Broadway Revives Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell
He’s baaack …
Broadway revivals of the Messianic musicals, Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell, are helping The Great White Way find religion, once again. Although this is the fourth time Superstar has been staged on Broadway (it’s only the Second Coming of Godspell), the music and grand story arcs of these Jesus sagas remain as gripping and powerful as ever.
Reminiscent of the “Jesus Craze” of the early 1970s, during which both of these musicals spawned major motion pictures and Top 40 hits, such as “Day by Day” and “Superstar,” these dueling deific spectacles illuminate even as they entertain.
There was a time, however, when these productions were not without their controversy. Godspell, based on the Bible’s Gospel According to St. Matthew and conceived and written by the celebrated composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz (Wicked) and director John-Michael Tebelak, presented a Jesus with a clown-like divine countenance, causing confusion among some theatergoers. Superstar’s blatant ambivalence toward Christ’s glorified mission drew the ire of some in the clergy and rank-and-file Christians, who deemed the musical blasphemous.
Superstar and Godspell may no longer provoke 1970s-style religious and critical indignation, but issues they raise continue to confound: Was Jesus a self-aggrandizing first century Galilean preacher who knowingly orchestrated the circumstances surrounding his death in an attempt to fulfill ancient prophecy? Was Judas unwittingly recruited for, or a willing accomplice to, these events? Who was Jesus, and why was he crucified?
Judas the Hero
Superstar’s musical composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice skillfully walk a line between the sacred and profane by setting their musical during the last week of Jesus’ life, sidestepping a resurrection scene altogether and transforming Judas, the Western World’s greatest villain, into a righteous inquisitor, who grows skeptical of the attention being showered upon his master, the miracle-working Messiah.
When Superstar first hit Broadway in 1971, Webber commented that he had envisioned the musical as an “intimate drama of three or four people.” Current director Des McAnuff, who helmed another Messianic Broadway production, The Who’s Tommy, as well as this production’s previous runs at Stratford Shakespeare Festival and La Jolla Playhouse, stresses the personal dynamic between Jesus (portrayed by Paul Nolan), Mary Magdalene (Chilina Kennedy) and Judas Iscariot (Josh Young), but also manages to infuse the show with impressive production values.
Towering Looks
Modern trappings, such as moveable risers, naked ladder rungs (that give the appearance of apartment building fire escapes), an uplit catwalk (equipped with nearly two dozen compact Altman 300-watt Mini-10s and four GAM 150-watt LED Stik-up lights), green screen technology, and a Times Square-esque ticker (an LED zipper composed of 21 VisuaLED ST-18p LED panels, which marks geographic location and days of the week) citify this Christ saga and mesh surprisingly well with Sterno torches and classic video imagery, which evoke the ancient and arid environs of first-century Judea.
Award-winning lighting designer Howell Binkley had a number of moving and conventional fixtures at his disposal to illuminate the visions of set designer Robert Brill. At the FOH position, a lighting truss supports Vari*Lite VL3000Q spots and nearly 40 10° and 14° ETC Source Four 750W fixtures. A pair of proscenium boxes, in a mirrored array, are positioned stage right and left, hoisting VL3000Q spots, Source Four 19°, 26° and 36° fixtures, plus ETC PAR very narrow lens (VNSP) fixtures. Two box booms, also mirroring one another, secure eight 14° ETC Source Four PARS and four ETC Source Four 19° lights. Eight more Source Fours with various beam spreads round out the balcony rig. ETC VNSPs, among other Source Fours, also share real estate with automated lights, such as VL3000Q spots and Martin MAC 2000s, on four main trusses.
Four steel scenic lighting towers, which could pass for austere Roman architectural structures measuring over 26 feet in height, are placed upstage and downstage right and left. They secure a mixture of ETC Source Four 26°, ETC Source Four VNSP and MR-16 (JDR 150W VNSP) “birdies.” VL2500 spots, positioned on top of the towers, create a “nice carpet of texture on the floor,” says Binkley. “They help to sculpt bodies during dance scenes and transitions.”
