Drawing 35 - Groovy Palm Sunday

[tealin]

It was a tradition in the household in which I lived during most of my time in Canada that we'd come home from church and put on some loud choral music we could sing along with while we made brunch. Sometimes it was Carmina Burana, sometimes Mozart's Requiem, but during Lent, especially towards Holy Week, more often than not it was Jesus Christ Superstar. I realized last week how much I missed that, so on my way home from church I stopped in the CD store and found a copy – it wasn't the original cast, in fact I couldn't find a mention of the production or cast on it anywhere, but I got it anyway because it was the only complete recording they had, and might as well expand my horizons a little.

To my surprise, it wasn't actually awful. It was recorded in '96 which, according to Amazon, was only three years after the original recording came out on CD, which seems a bit odd. The orchestra was smaller but it was nice to hear different parts stand out a bit more, and the recording quality was excellent. I even liked some of the performances better than the original cast – Jesus sounded less like a petulant child on drugs, and Pilate was more human and much less camp. The biggest surprise (or possibly non-surprise) was that Alice Cooper made an excellent Herod. Overall it was performed more in a Broadway style and less as a groovy 70s rock opera, which has pros and cons. My biggest complaint was that a few lyrics were changed, including some lines in my favourite verse in my favourite song, in a manner that erred on the side of stupid. Some of the lyric changes in Sunset Boulevard, when it crossed the pond at about the same time as this recording was released, were equally dumb; I suspect someone in Andrew Lloyd Webber's camp suspects American audiences of being a bit thick. (I don't know where they would get that idea ...)

Has anyone else noticed that an inordinate number of Webber's musicals are about the ramifications of fame?

Anyway, it's been a long time since I listened to it, and it got me thinking again about how controversial it is in some circles. I'm not surprised, because I know people will get offended at anything, but ... see, my mom spent all of maybe five minutes explaining the premise to me when I was a child, and even though I've never seen a performance and I don't recall ever hearing the whole musical before college, just that explanation had a profound effect on my perception of the Passion. Even now it's still my favourite dramatic interpretation of it, and the focus on the power of the fickle mob probably predisposed me to René Girard's mind-bending theories. I started to write a point-by-point list guessing at what people might find offensive and then explaining why they're full of crap, but it started to get really long so I stopped ... might post it someday if anyone's interested but I don't have the time right now to finish it or to join the conversation it might start. Instead I decided to offend more people by illustrating a mondegreen!


A trick or two with lepers and the whole town's on its feet ... 'lepers' sounds like 'leopards' to me most of the time. Jesus probably could have done tricks with leopards! That would have been awesome! Maybe he did but the Evangelists were embarrassed by the blatant showmanship so left it out of the Gospels...

And that, I have declared, counts for Monday. Take that!

Comments

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

... the premise of the musical being Jesus telling Judas to go betray him when Judas doesn't want to.

But they have that argument at the Last Supper, after Judas has (basically) sold him to the chief priests. My interpretation, as a somewhat arrogant pragmatic know-it-all, is that Judas is a somewhat arrogant pragmatic know-it-all who sees the situation getting out of hand and tries to take control of it ... he keeps saying he's acting for the good of the disciples or Jesus or whoever but his actions have consequences he didn't intend. So the moral of the story is, to some degree, 'don't presume you know what you're doing' or something along those lines... I've got the idea as a shape in my head but am having a hard time with words today. :(

[caliypsoe.livejournal.com]

I agree, but also consider some lyrics from "The Last Supper":

JUDAS: Cut the dramatics! You know very well who.
JESUS: Why don't you go do it?
JUDAS: You want me to do it!
JESUS: Hurry, they are waiting.
JUDAS: If you knew why I do it
JESUS: I don't care why you do it!
JUDAS: To think I admired you. Well now I despise you.
JESUS: You liar. You Judas.
JUDAS: You want me to do it! What if I just stayed here and ruined your ambition. Christ you deserve it!

