Monday, February 25, 2008

Jesus Christ Superstar

When it came to Saturday's performance, there was one scene I was waiting for. Gethsemane - when he knows that Judas has betrayed him and he's waiting to be taken away and he sings this song to GOD. I think the entire sold out theater was waiting for this song - at least those of us who had any knowledge of the show and of Ted Neeley. Yes, he is now 64 years old and I will admit that there were times in the performance that his voice showed hints of his age. But during "Gethsamane" he put forth all the power and emotion and showed us why (in our viewpoint) there is no one else worthy of this role. I walked out of the Cadillac Theater on Saturday, knowing that I will probably never see it again. Once you've seen the best, there is no desire to see anything else.

Of course, no photos or video taping was allowed in the theater. I did find this professional video on youtube - filmed sometime in the past year on this final tour. It is a perfect showing of what we experienced on Saturday, but I think what touches me the most in this video is watching the reaction of his castmates backstage as he is singing. Compared to Neeley, these are all "kids", but you can see their love and respect for their co-star in this video.

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