LED footlighting also proved effective for setting the mood for certain scenes. “The scene in Jerusalem when the poor are all ghostly and sick and plead with Jesus to be healed?” says Binkley. “That uplighting added spookiness, scariness.”
Clear Light
Binkley often uses clear light to underscore pivotal plot points. For instance, when Jesus stomps into the Temple and overturns the money-changers’ tables, the foreground is awash of sinful red. After his righteous and violent outburst subsides, Jesus kneels near the edge of the stage as the cursed crimson fades into a purifying clear light.
Interestingly, the first act closes as a whitish-silvery glow consumes Judas, who peers down at the bag full of “30 pieces” in his hand — the infamous payoff Iscariot accepts from the Temple Pharisees to entrap Jesus, and one that condemns him for all time. In Act Two, amid The Last Supper’s sparkling silver tableware, Jesus tells Judas to do what he must, underscoring the flavor of the disciple’s betrayal. “Clear light can be many different flavors,” says Binkley. “At a low level, it is one color temperature, and when it’s reading at half, it’s another.”
Later, bathed in clear light, Jesus emerges in a radiant white suit, riding an inclined, strobe-equipped “diving board” downstage, fully relishing the moments before his crucifixion with what appears to be restrained jubilation. Out of nowhere, Judas appears in a Vegas-style electric blue suit, belting out the production’s most recognizable tune, “Superstar.”
At the crucifixion, a 12-foot lighted cross, equipped with nearly 70 LED lamps, drops from the sky, and a pedestal rises out of the floor, elevating Jesus and making it appear as though he’s floating in mid-air.
A single white beam shines on Jesus from above, creating a portrait of human suffering in light and shadow. The white light also catches Mary Magdalene, hinting at their relationship in a Da Vinci Code sort of way. “The director saw what I was doing and he re-blocked Mary for that look,” says Binkley.
Visualizing Jerusalem
Whether it’s the Jerusalem sun blazing through the Temple windows, or the entire set being sprayed blood red as Jesus absorbs punishing lash after punishing lash at the hands of the Romans, creating a proper scenic moods for Superstar would not be possible without the show’s powerful video elements.
Three video projection surfaces, or walls, located upstage, stage right and stage left, are composed of one-inch aluminum pipes (with three-inch gaps). The upstage pipe wall measures approximately 25 feet wide by 28 feet high and is situated nine feet off the deck. (The two side pipe walls each measure 17.5-foot high by 15-foot wide.)
Six Christie M series projectors, each beaming 10,000 lumens, are hung behind the video screens, nearly nine inches below the top edge of the wall. Custom bumpers were fashioned to protect the projectors’ lens. “The image shoots through the natural three-inch gap between a pair of the pipes, and no special hole or cut-out was made,” says video designer Sean Nieuwenhuis. “It’s very tight, but it fits.”
During the Vaudevillian number, “Herod’s Song,” a 12-foot lit “H” sign, complete with lights that ripple and chase, flies in from above as the king (Bruce Dow) and his sandals-shod and scantily clad cronies taunt the anemic Nazarene.
“In that scene, we have a little cue that we very precisely mapped out individual pipes,” says Nieuwenhuis. “I wanted to create an effect of neon tubes chasing, so starting with a PSD image of horizontal lines that matched the set, we adjusted the alignment of each [tube] to map onto the individual pipes. Once this [effect] was created, we designed a series of images with different sets of pipes ‘turned on’ and then set about animating them in [Dataton] Watchout to create the chase effect.”
Strategically placed ETC Source Four 36° fixtures under the stairs (stage left and stage right) and downstage Philips ColorBlasts, Mini-10s, MAC 2000 washes and MR-16 striplights bolster the video’s color palette.
“Also, the [24’ RGB LED tape] on the deck below the towers and [eight Chroma-Q Color Force 72s] uplight the three pipe walls, so when [Nieuwenhuis] is projecting blue or turquoise or amber I’m modeling that to enhance the projection imagery,” says Binkley.
