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Jesus Christ Superstar - Broadway

Jesus Christ Superstar - Broadway

List Price: $19.98
Your Price: $15.98
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE #1 BROADWAY SHOW EVER MADE (YOU MUSY BUY THIS)
Review: This is a moving show about Christ's Life and the Music is THE BEST. Glenn Carter is a great Jesus and Jerome ? plays a good Judas (Although my sister likes Tony Vincent playing him better, I wonder why) Tony Vincent has a great voice and it is a shame he is only featured in Simon Zealotes, but he fits his part. The rest of the crew is fenominal and the music has a great setting to stage. The only questionable part is the song they added right when Jesus is getting thrown around (I think it's lets start over) This is a Video/DVD/CD you must own for your collection. This will put you in back in time in 1BC(?) Oh, and by the way, make sure you have good speakers because you will want to turn up the volume during Superstar and many other brillant songs.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Refreshing, Compelling
Review: I originally purchased this version of JCS out of curiosity. Being closely attatched to Norman Jewison's film, but having an open mind, I popped the disc in. I was hooked within a minute.

The action that takes place during the Overture shocked me. Why weren't they unloading a bus (as in Jewison's version)??? By the time Judas (Pradon) walked into the picture and through Christ (Carter)'s shadow, I knew this version was a marvel in its own right.

Admittedly, it took several viewings for many voices (Pradon, Johanson, Carter) to grow on me. What do you expect for someone who was raised with Neeley screeching "All Right, I'll Die!". Fred Johanson, who played Pilate, annoyed me at first when he repeatedly spoke/bellowed lyrics.

But the acting, I found, suits the styles very well. Gale Edwards has one up on Jewison in her version--- the stage works more for this opera than the dusty location shots. The close ups are more "watchable" in Edwards's JCS. The 70's players are simply too greasy! Remaining true to the original version, the music flows continuously, keeping the story moving and not halting like in the 70's film.

The update also has the advantage of a better sound. Whereas Jewison's movie has a quiet, unbalanced soundtrack, Edwards enjoys a full-sounding score.

Overall, this newest version is superior because it is funner to watch. The singers aren't the best, but the package is superb!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Loved It!
Review: This is truly a great production- thanks to the complex performance of one man -JEROME PRADON as Judas!!! He was so amazing he sent me to my Bible looking for ways to defend Iscariot. Pre-destination, free-will, foe or friend...Pradon touched on all these elements. What an actor!

Carter was fine, Morris was fine...but Pradon steals the show. This is the first time I have ever seen anything with this actor and now I am looking for other performances.

If you watch this video for any reason- get it for Jerome Pradon's stirring portrayal of Judas.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: All the actors are superb.
Review: This version totally hit my expectations. Although Glenn Carter may not be my ideal Jesus, he does a good job of giving life to songs that have been dulled by other singers, in particular "Gethesmane". Jerome Pradon is a great Judas, with very fine acting talent and rather fitting singing. Others complain that he squeaks a lot, and I noticed that in "Judas' Death", but then again, he's supposed to be dying. Of course his voice will sound worse. Fred Johanson was a fine Pilate, I really liked how he sung "Pilate's Dream," with the "they seemed....TO HATE THIS MAN!" and I like his singing a lot in "Pilate and Christ." "Cluttering UP" sounded better then when it wasn't sung louder. Although, his performance in "Trial Before Pilate" was good, it just didn't seem as likable as the 1996 recording. Renee Castle was an excellent Mary Magdalene, surpassing every previous one. All of the lesser parts were also well done, notably Peter. I loved the setting of "This Jesus Must Die." This is an excellent show, and I highly recommend it to Christians and non-Christians alike.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: 4 stars (mainly because of Jerome)
Review: As far as the acting goes Jerome Pradon is the highlight of this version. As for his singing, though far from perfect, I think it suits the character of Judas well (listen to Murray Head from the orginal concept album as Jerome seems to stick closer to it than other versions I've heard). He is the most charismatic performer in the production, sadly, perhaps the only. I wasn't impressed with Glenn's Jesus and was downright turned-off by the guy who played Pilot. The other actors were *ok*. The music is great of course and visually the production is very entertaining.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent Movie, Only two tiny problems
Review: I personally loved this version of JCS but there were two teensy problems. One, during King Herods Song, you can notice a french accent in the line "Aren't You Scared OF Me Christ" Also Jerome Pradon as Judas gets a bit whiny at parts, unfortunately. But Pradon shows a character IDEALISTIC of Judas.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Are You Kidding??
Review: As JCS is one of my favourite shows, I purchased this new production sight unseen. I got that familiar chill as the overture started and as the opening riff to Heaven On Their Minds started, I was ready to burst. Then Jerome Pradon opened his mouth and I knew I had wasted my money. It was all down hill from their. Pradon was a joke. I've heard cats copulate with more harmony. Even worse was Glenn Carter. A weak, hollow voice with dreadful falsetto. In the featurette he talks of how demanding the vocals are. What they demanded he didn't deliver. The look was great and the music, as always was spot on, but this is a rock piece. Anyone who has heard Gillan, Neeley, Farnham or even Balsamo in the role should be committed for thinking Carter came even close. The local amateur society took JCS on last month and were better than this. And what's all this about people saying they are glad to see Could We Start Again was included? It has been part of the show since it opened on Broadway in'71 and included on 80% of the recordings to date. Do yourselves a favour and avoid this like the plague. The 1973 film with Neeley, Anderson and Elliman exposes this as the rubbish that it is. Or are my standards too high after seeing the '92 Australian production four times, the same production that Tim Rice says in his autobiography was the best ever??

