![]() It drew on experience and expertise that had been developed in Sydney’s blossoming theatre scene in the late 1960s, and which first came to wider public attention with the original Sydney production of Hair. Many elements came together to make the Australian production of JCS special. Photo restoration and hand-coloring by JCS super-fan Mark Jabara. Miller and under the directorial control of the young Jim Sharman (who would soon be helping to birth The Rocky Horror Show), as documented here, rapidly emerged as a front-runner. Because of the general lack of confidence in the O’Horgan version, all of these were brand new productions, and none bore any resemblance to the Broadway show.” The original Australian production, produced by Oz impresario Harry M. Because the production was so awful, no production of Superstar in the rest of the world was the same, so I had a baptism of fire by a kaleidoscopic gaggle of directors.” As Rice described the same period in his autobiography, “Robert had decided that he would not entrust the London show to O’Horgan, and it was extremely useful for us all to see other ways it could be done before we set up in the West End. In later years, writing program notes for a revival, Webber would opine, “Looking back 25 years later, I suppose there were pluses. Oh, my God, has he adorned it.” Small wonder that O’Horgan later said in one interview, “Actually, the safe way to do Jesus Christ Superstar is not to do it at all.” There is a coyness in its contemporaneity, a sneaky pleasure in the boldness of its anachronisms, a special undefined air of smugness in its daring.” Walter Kerr later added, in the same periodical, “All that had to be done with it was to put it on a stage baldly - baldness is very much of its essence - and, after establishing a few simple traffic directions, let it sing for itself. For me, the real disappointment came not in the music, but the conception. Not at all uninteresting, but somewhat unsurprising and of minimal artistic value.” He went on to criticize the production: “Once startled us with small things, now he startles us with big things. It all rather resembled one’s first sight of the Empire State Building. But I must also confess to experiencing some disappointment when Jesus Christ Superstar opened last night. And neither the critics nor Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber were won over by director Tom O’Horgan’s outrageous sensory-assaulting production.Ĭlive Barnes wrote in the New York Times, “Nothing could convince me that any show that has sold two-and-one-half million copies of its album before the opening night is anything like all bad. When last we left off in our history, Jesus Christ Superstar had just reached Broadway as a spectacular, flamboyant, over-the-top, eye-popping extravaganza. Photo restoration and hand-coloring by JCS super-fan Mark Jabara. ![]() Trevor White (Jesus) and the ensemble on stage. The Chorus………… Peter Bergen, Creenagh Bradstock, Stephen Campbell, Michael Caton, Helen Cornish, Jennie Cullen, Denni, Joseph Dicker, Tom Dysart, Beverly Evans, Margaret Figucio, Robyn Fisher, Geoff Gilmour, Margaret Goldie, Nick Hill, Philip Hobbins, Gary Hoffman, Frank Howson, Shauna Jensen, Paul Johnstone, Merryn Joseph, George Kent, Peter Kirby, Nicholas Lush, Peter Maloney, Natalie Mosco, Sharon Murphy, Bjarne Ohlin, Sue Robinson, Shayna Stewart, Bonnie Truex, Kim Whitehead Additionally, as with the 1971 Broadway cast recording, credits for ensemble vocals merely reflect the liner notes’ report of who was in the cast at the time of recording. Further casting details follow in the historical notes below. NOTE: Only leads actually featured on the recording are credited.
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