NBC To Broadcast Jesus Christ Superstar Live Easter Sunday

My mind is clearer now
At last
All too well
I can see
Where we all
Soon will be…

Not paying much attention to TV networks, this news caught me off-guard: NBC will be broadcasting a live performance of the Tim Rice-Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Jesus Christ Superstar this Easter Sunday starting at 7 PM CDT.

I am so going to watch the Hell out of that.

I would confess my love of Jesus Christ Superstar as a guilty pleasure but I’m honestly not the least bit guilty about it. It’s musically the strongest of all the “rock operas” that made it to Broadway in the late 60s and early 70s. Thanks to the power of the source material, it’s a much more compelling musical than any of Webber’s later work. Though Christians may object to portions of it (Judas is portrayed more as a victim of God’s machinations than The Great Betrayer), most of it the story is recognizably faithful.

And broadcasting a live musical on network television? That’s the sort of risk-taking that deserves to be rewarded.

I am curious as to whether it will include “Could We Start Again, Please?“, the song from the Broadway production that was not in the original (and far more famous) London pre-cast recording.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 27th, 2018 at 6:46 AM and is filed under Media Watch, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “NBC To Broadcast Jesus Christ Superstar Live Easter Sunday”

  1. Jim in Monroe says:
    March 27, 2018 at 1:32 PM

    I think I went to the movie theatre and watched this movie at least 7 times…and I was high school age. Even bought the album. Haven’t been to a theatre in 30 years.

    The movie had a major impact on me. I’ll be watching Easter evening.

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