Jesus Christ Superstar Opening Night ReviewWarning: Mild and Medium Production spoilers follow.First impressionsThe O2 is big. And I'm sitting a long way away! I got a seat just above the "Sky Boxes" or Executive Boxes or Hospitality Suites or whatever they're called, so not up in the roof, but it was still a looooong way away. The only other time I've been to the O2, I saw Prince and managed to get tickets in the "Golden Circle". I was two rows from the stage. This was different!
The view from the cheap seats. It doesn't look that far away, but when the show starts, the cast are dots on that stage. It's huge. One thing I noticed was that the stage had that massive set of steps. I figured it wasn't going anywhere, which meant no major scenery changes. This turned out to be true.
OK, on to the show!Now, as I may have mentioned before, I am not a fan of musicals, and the last thing I'd be expected to do was see one. This was my first. I think Nicola had the assessment down right. This is not the best musical in the world. Or rock opera.
As soon as I realised every single word was sung, something in my brain switched off. I just can't process a plot or dialogue when it's delivered this way. Everything! Has to be! Sung! And Rhymes Shoehorned Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin! It's not for me. I could tell instantly.
However, they did at least try to bring the show up to date with a sort of vague "The 99%" vs. "The 1%", "Occupy North Greenwich" theme and satire attacking Guantanamo and X-Factor Style shows. I don't think this was fully explored though, it was more a vague theme in the background. It's still all very Jesus-y.
The best bitsWell, as I'm not a fan of musicals and can't follow the plot when it's sung, for me, it was all about the singing performances and they were for the most part, excellent.
Tim Minchin did a very solid job, as did Jesus (whatever his name is, don't really care). Tim Minchin was right though, he's really whiny, so I give Jesus credit for what must be a thankless task in some respects.
However, the standout in the major roles (Chris gets his own section, so hang on!) has to be Mel C. I've always liked her singing voice -- I even bought her first solo album, Northern Star (I didn't buy any Spice Girls CDs, I'm not a madman!). She was superb. You could have heard a pin drop during one of her solos and she got almost the best reception of the night. Almost.
Oi, What About Chris?Having seen the not-quite-ready-for-primtime rehearsal footage and knowing Chris to be slightly shy and reticent at times on TV, I was sort of expecting a solid, but not stunning performance. We all know Chris can sing, but for this role, he has to sing, dance, run around the stage, be funny, work with the cast and props. It's a very difficult song and performance to pull off.
I also wasn't sure how he was going to be received. As we all know, Chris is loved and loathed in equal measures. Like Marmite.
When he came out on stage, the audience shouted and cheered and clapped more than at any other time in the night! I was made up for him!
His performance was fantastic. I won't give away what happens in the show, but he sang, danced and made us laugh and cheer. It was fantastic. He really did steal the show, and as you know, his biggest fans are often his biggest critics -- I have said in the past when a TV appearance doesn't work. This worked better than I could have imagined. It was 10x better than the rehearsal footage we've seen.
My first reaction when he left the stage was "I want to see that again!", so I'm glad there's going to be a DVD of the show.
The audience reaction when his performance ended was fantastic. I think he got the loudest cheers and applause of the night (excluding the finale).
I think it was Nicola who mentioned this was a good role for Chris, as it's pretty much the only comic relief of the night, so he had that going in, but he really pulled off his role with aplomb.
The mixed or not-so-good bitsI thought the staging was a bit lacklustre. You pretty much get those steps (they really don't go anywhere) and a large projection screen behind the steps. In other productions -- music concerts, I've seen those screens put to good use, and there were a couple of scenes here where they worked well, but for the most part the screen had to do double-duty as both a backdrop and to show close-ups of the actors for the 19,000 people who weren't close to the stage. So, as soon as that closeup happens, the scenery disappears. They had a few scenes where they "vision mixed" the two, but it didn't work very well.
The scene where the staging worked superbly however, was Herod's song! I won't say any more, but it was really well done.
I don't know if it was a first-night thing, but the audio was ear-splittlingly loud. I like to hear music loud, but this was painful. I don't know if it just affected us in the cheap seats, but pretty much everyone around me agreed. It was so bad, I ended up sticking my fingers in my earholes and finally digging out my trusty over-ear headphones I had happened to have with me to use as partial ear-defenders! Bad times. Take earplugs/pieces of cheese to stick in earholes just in case they don't fix it.
It may have been because of this speaker firing almost directly at us:
FinallyThe Lord, Andrew Lloyd-Webber came out at the end to thank everyone, which was nice.
OverallRecommended if you like Musicals, Jesus, Lords or 70s Rock Opera. If you just want to see Chris, unless you're a Superfan or get free tix, wait for the DVD.
And yes, those tickets really are free for the Doubting Thomaseses!
the tickets that ended up free will no doubt have been company holds (for guests etc) that weren't used. I've seen companies hold hundreds of tickets then release them a day or two before the show, leaving massive gaps in the front stalls. It's very annoying when you're selling the tix and trying to dress the house solidly (ie, fill up from the front back and not leave gaps everywhere - Chris H told me off for using theatre terminology last week when I commented on the 'rake' at the radio theatre!) And no doubt it will have been press night, so they like it nice and full-looking.
chrismoyles.net