I interpreted that as Jesus having his "master plan" and Judas betraying him was part of it all along. I completely agree with you on Judas trying to take hold of the crumbling situation, but I don't think Jesus was an innocent victim either.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the argument I was referring to, and it harks to the old Holy Judas theory that arose in the early church as soon as someone sat back and applied critical thinking to the gospel story, that Judas was all part of the plan and in some ways responsible for the redemption of mankind via his betrayal. It's a good way to add human drama and character development to the story, from a dramatic perspective, and if anyone is challenged by the idea behind it there are centuries' worth of theological works on the subject that they can trawl through at their leisure. But my point is that Judas initiated the betrayal on the previous disc (because I don't know where the intermission is :) when he told Caiaphas and his cohorts where Jesus would be at a given time. All he had left to do was identify him in the garden but the principal act of betrayal was already done by the time that argument took place (and really, someone as famous as Jesus, would they have needed the identification?). While betrayal and death were almost certainly part of the master plan all along, who did the betraying, and when, might not necessarily have been set in stone before Judas stepped forward. It's all about the contrast between the Ineffable Divine Plan and petty humans' little attempts at self-determination.

[caliypsoe.livejournal.com]

Intermission is after "Damned for All Time". Act II picks up with "Last Supper". :)

Very true. Lol look at all the debate this musical can start. XD I agree with you, I think for those who have never seen the musical before, that would be the thing they would object to most.

[caliypsoe.livejournal.com]

If you want to watch the entire play, by the way, the whole Amstetten production is on youtube. (Starting here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXaEafnklg4) Or you could send me a PM and I could send you the video in nice and pretty quality. :)

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Wonderful discussion on the Judas-Jesus relationship!

I've always been fascinated by close relationships that go bad-- the above is a famous one, but the God-Lucifer relationship is less spoken of and more intriguing because of it. The how's and why's of two people who need each other falling out.

Now that I think of it, there is a pivotal fall/betrayal in both the Old and New Testament. I wonder if there is anything like it in the Quran? If there is, I wonder why the theme repeats?

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Is the whole Fall of Satan thing actually in the Old Testament? I thought it was more or less apocryphal, like Lilith.

My guess is the theme repeats because a)it tends to happen all the time in real life and b)it makes for good storytelling. :)

[ardys-the-ghoul.livejournal.com]

I think John Milton made it up. :D I mean, he made up so much stuff that everyone takes for granted now, I wouldn't be surprised if it was his idea all along. (English Major speaking, obviously.) At any rate, I think he was the first one to write about it in any great detail.

I believe both Lucifer and Satan are mentioned in the Bible, but I don't think there's anything to suggest that they are the same person. Also, the snake in Eden is just a snake--Milton was the one who decided it should be the devil in disguise.

Gospel of Judas--from what I've heard, the story goes that Judas was Jesus's closest disciple, and they actually planned the "betrayal" together, because it had to happen for man's salvation to take place.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

The Lucifer=Satan is a long-standing argument. You're very correct that they both have only passing references made to them in the Old Testament. Here's something I found with a quick Google. (http://www.tektonics.org/gk/heylucy.html) Considering the magnitude of the event, it is very curious why the event was not elaborated on more.

Milton (in "Paradise Lost", which I have -never- been able to slog through: epic poem/blank verse=augh!) tried to extrapolate the event from the Biblical references. Steven Brust's "To Reign in Hell" is his version as a fantasy novel (very nicely done). Michael Michetti did a fantastic play that was a twist on Paradise Lost (called, "Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings")-- an amazing blend of costuming, anime and martial arts.

I am looking forward to anything about the Gospel of Judas-- whether it's validated or not. I think he is a complex and interesting personage.

Ironically, there is a show on Discovery Channel right now called, "Lost Gospels" (about the gospels of Mary Magdalene, Peter, and Judas). A bit dramatic, but still interesting.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Mr Balsamo is a very good singer and performer but my previous life in the orchestra makes me recoil a bit at how cavalier he is about staying (or not staying) with the music. Also see film/theatre no touchie comment below ... I am just too neurotic to enjoy it, I'm afraid. :)

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

And he makes a mean vinaigrette!

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

P.S. I just noticed this morning when importing my new CD to iTunes that Steve Balsamo is, in fact, Judas in this cast. Heh! He does a much better job of keeping with the orchestra in this recording than on the Youtube video. :) Nice passionate performance; perhaps it's my radio brain but I think it serves a purely aural experience better than one combined with visuals, because he puts so much into his voice ... video is just sensory overload.