Review: Jesus Christ Superstar

Richard Lutz takes a pew for the rock opera that changed musical theatre.

The 45 year old jamboree that is Jesus Christ Superstar changed stage dramatics. Some say for the best. Some say for the worst. Rock and roll met theatre and created MOR musicals. Goodbye Stones. Hello luvvies.

So, after four and half decades, do you mock the hammy operatics or are you enchanted by this full-on songfest that charts the last seven days of the life of Jesus?

This production at the Birmingham Hippodrome surely is slick, loud, beautifully staged and a ten out of ten for jacking up the electricity and the thespian cheese. But it’s the granddaddy of all subsequent rock operas that crowded the West End and Broadway and the Tim Rice/Andrew Lloyd Webber bunfight must have hit a chord with audiences because it is still touring worldwide and also licensing 300 amateur productions per year. You can’t knock them numbers. You can’t knock them profits.

Glenn Carter is Jesus and he can belt out the  songs, as well he should as he has been dipping in and out of the show for 15 years. Rachel Adedeji, out of X Factor, has a gamine presence as Mary Magdalene and handles her solos (including the classic I Don’t Know How to Love Him) with tenderness and élan.

And full marks to a camp Herod played for all its worth by Tom Gilling as the rotund king teases and derides the bedraggled Jesus along with his royal harem of go-go dancers.

In all, a high value production of a tried and true show. But is it a bit old-fashioned, a bit hackneyed?  Or is it just solid gold that’ll keep on running and filling up the bank accounts?

Until 7th November. Tickets: 0844 338 5050.