As a holiday inspired addendum to my first post, I want to mention the Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. I am talking about the concept album released in the US in 1970.The one with the brown cover. The one with Ian Gillan, of Deep Purple fame, as Jesus; and Murray Head, of Chess and One Night in Bangkok fame, as Judas Iscariot.
When I was a little girl, my mom and dad did not own this album. Rodgers and Hammerstein/Lerner and Loewe was the preference at home. But my aunt and uncle did; and my parents and I spent a lot of time at their house. I am an only child, they didn’t have kids yet, and I LOVED to pass my time by singing along to musicals. This is how I passed many Friday evenings, singing along to JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR in the extra bedroom of their house.
The words were printed in a separate booklet, so I had the libretto.Which for the most part I did not need…except for side 4 of the double disk, which I did not often get to before going home. The music was so thrilling and different from those stalwarts of the Broadway stage written in the first half of the 20th century. The opening guitar chords made me tingle, now they make me…nostalgic.
As the years went by, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR came in and out of popularity both with the public and with me. I listened again in earnest when I directed a production in the 90’s.
But every year, I reserve some time on Good Friday – apropos of the day – to listen to and more importantly, to sing along with JSCC.
‘My mind is clearer now…’
When I was a little girl, my mom and dad did not own this album. Rodgers and Hammerstein/Lerner and Loewe was the preference at home. But my aunt and uncle did; and my parents and I spent a lot of time at their house. I am an only child, they didn’t have kids yet, and I LOVED to pass my time by singing along to musicals. This is how I passed many Friday evenings, singing along to JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR in the extra bedroom of their house.
The words were printed in a separate booklet, so I had the libretto.Which for the most part I did not need…except for side 4 of the double disk, which I did not often get to before going home. The music was so thrilling and different from those stalwarts of the Broadway stage written in the first half of the 20th century. The opening guitar chords made me tingle, now they make me…nostalgic.
As the years went by, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR came in and out of popularity both with the public and with me. I listened again in earnest when I directed a production in the 90’s.
But every year, I reserve some time on Good Friday – apropos of the day – to listen to and more importantly, to sing along with JSCC.
‘My mind is clearer now…’
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