Jesus Christ Superstar

Michael Paynter, in his professional musical theatre debut, almost blew the lid off the Capitol Theatre with his soaring high tenor rendition of the aria ‘Gethsemane’.

With spotlights circling the heavens, beaten and whipped, facing imminent crucifixion, he scaled notes with such clarity and passion that he scored an unheard of two mid-performance standing ovations. The rock singer has not been in a musical since he was in high school – what a debut!

“What’s the buzz” is one of the songs in the musical and there was a lot of buzz about this production, coming 50 years after it debuted at the same theatre.

The sound and singing lived up to the hype. The producer John Frost, who was sitting in the same row as me, boasted afterwards that he had ‘wired up all the seats’.

From this vantage point (near the front) you could feel the music in your bones. Starting with the ensemble running through the audience, through to the brilliant rock riffs that were played with such clarity by the band on-stage.

The production is from the Regent’s Park Open Air season in London which has been anointed by Andrew Lloyd Webber as his favourite of recent times.

The set is simple and unitary. It’s largely comprised of a cross on the ground and several levels of scaffolding.

Many performances of Jesus Christ Superstar have magic tricks, colourful costumes and lavish sets which change as the narrative moves around the Holy Land.

By contrast the leads enter in modern attire including grey jeans and sneakers. The cast carry around handheld microphones, harking back to the origins of the musical, first released as a concept album.

The cleverest part of the direction of this piece is how the theme of microphones and mic stands is integrated into the darkest moments of the musical.

To some in the audience it was a little underwhelming, but the drabness served to accentuate the moments of colour.

Jesus is not whipped but sprinkled with gold dust. The audience did not need to see him being struck to feel the pain. It was all there in the music and the symbolism.

The biggest moment of colour is King Herod’s song, portrayed with panache by Reuben Kaye. The cabaret artist’s glissando (sliding of notes) was delicious.

Written as a camp cameo, his appearance was replete with irony. On opening night, he dropped in a line alluding to his recent brush with controversy making a joke about Jesus and nails.