a visit with artistic friends: now. here. this. and the joys of following artistic growth
I came to New York University in the fall of 2008. It was as good a time as any to come here; it would be my first time away from home for longer than an extended weekend, so there was a lot of the usual baggage that came with that, and I was very excited to be in a college that gave me the opportunity to live in a dorm 5 subway stops away from Times Square. I had two shows on my priority list that fall, and once I realized that nobody was going to tell me that I should maybe consider not spending all my summer job money over my first semester, I made several trips to see both of them. The first was Gypsy with Patti LuPone and Laura Benanti, an evening of powerhouse performances, overwhelming orchestrations and great drama, a true American classic. But the other was this scrappy little musical about putting on a musical called [title of show].
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new post about Jesus Christ Superstar on Bway! http://t.co/NDVuKFBf
a long way from white bellbottoms: the best JCS yet
I have always loved Jesus.
Don’t get me wrong— I’m not a religious person. I was raised Roman Catholic, went to church every Sunday, attended Catholic school for 6 years, and was confirmed at 15…ergo, I am not a religious person. I’m agnostic in the vein of Bill Maher— as in, “I preach the Gospel of ‘I don’t know.’”
But I love Jesus.
Jesus fascinates me: a sociopolitical radical, a fringe-dweller whose message galvanized an oppressed and occupied people, an extreme leftist in every sense, a man who may or may not have actually existed, but of whom the world has been so enamored for so many centuries that we have made collective creative decisions about his appearance, his friends, his voice, his feelings. If in fact he never lived, then he is a testament to the power of human imagination; if he did live, he has been so misunderstood and conveniently invoked and imposed upon over time that our perception of him today can hardly have anything to do with his actual time on earth.
Jesus Christ Superstar has long been my favorite musical. I’m aware that telling people this makes me sound like my Catholic Italian grandmother, the kind of person who went to see The Passion of the Christ like four times in theatres. But the truth is that the show is phenomenally orchestrated, lyrically rich and subtle and modern, and Shakespearean in scale and emotion. Penned in 1969 by a very young Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, JCS has stood the test of time. Of perhaps the five or six versions I’ve seen, the production currently in previews on Broadway, directed by Des McAnuff, is easily the best.
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well, folks, that’s all she wrote. and by ‘she’ i mean ‘meryl streep.’ nighty night! #oscars
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Will Harvey Weinstein ever not win an Oscar again? Find out next year … on THE ACADEMY AWARDS! #Andy #Oscars
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just once i’d like to not be BORED by a best picture announcement #oscars
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she just looks like a really glamorous principal at a school assembly. that’s how much power she’s got. #oscars #casualmeryl
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Now come back to the theatre, Meryl! Please! #Oscars #Andy
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Meryl and Viola both shoulda won for #Doubt. #JustSayin #Oscars #Andy
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i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: HAIL MERYL, QUEEN OF FILM! #oscars
