming themes. I wanted to explore them in a way that, like, is kind of taken out of the immediate context- a safe and artistic way to explore those ideas that we have to face every day.”

"Overture" performed by the cast of Rep's Advanced Musical Theater. (Daniel Rader)

With a community of students so politically adept,  especially in the face of ever changing politically heated times, it’s important for educators to create safe spaces where students can vocalize how they feel about them. Mr. Morrow didn’t want to force students to publicize their opinions; however he did want the students in AMT to take the time to reflect upon moments in history and current events. 

As a closing, I asked Keeshon what the theme of his version of JCS was. What did he want the audience to take away from it? What do he want the cast to take away from it? “ So, we have Jesus and Judas that ultimately want the same thing but are going at it in two different ways and I wondered what would happen in this story if they were able to communicate better and work together… if we’re able to actually listen to each other perhaps we could actually make some strides forward… I was hoping that they may leave thinking about, you know, their role in the world and how they are both responsible to change it, but also responsible to be receptive to others who want to also change it.” I also asked him if he believed that his goal with carrying such a heavy topic/theme in a usually religious musical was successful, and he said, “I think that if one student or audience member takes it away, that’s a success. Especially, if, you know, you do all this work, and if one student is positively impacted, then the work is worth it, but I think that everybody got something out of it.”

"Superstar" Sung by Rep's Advanced Musical Theater. (Daniel Rader)

The cast of JCS truly appreciated the removal of the religious storyline and the inclusion of real world events and themes. They learned a lot throughout those few months of rehearsal and they were given the opportunity to reflect on historical events, current events, and possibly future events. They did it together, and they thank Mr. Morrow greatly for taking a new spin on the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. And a little secret, he enjoyed it just as much as they did.

The recording of the full Friday performance is now on the Repertory YouTube for all to enjoy! 

Special thanks to: 

Keeshon Morrow

The cast of Jesus Christ Superstar