Baldwin Wallace Music Theatre brings the Gospel story to the BW stage with the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar,” which premieres on Nov. 14 in the Mainstage Theatre of the Kleist Center for Art & Drama.
With music by Andrew Lloyd Weber and lyrics by Tim Rice, “Jesus Christ Superstar” explores the end of Jesus Christ’s ministry and his Passion through the perspective of Judas. Originally a concept album, this rock opera was adapted for stage in 1971.
“Jesus Christ Superstar” at BW is being directed by Laura Welsh, an assistant professor of acting and directing in the music theatre program. She said that the musical draws accounts largely from the four Gospels of the New Testament but looks at the story through a more political lens rather than a religious one.
Senior music theatre student Trevor Gill-Snow, who plays Jesus in the Water Cast, said BW’s production leans heavily into the political nature of the show, and while audiences may be familiar with the Gospel stories, there will be many political nuances in there as well.
“I think that it carries with it a lot of the weight of just the name Jesus, but it’s not a religious show,” Gill-Snow said. “It’s the story of a revolution.”
Welsh said that Jesus was someone who “fought for the underrepresented” and worked to fix an institution that was causing harm to people at this time. She said the show’s first overture really illustrates this point in the choreography and set design.
“The thing that sucks about institutional harm is that we all agree that it’s harmful, and we often disagree on how to fix it,” Welsh said. “So there within the first overture, there is this idea of all of us pitching in to help fix an institution. … We start with this common purpose, and then what we see are people kind of siphoning off.”
When casting the show, Welsh said that she focused on examining the show through a non-binary lens, opening the casting to students of all gender identities. She was inspired by her many years of experience with Shakespearean plays, which are often cast without regard to gender for many of the roles.
Welsh said: “We were not able to actually change pronouns because contractually we have the script … but it made for a really interesting casting process because all roles were open to all genders, and that was really exciting.”
“Jesus Christ Superstar” is also double casted for most of its main roles, which gives multiple students the opportunity to participate in this production. This also allowed for actors of different gender identities to be cast in the same role.
Sophomore music theatre student Rebecca Kenjesky, who plays Judas Iscariot in the Wine Cast, said she added a softer side to her character while navigating through the more rock opera aspects of the production.
“I think mixing that femininity into Judas a little bit has been tough because it’s like it is played as more of a male-presenting, raw character,” Kenjesky said, “but it does have some love to it that I feel comes from my more feminine side.”
Senior music theatre student Praise Oranika, who plays Judas in the Water Cast, said that with theater being one of the more progressive art mediums, having gender nonspecific casting was not strange. Rather, it gives Oranika and Kenjesky the ability to interpret the same role in vastly different ways.
“Nobody’s doing the same thing at all,” Oranika said. “We’re different people, we’re different voices, and we have different experiences. So, you’re getting two different shows, rather than the same character, the same role but different people.”
Gill-Snow echoed this sentiment, saying that the gender identity of many of the characters does not have an impact on the show’s message. While two cast members in the same role may have different voice types, they are able to sing the same song but bring an individuality to it.
Oranika said: “It doesn’t matter what you look like [or] what you sound like. If you have the right attention [and] have the right experience, there should not be anything stopping you from portraying a character that you want to portray.”
“Jesus Christ Superstar” focuses on the relationships between Jesus and his Apostles and disciples, and audiences will see how these relationships progress as Jesus becomes more of a public figure.
Gill-Snow described Jesus as someone who feels the weight of the world on his shoulders throughout the show, and he goes on a journey from “being just a man who happens to be one of the leading speakers of the revolution, to eventually becoming the icon that is Jesus Christ.”
Gill-Snow said: “It’s interesting to explore how that affects him … what that means to him and how he handles it because I think it feels kind of like when someone has celebrity status thrust on them, and they don’t know how to handle all of this attention.”
Senior music theatre student Maggie Newcomb, who plays Mary Magdalene in the Water Cast, said that her character’s story is much more fleshed out from what is written in the Bible. In this musical, Mary Magdalene is a former prostitute who now is a follower of Christ who is slowly falling in love with Jesus.
According to Newcomb, Jesus is one of the first men who ever showed Mary Magdalene true love and kindness, especially in a time when women had little to no rights. While Jesus may not reciprocate her romantic feelings for her, Mary Magdalene continues to be a devoted follower.
The focus of “Jesus Christ Superstar” is about the relationship between Jesus and Judas, and this culminates in Judas’ decision to betray Jesus. Welsh said that while Judas is often painted as the villain of the story, she wanted to bring focus to the fact that Jesus and Judas were friends for so long.
“In order to have a betrayal, you actually have to have a relationship,” Welsh said.
Kenjesky said: “I feel like, at least with the relationship between Jesus and Judas, that there’s this internal and then also external struggle that is fighting with what they both believe in society … and then also their friendship and their bond that has been built up into this point.”
Newcomb said she hopes audiences leave the show with the knowledge that you can still love people with whom you disagree. She said it is important that you can understand each other’s differences while working to find common ground.
Gill-Snow said: “There’s so much more nuance than just the biblical story as people have a memory of it. … Given the political nature of the show, hopefully [the audience] look at politics with a more nuanced lens as well.”
“I hope that they can see the love that not only Jesus and Judas have,” Kenjesky said, “but every single character, I feel like at the end of the day, is rooted in that same love.”
“Jesus Christ Superstar” will run Nov. 14-17 and Nov. 21-24 in the Mainstage Theatre of the Kleist Center for Art and Drama. Students may purchase one free ticket with their BW email, and tickets can be purchased here.
