43
SCT’s ‘Superstar’ is brilliant
SALEM
Jesus may be torn between heaven and earth in “Jesus Christ Superstar,” but the Salem Community Theatre production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s rock opera perennial that opened Friday night serves up only the celestial part.
Manna for quality-starved musical theater fans, Michael Dempsey’s electrifying, brilliantly cast “JCS” blows just about every other locally produced tuner from the 2010-11 community theater season completely out of the water. Despite some occasional opening-night miking/lighting gaffes, it’s as impressive as any musical I’ve seen in these parts since, well, Dempsey’s terrific Youngstown Playhouse staging of Kander and Ebb’s “Curtains” last spring.
The funny thing is, the evening didn’t get off to a particularly auspicious start. After a 20-minute delay, the labored prologue in which a trio of roadies enter to do some last-minute tinkering fell flat. Fortunately, things rebounded as soon as the “Superstar Band”—led by musical director Anthony Ruggerio — and Khaled Tabbara’s knock-your-socks-off Judas let it rip on “Heaven On Their Minds.” The rest, as they say, was history.
Considering the fact that this is more of a concert version of “JCS” than a full-blown, bells-and-whistles production with budget-busting production values, it’s actually pretty amazing that so much care and attention went into the eclectic costuming (Susie Smith and Leslie Destefano), Twyla Tharp-inspired choreography (Michael Lawrence Akers) and sound design (Matt Stevens). I don’t, however, think that anyone will feel shortchanged by the relative simplicity of Dempsey’s stripped-down approach. If anything, it only serves to highlight what a stunning piece of work the whole enterprise truly is.
Lloyd Webber, of course, would go on to write some of the most obscenely successful musicals of all time (“Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera” among them). Yet “JCS,” written when the future lord and mega-millionaire was just 23 years old, remains his crowning achievement. There’s not a bum song in the entire score. And since — operetta-style — the entire show is sung, that’s a remarkable feat.
Not having seen Dempsey’s recent Canton Player Guild production of “Superstar,” I can’t tell you what was borrowed, or adapted, from that version. (Five members of Dempsey’s Canton cast — including Tabbara, Vaughn Schmidt’s Jesus and Chuck Simon’s Pontius Pilate — reprise their roles here.) Ultimately it just doesn’t matter. The Salem iteration stands on its own as a uniquely theatrical event in its own right.
There’s not a single weak (vocal) link in the entire ensemble, and this may be the first “JCS” in memory where Jesus isn’t wiped off the stage by a more charismatic Judas. Wes Anderson doppelganger Schmidt more than holds his own against Tabbara’s Pinball Wizard Judas. It’s a sensational pairing.
Also outstanding are Simon as a “Sons of Anarchy”-style Pilate (“Pilate’s Dream” and “Trial by Pilate” rock in every sense of the word), Bernadette Lim’s dulcet Mary Magdalene, Justin Edenhofer’s Simon, Kristopher Ray North’s Peter and Paul Sauline’s Annas. In a class by himself is Robert Dennick Joki who turns the musical’s most reliably campy number, “King Herod’s Song,” into the very definition of show-stopper. Like some demented cross between John Waters’ “Female Trouble” and a Disney ’toon (“The Emperor’s New Groove,” perhaps?), Joki’s Herod brought down the house like a tornado of Old School showbiz razzmatazz. Simply delicious.
After “Curtains,” last fall’s virile YP “Macbeth,” the multi-layered Oakland Center for the Arts production of “I Am My Own Wife” and now this bedazzling jewel of a “Superstar,” Dempsey has firmly established himself as a major creative force in area theater. Long may he run.
“Jesus Christ Superstar” runs through next Sunday at the Salem Community Theater. For reservations, call 330-332-9688.