YouTube videos of Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson added on page 2.
DH has absolutely loved the music of JCS, even when it was still a concept album, and not yet developed into a show. He has the original recording, with Ian Gillan as Jesus and Murray Head as Judas. We weren't that impressed with the movie, and although we loved Carl Anderson as Judas, we always thought that Ted Neeley was weak and whiney as Jesus.
But we saw both Neeley and Anderson about 10 years ago, during the Reunion tour, and really enjoyed it. Sadly, Carl Anderson died about 3 years ago from leukemia.
This tour is being advertised as Ted Neeley's Farewell tour, so we decided that we had to go. We took the kids too, as DD is getting very interested in musical theater - she's rehearsing with her school play "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" right now. And DH has been playing his original JCS CD's in the car for the last week!
And we were pretty impressed with the show last night. Neeley seems to have gotten better with time - his voice is now richer and deeper, and not as whiney. And he can still rattle the rafters with his big number "Gethsemene"! Although DD complained "Mom, Jesus is OLD!", he is in amazing shape! Not many 63 year olds can look like that in the crucifixion scene . . . although the harness for the fly wires was bulky and made his loincloth look a bit like a Depends!!!
Corey Glover as Judas was disappointing. He was the former singer for Living Colour ("Cult of Personality"), and he sang the role like a hard rocker, without much experience in musical theater. He was lacking in the dynamics, control, and phrasing. He was belting everything out, and without the softer parts to contrast, it lacks its impact.
All in all, we were really glad we saw it . . .
DH has absolutely loved the music of JCS, even when it was still a concept album, and not yet developed into a show. He has the original recording, with Ian Gillan as Jesus and Murray Head as Judas. We weren't that impressed with the movie, and although we loved Carl Anderson as Judas, we always thought that Ted Neeley was weak and whiney as Jesus.
But we saw both Neeley and Anderson about 10 years ago, during the Reunion tour, and really enjoyed it. Sadly, Carl Anderson died about 3 years ago from leukemia.
This tour is being advertised as Ted Neeley's Farewell tour, so we decided that we had to go. We took the kids too, as DD is getting very interested in musical theater - she's rehearsing with her school play "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" right now. And DH has been playing his original JCS CD's in the car for the last week!
And we were pretty impressed with the show last night. Neeley seems to have gotten better with time - his voice is now richer and deeper, and not as whiney. And he can still rattle the rafters with his big number "Gethsemene"! Although DD complained "Mom, Jesus is OLD!", he is in amazing shape! Not many 63 year olds can look like that in the crucifixion scene . . . although the harness for the fly wires was bulky and made his loincloth look a bit like a Depends!!!
Corey Glover as Judas was disappointing. He was the former singer for Living Colour ("Cult of Personality"), and he sang the role like a hard rocker, without much experience in musical theater. He was lacking in the dynamics, control, and phrasing. He was belting everything out, and without the softer parts to contrast, it lacks its impact.
All in all, we were really glad we saw it . . .
Apparently, this guy had a following. There were "Jesus" look alikes and they would stand up and cheer and even sing along. I kept expecting them to take their lighters out and start swaying to the music!!