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It seems to me a Strange Thing...
Review: It's a pity to have waited almost 30 years for a new video version of JCS and have such a mess of Jesus. Glenn Carter's performance is a mess. What a lack of criteria to create the character. His intentions are so childish and uncontroled (he hits a table, cries when Judas insults him but remains unaffected when death is around the corner, and has that constant gesture of "Look at my eyebrows and mouth: I'm angry!"). He doesn't give, at all, the appearence of someone who's related to a Universal Order or Plan. Jesus must be misunderstood and misterious, not ingenue and explicit (Carter's Jesus is a poor and unstable man who knows less than his apostles what's going on and, because of that, falls prey of his lack of reflection). He doesn't look like someone mentally or spiritually able to direct anything. It's so easy to expose him in front of others and make him feel bad (where's his sureness on what he`s doing? The key to Superstar is to have a Jesus and a Judas so sure in what they believe, that the audience feels a true drama between them). Not to say Carter's Jesus exagerates when he's touched by women: is he in some kind of orgy to put that Emperor-like face? Is Mary Magdalene his girlfriend? He seems almost conducted by her. I felt really sorry when I got to "Gethsemane" and said to myself: "Oh, now I remember, this guy had something to do with God!" The way he sings and the way he acts seems to me much more a plea for not being killed for having kissed Mary, rather than a questioning to his Father for the necessity of dying to accomplish his trascending goal. No Jesus who sings with more feeling "Poor Jerusalem" than "Gethsemane" deserves to be considered.

On the other hand, Jerome Pradon's Judas is superb. Even though he has some trouble reaching the high notes, he really moves the audience (what a vibrato in "Heaven on their Minds"!!). His intentions are so well driven. His discomptempt grows gradually, as it should be, otherwise, if Judas despised Jesus since the beginning, one couldn't explain phrases like "And remember, I've been your right hand man all along". Two thumbs up!!

Palms for Tony Vincent's Simon, also.

I give 3 stars 'cause, after all, the concept is great. But serious miscasts (such as Pilate, which seems to me a sort of Street Fighter's M. Bison), unexploited voices (like Renee Castle's) and unreflexed/unexplainable interpretations (like Glenn Carter's), doesn't make this version excede the '73 movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I own both versions and saw the 2000 Broadway production
Review: ...and I think it would be difficult to compare the two! The older version was not filmed on a sound stage and the shots were bigger, and reflected the preferences of the time. Both are excellent films, but are different interpretations of the same work.

Glenn Carter does a great job, and although I really preferred Tony Vincent as Judas, Pradon does a good job portraying a complex character. In the end, I think I prefer the more recent version...Carter's Jesus is less ascetic, less angelic and much more human. I think that the newer version will reach the younger audience, the feel is definitely more edgy, urban and somehow more intimate.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not bad, not bad at all
Review: excellent rendition of the 70s classic. i'm a fan of andrew lloyd webber so i'm glad to see this production since seeing them in new york would be hell on the budget. All the acting was good, the singing was amazing well with the exception of judas, he was kinda half par... besides that everything about the musical was wonderful. even kinda made me want to pick up a copy of "the book" and read it.


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