Okay, Andrew Lloyd Weber never topped Jesus Christ Superstar...

[WCGreen]

It's on Sundance now, the movie...

The album was much better...

But everything after went for cheap theatrics and overblown melodies..

All the rest nearly destroyed the Musical Genre...

[tjdee]

1. Cats, while overall good, had some crappy music, that's for sure.

I like Cats, in theory. I do like "Jellicle Cats" though.

On to the point at hand, thanks for letting me know it was on! The title song is the most addictive song ever. I agree the album is better.

The show...as a Christian I think it all hinges on the casting of Jesus/Judas, and for it to work with me, there has to be a strong actor playing Jesus--because Judas' songs are much better, and the Judas character is much more interesting.

Like this dude playing Jesus in the movie, he's cute, pretty good, but kind of smallish compared to Judas. :(

[WCGreen]

10. Your got that exactly right...

Ian Gillian, the lead singer for Deep Purple, sang the Jesus part on the album... Ted Nealy is a classically trained singer so he doesn't bring the raw emotion Gillian brought to the album...

I think it really exemplifies what christianity is all about...

The struggle between Judas and Jesus was the difference between the Jewish perception of what the Messiah should be, more of a nationalistic leader who frees the people in what ever way possible while Jesus is representing a truly new covenant... A spiritual way which pays little attention to the secular...

Curiously, this is still playing out today...

[hickman1937]

33. Ted Nealy sounded thin and whiny compared to Ian Gillian.

The movie disappointed me in that. I also thought Herod need a better voice, and a better actor.

[bertha katzenengel]

2. Agreed. Wanna know why I agree?

I never knew that Weber wrote JCS. I just figured ALL of his shit is shit. Who knew?

[tjdee]

4. WCGreen is totally right.

I don't know how he could go from Jesus Christ Superstar to a bloated piece of bloatedness like...all of his later work, LOL.

[In_The_Wind]

3. Will wonders never cease.

I don't get Sundance :cry: so I'll never know.

[WCGreen]

7. Psst...

I'm taping it....

[Taverner]

5. I said it once I'll say it again

I. Hate. Musicals.

[WCGreen]

6. You don't know what you are missing....

[tjdee]

8. Totally. musicals are magic in a way straight film/theater can't be.

I mean, sometimes you really just have to burst into song and bust a move.

[LostinVA]

9. I really like "Evita"

[WCGreen]

11. It was good but to much reliance on one or two motifs

where JCS was a whole mess of good songs...

[terrya]

12. Hell, "Joseph" is practically unlistenable.

You're right. "Jesus Christ Superstar" is probably his best.

Sir Andrew basically has a couple of melodies in him. Just change the lyrics for whatever show he's doing.

[WCGreen]

13. Bingo....

[Inspired]

14. I love this movie

I saw it 5 times the first week it came out in 1975. I also saw a theatrical performance with Ted Neeley and whoever the guy was who played Judas in the movie. Awesome.

[WCGreen]

17. I saw that too.... But it was back in 1971.....

It was more like a concert....

[Inspired]

20. Same movie?

I wonder because the movie I'm talking about, while a musical, wasn't like a concert at all. I believe it hit the theaters in '74 or '75.

[WCGreen]

29. The movie is what was on....

But a lot of the cast from that touring concert production was on screen...

[Inspired]

31. Not sure what you saw in 1971 then

because the movie didn't come out until 1973 or so. I know I saw it first run...thought it was '75 but it was actually '74. The stage performance started in '71.

[WCGreen]

32. I am sure it was 1971....

Because I was in the 8th grade....

It was a touring company and I remember that TN was in it, a black Judas and Yvonne as MM.....

We went with a church group...

They had the type of scaffolding, the pipe stuff, that was in the Movie on stage and used it as a prop....

[Inspired]

35. Doesn't sound like a movie

it sounds like you saw it in a theatrical performance. Makes sense because the theatrical performance came out in '71.

[Tab]

15. I have the movie

I loved the album, I figured the movie'd be great, but I've only watched it twice in 20 years, and barely so - it's excruiating.

The album, on the other hand, I have memorized.

There are actually a couple versions of the album/soundtrack floating out there, and I have a CD that I swear has remixed at least one song from the original LP (and I listened to the LP ad infinitum and immediately picked up any discrepancy). But it's close enough.

Some other versions, like the London version, just don't have the edge of the original one.

[WCGreen]

18. The orginial one was the best....

In one of the later versions they brought in Alice Cooper to sing the Herrod part...

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

16. Bet you've never heard the Japanese version ...

(featuring "Iron Chef"'s Takeshi Kaga.)

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/11/jesus_christ_su.html

[WCGreen]

19. I actually saw a performance on PBS of a Chinese

troop.... They updated the costumes and sang in English...

It was pretty cool....

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

21. You win. :)

[Blue Gardener]

22. I have the DVD in right now!

I love that movie. Always had a crush on Ted Neely when I was in high school. :loveya:

[WCGreen]

30. HE is a cutey.....

But I was stricktly a Yvonne Ellman type of guy....

[long_green]

23. I can sing the whole damn score and will...

if I ever need to clear a room in a hurry.

"FOOLS! Youuuuu have no perception, the stakes we are gambling are frighteningly high/
Weeeeeee must crush him completely, so like John before him, this Jesus must die/ For the sake of the nation, this Jesus must die..."

That excerpt is for any trolling fundie who may want to go yelping back to his flock. Muhahahaha!

oh, p.s. I am an unbearable Original Cast Album snob. Nothing else exists.

[WCGreen]

28. ME Too...

I wore out my original cast album by 1973....

[transeo]

24. That's because JCS wasn't a bottom, silly

Oh, am I no longer in the LGBT forum? Nevermind. :hi:

Actually it's one of my favorite musicals. I played an apostle in a college production. Very fun, though I have to say, after the 50th time repeating "What's the buzz, tell me what's a happening" one gets a little tongue tied and bored of the scene.

[WCGreen]

27. Look at all my trials and tribulations.....

[Crazy Guggenheim]

25. Yeah but he topped Sarah Brightman .............

:popcorn:

[WCGreen]

26. Sex Thread.......

[khashka]

34. Chris states the total fucking obvious

(and looks cool doing it - how does he manage that?)

ALW is the worst thing to happen to musical theatre in our generation. CATS - 'nuff said.

Khash.