Line #13 Trivia/JesusChristSuperstar


1	* AccentDepundent: The opening number rhymes "Fire" with "Messiah", which only works if you're EpicRocking. "FI-yah!"
2	* CastTheRunnerUp: Ted Neeley (Jesus) and Carl Anderson (Judas) were both chorus players understudying their respective roles onstage when they were chosen for the film adaptation.
3	* CreatorBacklash: The 1971 Broadway production was an intensely abstract mess that reportedly brought Creator/AndrewLloydWebber to tears with fear that it would be the last anyone cared to hear of the score. Enter Australian director Jim Sharman and designer Brian Thompson, whose reinvention for a Down Under staging set a show-saving standard they exported to London.
4	* DawsonCasting: Ted Neeley, now in his eighties, continues to make appearances as Jesus, who was 33 when he died.
5	* DuelingDubs: The musical was adapted for the Spanish language twice as the Mexican ''Jesucristo Superestrella'' and the Spanish ''Jesucristo Superstar''. The latter is much more famous and Camilo Sesto's Jesus is as renowned as Neeley or Ian Gillan in Hispanophone circles.
6	* DuelingWorks: ''Theatre/{{Godspell}}'', another musical about Jesus in a world with modern technology came out a year after the ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' stage play. Both were turned into movies in 1973.
7	* FakeShemp: During the recording of the original album, part of a single line in "Pilate and Christ" ("Who is this unfortunate?") was accidentally taped over. Creator/BarryDennen (Pilate) was unable to re-record, so Murray Head (Judas) filled in doing a hilariously nasal impression of Dennen on only the last two words.
8	** Averted during "The 39 Lashes"- that’s Tim Rice, not Barry Dennen, counting the lashes, but the decision to have Pilate counting came later, and Rice is simply providing a narrative function.
9	* FatalMethodActing: In 1997, one Judas did accidentally hang himself during a staging of the show. There was an investigation. This makes the decision not to show Judas hanging in the 2018 version a wise choice.
10	* FilmedStageProduction: Creator/{{NBC}} aired a live concert performance on Easter Sunday 2018, starring Music/JohnLegend as the titular character.
11	* HeAlsoDid:
12	** The actor who plays Peter in the movie entered the porn industry a year later.
13	** Jeff Fenholt, the first Broadway Jesus, became a born-again Christian and later televangelist because of the role. He also recorded an album's worth of demos for Music/BlackSabbath's ''Seventh Star'', but was replaced by Music/GlennHughes.
14	* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The 2018 concert has disappeared from digital retailers, and Universal no longer sells it on DVD. [=BroadwayHD=] made it available to stream in December 2023.
15	* MeaningfulReleaseDate:
16	** The 2018 NBC live production aired on Easter Sunday (which was coincidentally also April Fools' Day that year), the celebration of Christ's resurrection in Christian tradition.
17	** During the 2020 coronavirus lockdown, Andrew Lloyd Webber (among other major theatrical organisations) made recordings of his productions available to view free on the internet, with a new production being released each Friday. ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' was made available on April 10 -- Good Friday.
18	** The 2018 live production re-aired on Easter Sunday 2020 during the lockdown as well.
19	* ProductionPosse: Was in fact the origin of much of the gang behind ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'' and ''Film/ShockTreatment''. Creator/RichardOBrien met director Jim Sharman while starring as an apostle (and for one disastrous night, Herod) in the London production and eventually pitched his own idea for a rock musical B-movie satire. Sharman enthusiastically accepted the project and brought Thompson along to design the sets, while also suggesting a tap-dancer named Laura Campbell- eventually known to pop culture history as Little Nell- whom he’d seen busking outside the theater where Superstar was playing, for the role of Columbia. With a few more additions, all of them would stick together through Rocky's original stage production, the film, and the pseudo-sequel Shock Treatment.
20	* RecycledSoundtrack: Part of the melody to "This Jesus Must Die" ("Good Caiaphas, the council waits for you...") is used in Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat during "Who's The Thief?" ("Joseph started searching through his brothers' sacks...").
21	* RoleReprise:
22	** Barry Dennen (Pontius Pilate) and Yvonne Elliman (Mary Magdalene) were the only cast members on the concept album to reprise their roles on Broadway and in the movie. Brian Keith (Annas) and John Gustafson (Simon) were asked to, but it was agreed they lacked sufficient acting experience.
23	** Paul Nicholas was Jesus in the first London production in 1972, and returned for a tour marking its 20th anniversary.
24	** Music/AliceCooper was Herod on the cast recording of the 1996 London revival (though not the live shows) with Steve Balsamo as Jesus. In 2018, he played Herod again for NBC's televised live show with Music/JohnLegend as Jesus.
25	* RomanceOnTheSet: Ted Neeley met his future wife Leeyan Granger during the production (she's one of the background dancers in the "Simon Zealotes" segment). They've been married for nearly 40 years. Lyricist Tim Rice fell in love with Elaine Paige after the two met when she was a chorus member in an early production; they had a 12-year affair, but never married as Rice was (and still is) married to his estranged wife.
26	* ThrowItIn:
27	** The last shot of the original film is a zoom out of the cross which is left behind. In the foreground, a shepherd can be seen walking by. It was not planned that way, but the filmmakers felt that it fit the scene so well, they kept it in the film.
28	** Judas being surprised by fighter jets screaming by was completely unexpected (they were genuine Israeli fighters on patrol) and was kept in the final cut.
29	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
30	** Both Murray Head and Ian Gillan, the Judas and Jesus from the original concept album, were not available for the first Broadway production and the movie (Gillan being busy with Music/DeepPurple).
31	** Ben Vereen and Jeff Fenholt, the Judas and Jesus from Broadway, similarly were considered for the movie but the roles went to their ''understudies'' Carl Anderson and Ted Neeley.
32	** One of those up for the role of Jesus was a nineteen-year old actor from [[{{Joisey}} New Jersey]] named Creator/JohnTravolta. Not saying it would've been ''good'', but it certainly would've been ''interesting''.
33	** Ted Neeley auditioned for Judas. No, seriously. (For Broadway, not the film.)
34	** As both Vereen and Anderson happened to be black, the film's director Norman Jewison didn't want a black Judas, fearing accusations of unfortunate implications. But he was won over by Anderson's audition (which was a simultaneous one for Neeley as Jesus).
35	** The 2014 revived touring production was going to have ''Music/JohnLydon'' as Herod, [[Music/{{Incubus}} Brandon Boyd]] as Judas, Creator/MichelleWilliams as Mary Magadalene, and [[Music/{{NSYNC}} JC Chasez]] as Pontius Pilate, before being abruptly cancelled by the promoter. Oddly enough (or not) the promoter also happens to be the one behind ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark''. The promoter is currently being sued for breach of contract by Andrew Lloyd-Webber.

Context Trivia / JesusChristSuperstar