Now to say my wife is a fan of musical theatre is an understatement of the most massive proportions, but neither of us had ever seen a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber (ALW) and Tim Rice's rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar. So when it was announced as being the subject of yet another TV series in which they would try and find a new "superstar" (works on both levels), I thought it would follow the usual pattern of talentless wannabes fighting it out for a place to be on stage for a UK tour of the musical. How very wrong I was. Very early on in the show it was clear that ALW would stand for none of the usual bollocks that usually accompanies such shows. The talent was great and it showed as the TV show ran its way to a finish. The final week i'd have been happy with watching any of the finalists on a stage.
When it came to the day of the show I think I was more excited to see what Tim Minchin was like, than I was the eventual winner of the show, Ben Forster. Having seen Minchin's own musical, Matilda, in the West End I was already a huge fan of the man. Matilda being possibly the best musical I have ever seen on stage. It's just an incredible work of art. I digress, the show did not disappoint. The three stars of the show, Forster, Minchin and Mel C, were superb. The production was superb throughout. My only gripe was with the giant speaker at the side of the stage obscuring the view of some scenes. Even Chris Moyles couldn't ruin what was a superb night. His comedic X-Facter style section in the show was superbly executed and the audience lapped it up. It made what could've been a tired, old show up to date and relevant to current media. His "singing" voice wasn't bad either.
But for me the star of the show was Minchin. His portrayal of Judas Iscariot was wonderful to behold. His singing performance was stunning. The range of his vocals was breathtaking, and his qualities as an actor were just as good. That's not to say that Forster wasn't worthy of his role, he was. He handled the role superbly well and the final scene of him on the cross was extremely moving and a wonderful piece of theatre.
I'm very disappointed that there is currently no audio recording of this cast as I personally would have bought it to relive Minchin's role again (I believe there will be a DVD/Blu-ray released before Christmas). I certainly hope this isn't the last time we see him take on a challenging role such as this, and I would love to see him write and produce another show of him own as he's done so well with Matilda.
Well played ALW, you win again.
No comments:
Post a Comment