Jesus Christ Superstar is in fact a real musical

You read the title right. Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock musical that came out in 1971, featuring the story of Jesus Christ, recounting the days leading up to his crucifixion. Of all of the musicals I’ve watched, it has the most creative lyrical and instrumental choices during pivotal songs.

To explain my vast experience with musicals, it's the media type that I’ve consumed the most growing up. For example, there was Beauty and the Beast, whose riveting tale of romance and powerful story of prophecy is one that I have come to appreciate as I get older. I believe these messages were conveyed well through the amazing songs featured in the movie. Whether it was listening to “Belle,” “Be Our Guest,” or even the villain’s song “Gaston,” I couldn’t get enough of rewatching it. As someone who can’t readily understand things without being explicitly told, I felt so comfortable watching the movie since all the characters sang their thoughts aloud.

Naturally, I went down the pipeline of watching Broadway musicals like Hamilton, Heathers, and Hadestown. My family even managed to take me to a few in-person for special occasions. This is how I was introduced to the musical: Jesus Christ Superstar. I had initially thought it was a joke after reading the gift note, but after a little bit of digging, I found out this was in fact a real (and very old) musical. Trying to be optimistic about seeing it later that year, I listened to the album and fell in love with the songs.

In both the movie and musical, the plot centers around the story of Jesus and his relationship with Judas and the rest of his followers. With a catchy instrumental start, “Heaven On Their Minds” sets the scene for the play and, more specifically, how Judas exactly feels about Jesus. While it could be interpreted in many different ways, I believe it shows that Judas really loves and cares for Jesus, which is why it pains him so much to see someone he respects so deeply making the “wrong” decisions. In the movie, Carl Anderson, playing Judas, gives a breathtaking performance—it’s clear by his voice alone that there’s a profound desperation that Jesus heeds his words. It’s intriguing getting his perspective initially, despite the expectation to see Jesus first, but I feel this does a good job of humanizing Judas to the audience, as most would automatically write him off as the ultimate “villain.”

As for what is the “wrong” decision in Judas’ eyes, he feels that Jesus must go into hiding to prevent himself from being captured, or even killed, by the Roman Empire. However, Jesus disagrees and advocates that he must do all he can for his followers. It isn’t as simple as that for him, though. He isn’t a man willing to just die. In the song “Gethsemane,” sung by Jesus, he goes on to pray to God about how he’s afraid of what’s to come. Jesus wonders if his mission has affected his followers and if it’s genuinely worth the gruesome death that awaits him at the hands of the Romans. He begs for any answer at all from God but receives nothing. At the end of the song, every performer I saw quietly speaks up after a long silence, and says in the bravest voice one can muster in front of death, that he accepts it.