It's one of my favorite musicals. And you might ask why, since I'm not the most Christian of people. It was the first musical that I saw on the stage, for one. It was also part of the beginning of my questioning of religion.
Twentyish years later, I caught this version on PBS. I was blown away! I thought the setting was so inventive. They took it out of 1st century Israel and put it in a more updated, hippie-ish setting. It makes you focus on the person and the message more than the biblical-ness.
The musical in and of itself is an interesting work. It's told largely from Judas's perspective. I saw an interview with Andrew Lloyd Webber once where he mentioned that the work was built around one idea: What if Judas Iscariot had God on his side?
The work doens't focus on Jesus's divinity. It focuses on the man, his choices, his message of peace, and how everything was set in motion and largely out of anyone's control. By focusing on the peaceful revolutionary aspect of the Jesus story (which he was), the designers of the production were brilliant.
But I'll stop gushing, and put the soundtrack on. I have work to do.
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