Green Screen Galileans
To depict the thousands laying palm fronds for Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem (and the throngs who later denounce him), Nieuwenhuis turned to green screen technology. Much of the green-screen imagery was synched to audio, linking the visuals to specific sections of songs.
“For the Broadway production, we got the new toy, if you will: sixty-three INFiLED P6 LED panels” says Nieuwenhuis, who explains that an AJA Ki Pro digital recorder captured actors standing in front of a green screen. “For ‘Hosanna,’ the actors were waving palm fronds and we captured multiple takes of different varieties. Then we brought it altogether in Adobe After Effects and built layers and layers of groups of people and stacked them up in 3D space and further manipulated them.”
Spreading the Words
Superstar closes, just as it opens, with the cast, dressed in ragged, charcoal-colored clothing, staring into the distance. Jesus’ resurrection and ascension are not staged, but Biblical phrases scroll across the entire set, including the Times Square-like crawler, indicating the pervasiveness of The Word and how quickly it spread. “Des wanted me to come up with a way to communicate Jesus’ words and the impact they had on shaping civilization in a very literal way,” says Nieuwenhuis. “I think the scrolling accomplished this. Coming off the crucifixion scene, people were openly sobbing.”
Rethinking Godspell
If Superstar masks its minimalist origins with visual spectacle, then the current iteration of Godspell accentuates the bare bones architecture of the physical space while delivering sensational visual elements.
This version of Godspell began its life as a 2006 production at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, a proscenium theater that differs greatly from the show’s current home, Circle in the Square, in the round. “When you’re in the round, there’s nowhere that’s appropriate for big scenery,” says scenic designer David Korins. “Godspell doesn’t really want big scenery, anyway, but you need some backdrop. To do this, we used the audience and surrounding space. We are constantly lighting the audience in color, and it gives the viewer a visual background and a sense that there’s another side of the space.”
“The challenges were tremendous,” explains lighting designer David Weiner. “We were unable to deploy any followspots, in part, because of the physical constraints of the space. If we did use them, they would have had to have been lowered — and not at very appealing angles. In order to keep the show focused, every single move that every single actor made had to be tracked in the cuing.”
Indeed. The only person who performs off the grid is the radiant singer/actress Morgan James, who’s lit by followspot as she roams about the theater (and even sits on people’s laps) during “Turn Back, O Man.” “The song is such a Vaudeville number — to do anything other than [use a followspot] seems untrue to the piece of music,” says Weiner, who adds that there are 550 lighting cues in the show.
More than a Shoestring
“While [Godspell] can be produced on a shoestring, our production is different, because we didn’t always chose lo-tech solutions,” says Korins. “When John the Baptist [Wallace Smith] baptizes everyone at the beginning of the show, we have a full pool of running water. There clearly is a way to [stage this scene] with a sponge and a bucket, but we deliver something more.”
The Godspell production crew is nothing if not efficient. That very same pool doubles as the table at The Last Supper. The effect is spooky, but also eerily beautiful. “We float a cloud of dry ice on top of [the] water and light it from above and below,” says Weiner. “It’s luminous, with white clouds.”
Other standout lighting effects help to bolster the story’s message. For instance, “All for the Best,” a dance number touching on the concept of “the meek shall inherit the Earth,” sung by Judas and a Jesus (Corbin Bleu) who twirls a cane/magic wand and dons a Dixieland jazz band straw hat, is enhanced via wireless DMX control. “A number of actors bring together pieces of something resembling an old proscenium, under which Jesus dances,” says Weiner. “This miniature proscenium has chaser lights on it, iColor Color Kinetics, which pulse.”
During “We Beseech Thee” (sung by Nick Blaemire), the actors grab trap lids and open hatches in the floor to reveal trampolines; soon the entire cast is bouncing off its feet and in the air. “That scene is cued out the wazoo and back,” says Weiner “The moving light rig has MAC 2000s, VL2500 wash lights and VL1000 Arc shutter fixtures. Shutters were key, because the set is so minimal. Squares of light match the dimensions of the trampolines and flash in sequence with the cast’s jumping.”
