JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

Watermill Theatre

★★★★★

“Never before has the emotional journey of the characters been portrayed with such intensity, sensitivity, joy, menace and clarity”

Originally conceived as a concert album, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s sung-through rock opera, “Jesus Christ Superstar”, has probably never had a night where it hasn’t been performed on a stage somewhere in the world since its Broadway premiere in 1971. Most people who see it nowadays have probably seen it multiple times before. No doubt a large-scale production. Paul Hart’s revival, using actor musicians, at the Watermill Theatre is extraordinarily intimate and immersive, but the impact is as huge. We emerge electrified and emotionally charged. This is an interpretation like you have never seen before.

The opening guitar riff is unmistakable. Gradually joined by flute, trombone, then cello it grows stealthily into the iconic ‘Overture’ and Judas’ number ‘Heaven on Their Minds’. Before we know it, ‘What’s the Buzz’ grasps the Motown vibe with wild abandon, stunning it with its stabs of horns. There is a carnival atmosphere. It is Gothic and sepulchral yet lives on the street. Urban and rural, Biblical and modern. Clubland but also the wilderness. There is no space between the performers and the audience, so we cannot help but be a part of the journey: an odyssey that is intimate, urgent, sexy and rebellious.

Depicting the last few days leading up to the death of Jesus, the musical looks at the events mainly through the eyes of Judas. Max Alexander-Taylor – as Judas – has the subversive energy of a punk musician, the voice of a Prog-Rock demi-God and the defiance and impetuosity of a true sceptic. His emotions flicker in his eyes and gestures before being fired from his electric guitar solos like bolts of lightning. Michael Kholwadia’s Jesus is stunningly beautiful in black eyeliner, with the aura of a jaded touring ‘superstar’ at the end of his tether, sick of being surrounded by yes-men. The chemistry between the two is electric. Making up the trio is Parisa Shahmir. They say that behind every great man is a woman. Mary stands by her man. Shahmir stands apart, and stands out too. Solid, strong and sassy; virtuous but oozing sex appeal, she soothes with a velvet voice, particularly when her rendition of ‘Everything’s Alright’ melts into just her and her guitar with an echoing, dreamy vocal.

But this is an ensemble production; each cast member an integral part of Hart’s ingenious staging. When Alexander-Taylor launches into ‘Damned for All Time/Blood Money’, simple movements evoke the walls closing in on the impossible choices Judas is forced to make. Anjali Mehra’s choreography is immediate and finely in tune with the nuances of the narrative while paying fine attention to detail. Similarly evocative are David Woodhead’s set and costume and Rory Beaton’s lighting design, both of which brim with inventive touches. Sound designer Tom Marshall has an impossible task, but the amalgam of voices, instruments and locations is spot on. We never miss a beat, a word, a stab of the horns or the subtlest strum of an acoustic guitar.

It is a futile task to single out performances where even the ensemble stands out, but mention has to be made of Olugbenga Adelekan as Caiaphas, whose voice can plumb the depths and reach the heights within a semi-quaver. Cool but dangerous he commands the space each time he claims the stage. Christian Edwards, as Pilate, also seizes our gaze, so you simply can’t take your eyes off him. ‘Pilate’s Dream’ is a… well… a dream of a song.

For Act Two we are outside in the Watermill’s grounds. What better way to embody the Garden of Gethsemane? Guards trumpet from the rooftops while Kholwadia’s voice soars over the treetops. As the sun goes down, we anticipate a riot. The apostles like Gothic revellers clash with the Roman soldiers like riot police, and we are caught in the crossfire before being ushered back inside.

‘King Herod’s Song’ is a hilarious, scandalous, risqué number with Samuel Morgan-Grahame holding fort as a bondage club host. Camp but menacing, he is an S&M king wandering onto the set of the Rocky Horror show while Anjali Mehra’s choreography comes to the fore with a sadistic, macabre and extremely funny routine.

But as we reach the final moments, the sheer strength of the show forces its way into the foreground with a poignancy that overshadows previous incarnations of this musical. Yet throughout there has still been space for occasional lightness of touch and humour that is essential, and inbuilt, into the story. At times it seems that Hart has a hot line direct to Lloyd Webber’s original intention.

Never before has the emotional journey of the characters been portrayed with such intensity, sensitivity, joy, menace and clarity. The stakes are high, emotionally and politically. And the talents and musicality are on a scale that is breathtaking. This show gets to the heart of the matter, and pierces our hearts too. It is an unmissable production – instantly recognisable as the classic that it is, but also like you have never seen before (as I have said before!).