Hold onto your knickers, Andrew Lloyd Webber-sters, Jesus Christ Superstar is coming to Australia for an "arena spectacular" for all your Jesus rock opera needs.
So far, it will be visiting Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
The production hasn’t miffed on the "superstar" factor either, pulling out all the celebrity stops - the main cast includes Deal or No Deal’s Andrew O’Keefe as King Herod (makes sense), Sporty Spice AKA Mel C as Mary Magdalene (lady had the best voice in the Spice Girls so I am a big fan of this decision), Australian comedian Tim Minchin as Judas Iscariot, JCS veteran Jon Stevens as Pontius Pilate and fresh UK talent Ben Forster as Jesus Christ.
It’s been totally re-imagined for the 21st century where Jesus hangs out with left-wing dreadlocked activists and the bad dudes are hypercapitalist corporate suits, because no one can deny that the Beatitudes in the Bible say “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” in Matthew 5:5, and I’m pretty certain that has nothing to do with excessive consumerism, record breaking profits, excellent looking dividends, pillaging the earth’s resources, etc etc etc.
Let us never forget the incredible soundtrack to this masterpiece either, blending rock, opera, metal (seriously), the power ballad, funk, soul and that weird cabaret song King Herod sings, plus Tim Rice does the lyrics - we all know 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight?' and 'Hakuna Matata' in The Lion King (which he penned) made us feel the feelings.
Frontier Touring (the promoters) have a pre-sale for 24 hours on Wednesay 27 February from 1pm, the ticketing outlets done a 24 hour pre-sale the following week and general tickets go on sale from Friday 8 March.
May you all go in groovy peace.
- Amy Robinson
