Thursday, October 12, 2023

It is the 12th of October, 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

I have been compiling a list of interpretations of the Gospel story in popular culture. From the earliest church, we have apocryphal works that read like fan fiction. And as long as there has been art and music, there have been interpretations of the Gospel story. In the Middle Ages, traveling actors would perform mystery plays often based on the story of the life of Jesus. In 1634, the Oberammergau Passion play began its long tradition of dramatizing the passion of Jesus.

And with the development of the novel, we see works like Ben Hur in 1880 with the story of Jesus on a parallel track to Hur’s and Jesus made an appearance a year prior in Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov in the story of the Grand Inquisitor. But it is certainly the 20th century when we get everything from the relatively straight retellings from Cecil B. DeMille’s King of Kings film in 1927, Dorothy B. Sayers's radio production of the Man Born to Be King, the controversial Last Temptation of Christ in 1955 by Nikos Kazantazkis (made into a film in 1988) and the novel Judas, My Brother by Frank Yerby in 1969. But it was between 1970 and 1973 that saw Jesus (or someone approximating Jesus) come to the Broadway Stage. In 1970, Godspell was written as a Master Thesis and then given a pop-folk soundtrack by Stephen Schwarz (of Prince of Egypt and Wicked fame). But it was in the same year that a young Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (23 and 26 years old) decided to give the Jesus story a spin with the emotional trials of Judas taking center stage. This would be their “Jesus Christ, Superstar”.

It was, according to Rice, Bob Dylan’s 1963 “With God on Our Side” that inspired him. And They had already worked together on Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat so they decided to start with the idea of a rock opera- a musical with no script but entirely sung through (this would be one of the first of this genre which has gone on to number the likes of Les Mis, Miss Saigon and Lloyd Webbers other works).

The difficulty of the piece lent it to first being a concept album that would then be staged in London. The British did not appreciate the work, with one critic suggesting it was too square for the youth and too frantic for the older set. And so it came to America for another try. It was on this, the 12th of October in 1971, that Jesus Christ Superstar debuted on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. It would be the first “mega-musical” that is designed to be repackaged, reinterpreted, and toured. If that sounds like most musicals today, that is because of the success of Jesus Christ Superstar and a string of similar musicals that would rake in millions in royalties. There are over 30 different recordings of the show in 12 languages.

In 1973, it, as well as Godspell, were made into movies. Interestingly, in 1973, when both Godspell and Superstar were made into films, a third film was made, The Gospel Road: the Story of Jesus, funded completely by Johnny Cash. The Musical, with success in America, went back to London’s West End and became the longest-running musical in history by 1980 (it is today the 25th longest-running musical, only reinforcing the argument that it helped usher in a new “Golden Age of the Musical”)

From a theological perspective, Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell would mirror their age- they both emphasize the humanity of Jesus, with Jesus Christ Superstar playing with the trope of a possible romantic relationship with Mary Magdalene. It does not have a definitive casting and staging thus giving the director space to tailor the story and its more controversial aspects. Along with Godspell (the two will be forever linked), the story ends with the crucifixion. This can be staged as a testament to the mere humanity of Jesus, or creative stagings have alluded to the Resurrection.

As a big fan of both the Gospels and Musical Theatre, I have yet to find anything that does both justice at the same time if I were to recommend the live version done for NBC with John Legend as Jesus, Sarah Bareilles as Mary Magdalene and Alice Cooper as King Herod.  

Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice debuted on Broadway on the 12th of October in 1971.

The last word for today is from the end of the story- Matthew 28, starting in verse 5 at the empty tomb.

5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 12th of October 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by Alice Cooper Afficianado Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who ran into Alice Cooper in the men's room at the Ligonier conference in Phoenix in 2001. True story. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be OK.