The surprising looks continue into Act Two, which contains considerable amounts of darkness. During the scene with the temptation of Christ, for instance, blood-red lighting floods the set. In this hellish glow, the cast writhes on the deck, transforming itself into a swarming legion of demons threatening to drown and consume Jesus.
“Later, at the crucifixion, two gigantic cornices —inner and outer rings that hang over the space that define the room — fly in,” says Weiner. “On that inner ring is a system of PAR 56 ACLs, that are pointed at [Jesus] in a cone of light. Around that [is] some RGB LED tape in a groove underneath a piece of plastic extrusion. The ring becomes the thing that’s tormenting Jesus.”
Community
Audience interaction is crucial to Godspell. Ticketholders are brought on stage and prompted to read lines; orchestra musicians are seated amongst the crowd; “wine” (i.e. juice) is served during intermission, allowing the masses to intermingle with the cast, blurring the lines between actor and audience.
At the show’s conclusion, the cast carries Jesus’ body off the stage and out the exit door where a bright white light — a light at the end of a tunnel — receives them. As in Superstar, there is no true resurrection, but actress Uzo Aduba turns on her heels and asks us to remember The Word.
“Ultimately, Godspell is about community,” Korins says. “It’s a show about the community of the audience watching a community being formed in the most communal seating orientation, which is in the round.”
Superstar Lighting Gear
1 ETC Eos 8000 console
1 ETC Ion (Backup)
30 Vari*Lite VL3000Q Spot fixtures
8 Vari*Lite VL2500 Spot fixtures
12 Martin MAC 2000 Wash fixtures
26 Color Kinetics ColorBlast 6s
27 Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12s
13 Chroma-Q Color Force 72s
10 ETC Source Four 10°
44 ETC Source Four 14°
22 ETC Source Four 19°
121 ETC Source Four 26°
43 ETC Source Four 36°
2 ETC Source Four 50°
96 ETC Source Four Par VNSPs
8 ETC Source Four Par MFLs
22 ETC Source Four Par WFLs
2 PAR 56 fixtures
18 Altman Mini-10s
18 MR-16 “Birdies”
22 GAM Stik-up lights
11 MR-16 Striplight 6’
Superstar Video Gear
5 Christie Roadster S+ 10K-Ms
1 Christie Roadster HD 10K-Ms
63 INFiLED P-6 6mm LED Panels
3 INFiLED processors
21 VisuaLED ST-18P 18mm LED Panels
1 VisuaLED G8 Processors
2 Watchout V5 Production Computers
8 Watchout V5 Display Computers
2 M-Audio USB Audio / MIDI interfaces
1 Lightware MX 16x16DVI Slim DVI
Matrix Routers
6 Gefen DVI over Fiber systems
1 Avitech DVI Multiview Processor
1 AdderView multi-user KVM system
Godspell Lighting Gear
6 Martin 3000 Atomic strobes
112 GAM Star strobes
21 Martin MAC 2000 Performance
fixtures
12 Vari*Lite VL1000AS fixtures
12 Vari*Lite VL2000 Wash fixtures
10 4” Wybron Coloram II 24 color
scrollers
79 7.5” Coloram II color scrollers
8 ETC Source Four 10°
20 ETC Source Four 14°
38 ETC Source Four 19°
48 ETC Source Four 26°
186 ETC Source Four 36°
47 ETC Source Four 50°
28 ETC Source Four 70°
12 ETC Source Four 90°
18 ETC Source Four PAR NSPs
44 PAR 64 ACLs
8 PAR 56 ACLs
5 Birdies
4 PAR 36 Rain Lights
1 ARRI 4k Compact Fresnels
8 Color Kinetics ColorBlast 12s
4 L&E 6’ MR-16 Mini-Strips
6 L&E Mini-10s
4 ETC Source Four PAR WFLs
