JCS again
I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar in Music Theater Karlin last weekend. It´s the third production of this musical that I´ve seen. It´s really interesting that this musical is so popular here since 70% of the country is atheistic. I think it has lot to do with the fact that is was the first big musical (first Weber musical) that was produced here after the revolution. It premiered in 1994 in the Spiral theater and it was hugely successful and I think the czech translation by Prostějovský is big part of the success, it´s really nice on the ears. I happened to see it when I was 13. The popular rock singers played the leads and the rock voices really gave it an interesting feel. The enthusiasm in the first production was really palpable and Dan Bárta and Kamil Střihavka are still fondly remembered in the roles of Judas and Jesus and to this day there are concert versions of JCS with them playing the characters.
Several years ago a new production of JCS premiered in Brno where I´ve seen it 5 times. I wrote a „review“ about it here already.
I really didn´t feel like going to see this new Prague production, I felt like I´ve seen enough of Jesus already but then I heard a good things about it from my friends and I had a discount so I decided to go after all. And I´m glad I did. This production was better than the one in Brno, better sets and direction, closer to the production in 90s, maybe due to Kamil Střihavka playing Jesus again. He looks almost the same like 14 years ago.
I don´t really think the story of the musical is too special (is that a blasphemy?) but the songs and the music are really my favorite. I always have a goosebumps when the whole orchestra is playing. So yeah, I think this was a good revival, Saturday afternoon well spent.
Clip from the new version in Music Theater Karlin
Click to viewClips from the 90s production.