{"id":2819,"date":"2008-03-22T22:44:37","date_gmt":"2008-03-23T05:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=2819"},"modified":"2008-03-22T22:44:39","modified_gmt":"2008-03-23T05:44:39","slug":"splendorquest-jesus-christ-superstar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2819\/splendorquest-jesus-christ-superstar\/","title":{"rendered":"SplendorQuest: Jesus Christ Superstar"},"content":{"rendered":"

[I wrote this at Easter in 2003, just short of five years ago. –GSS]<\/p>\n

Tomorrow is Easter, and all good Catholics will go to Mass. In our parish, every Mass will be packed, and there will be overflow Masses in the school cafeteria. But Catholic or not, Easter calls our attention to Jesus Christ Superstar<\/a>, one of the best of the rock operas, and certainly the best of the filmed<\/i> rock operas.<\/p>\n

Director Norman Jewison delivers what is very self-consciously a film, with elaborate use of long lenses, slow-motion and stop-action photography. The central character is Judas Iscariot, played by Carl Anderson, with the Nazarene cast in the role of a loud foil, always the reactor, never the actor. This cannot be pleasing to doctrinaire Christians, but it is very effective in the film. In the same way, the turmoil of Annas and Caiphus, of Pontius Pilatus, and of Mary Magdalene and Simon Peter add drama.<\/p>\n

But the moments of highest drama are reserved for the Nazarene. First, on Palm Sunday, the massed disciples sing, “Hey, J.C., J.C., would you die<\/i> for me?” Jewison freezes for just a second on actor Ted Neely’s horrified expression. Later, on Maundy Thursday, the prayer of the Nazarene from Gethsemane is excruciating, no pun intended, all but unbearable.<\/i><\/p>\n

But the star of this movie is always the music. There are places where the lyrics clunk, a curse of rock opera, but the rock is hard and convincing, and the voices, particularly Anderson and Neely, are fantastic.<\/p>\n

Inter alia, apparently Jewison had some kind of anti-Vietnam message in mind when he made the film, but for the life of me I can’t see it now.<\/p>\n

For an alternate take on the same material, you might pick up Jesus Christ Superstar–A Resurrection<\/a>. This is a studio-recorded double-CD crafted by a cadre of Georgia musicians who love the rock opera and wanted to make a rock recording from it. Indigo Girls Amy Ray and Emily Saliers sing the parts of the Nazarene and Mary Magdalene, respectively. The voices come and go, but the instrumentation is inspired.<\/p>\n

In the Passion, Saint John bends over backwards to Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[I wrote this at Easter in 2003, just short of five years ago. –GSS] Tomorrow is Easter, and all good Catholics will go to Mass. In our parish, every Mass will be packed, and there will be overflow Masses in the school cafeteria. But Catholic or not, Easter calls our attention to Jesus Christ Superstar, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-casual-friday","7":"category-egoism-in-action","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":423,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/423\/blogoff-post-46-ask-the-broker-what-do-you-do-when-youre-not-drowning-in-text\/","url_meta":{"origin":2819,"position":0},"title":"Blogoff Post #46: Ask the Broker: What do you do when you’re not drowning in text . . . ?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The is from my email, just a few minutes ago:It's not a real estate question, it's a blogging question. Just wondering how much your traffic is up today during this blog off with Ardell? I know Jon Ernest is doing a live play-by-play, but how many others are tuning in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ask the Broker"","block_context":{"text":"Ask the Broker","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/ask-the-broker\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1433,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1433\/the-stockdale-paradox-i-never-lost-faith-in-the-end-of-the-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":2819,"position":1},"title":"The Stockdale Paradox: “I never lost faith in the end of the story”","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"My friend Richard Nikoley dug this up, Admiral Jim Stockdale talking about his experience in a Vietnamese POW camp:\"I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2311,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2311\/what-the-brat-pack-reads-an-easter-egg-in-the-my-way-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":2819,"position":2},"title":"What the Brat Pack reads: An Easter Egg in the My Way video","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Cathy caught this this morning: Hugh Hewitt's book Blog has been Photoshopped into the hands of Frank, Dino and Sammy. Any other Easter Eggs in that video? Technorati Tags: blogging, real estate, real estate marketing","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14484,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/14484\/is-brian-brady-the-easter-bunny\/","url_meta":{"origin":2819,"position":3},"title":"Is Brian Brady the Easter Bunny?","author":"Sean Purcell","date":"April 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey, do the Easter Bunny's eggs tell us what the future has in store? No, they just keep us busy looking for something that benefits us not at all. 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