1) I hadn't listened to the soundtrack before seeing the show.
2) I'm Jewish.
I'm fairly certain these two elements severely impacted my understanding and appreciation of this show.
That said, regardless of these two facts, this was a weird show.
And why does Jesus (Aaron LaVigne) have an acoustic guitar that he barely plays? Did Jesus play the guitar? Seriously, I'm curious. Wait, a quick Google search tells me it was invented around the 16th century, so that's a nope. So why have Jesus look like he's at an open mike night for much of the show?
"King Herod's Song" featuring Paul Louis Lessard was a showstopper, with all the glitz and pomp to captivate a crowd (all that was missing was a tap number). And Alvin Crawford as Caiaphas was amazing - incredible pipes on this guy! But I still don't understand what was going on.
Sure, I got the basics - Jesus is a rebel, his followers love him, he's reluctant to be the son of God, the high priests come for him, Mary loves him (although she says she doesn't know how, but I think she manages nonetheless), Judas betrays him, Peter denies him, Pilate wants no part of him, Herod taunts him, and they crucify him (they left the resurrection out, but I went on a Friday. If I go again on Sunday, will it be there?). But it just seemed... weird. The presentation and the music was so jarring. If it's intentional, like the dancers' entrance, I don't get why. And the title track - how can Judas sing about 4 B.C. when it's still B.C.? And "if [he'd] come today he could have reached a whole nation", but what "today" is he talking about? In Judas's time, it was "today".
And at the end, after we've just seen this man physically beaten, abandoned, and killed on the cross, he comes out, takes Judas's hand and bows (wait, was that the resurrection?). It reminded us of a performance of Merchant of Venice where Shylock dies a broken man and then the actor comes out with the rest of the cast to do a happy dance number. Just weird.
One last observation I had while the curtain with the giant logo was down before the show. Why does the logo look like a double angel door knocker with a poop emoji stuck to it? Now you can't unsee it, can you?
2/5: would probably not see again
And again, as a thank you for reading this far, here's a picture of Horatio:
"King Herod's Song" featuring Paul Louis Lessard was a showstopper, with all the glitz and pomp to captivate a crowd (all that was missing was a tap number). And Alvin Crawford as Caiaphas was amazing - incredible pipes on this guy! But I still don't understand what was going on.
Sure, I got the basics - Jesus is a rebel, his followers love him, he's reluctant to be the son of God, the high priests come for him, Mary loves him (although she says she doesn't know how, but I think she manages nonetheless), Judas betrays him, Peter denies him, Pilate wants no part of him, Herod taunts him, and they crucify him (they left the resurrection out, but I went on a Friday. If I go again on Sunday, will it be there?). But it just seemed... weird. The presentation and the music was so jarring. If it's intentional, like the dancers' entrance, I don't get why. And the title track - how can Judas sing about 4 B.C. when it's still B.C.? And "if [he'd] come today he could have reached a whole nation", but what "today" is he talking about? In Judas's time, it was "today".
And at the end, after we've just seen this man physically beaten, abandoned, and killed on the cross, he comes out, takes Judas's hand and bows (wait, was that the resurrection?). It reminded us of a performance of Merchant of Venice where Shylock dies a broken man and then the actor comes out with the rest of the cast to do a happy dance number. Just weird.
One last observation I had while the curtain with the giant logo was down before the show. Why does the logo look like a double angel door knocker with a poop emoji stuck to it? Now you can't unsee it, can you?
2/5: would probably not see again
And again, as a thank you for reading this far, here's a picture of Horatio:
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