It's the most wonderful time of the year, and #TCTheater is overflowing with Christmas shows, many of which are selling out. But in a bit of alternative programming, the Ordway Center is hosting a touring production of
Jesus Christ Superstar, which is about the ending of Jesus' life rather than the beginning of it. It's a much more somber and less hopeful story, but it has a similar message of Jesus' true teachings - feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, uplifting the downtrodden, welcoming the stranger - that unfortunately some self-proclaimed "Christians" seem to have forgotten. I'm not a huge fan of the show, I've only seen it a couple times (most recently
the Ordway's 2017 original production that garnered
multiple TCTB Awards) and never really listened to the score, but I found this production to be electric. A fantastic touring cast, a tight and intense and fast-moving 90 minutes, and a cool modern design. It feels more like a rock concert than a musical, in a good way. It's the same tour that played at the Orpheum in January of 2020 but with a different cast, but I didn't see that one so this is my first experience with this
Jesus Christ Superstar. It can be seen on the
Ordway stage in lovely festive downtown St. Paul through December 28, after which this production, or a version of it, will tour the world and play the West End.
