"Powerful Jesus Christ
Superstar wows Clinton audience"
After last Saturday's
performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit play Jesus Christ Superstar, it's
clear that Mel Gibson has nothing on the Clinton Community Theatre.
First performed in
1971, Jesus Christ Superstar chronicles the final seven days of the
life of Jesus. It has been a hit around the world and once again it delighted
audiences, this time wowing area residents who attended the show at Clinton
Town Hall. A powerful production from start to finish, the tension rises
as the play progresses, occasionally broken up by a lighter moment, such as
that created by the jolly dance of King Herod (Bill Grady).
From the very
beginning, the audience was keenly aware of the brutal torture that awaits
Jesus (Ethan Caouette). Despite this, the superb acting and passion of the
performers left spectators hoping that somehow it could be avoided. And, from
the provocative dances of the tormentor (Elise Bourgeois), to the love that
Mary Magdalene (Elizabeth Rousseau) shows for Jesus, the play succeeds at
drawing the audience in and making it care about Jesus and his final days.
The play opens with the
hooded tormentor gliding down the aisle to the stage. The tormentor sheds her
robe and reveals a sparkly black outfit. Afterwards, the tormentor makes her
way back down the aisle, silently passing Judas Iscariot (Marc Clermont).
The complexity of the
characters is in part what made the production so successful. At the beginning
of the play, the crowd loves Jesus and they tell him so in the song "Simon
Zealotes/Poor Jerusalem." But, by the end of the play the mob has turned
on Jesus, taunting and tormenting his after the death of Judas and Pontius
Pilate's (Tom DiRusso) trial of Jesus,
Caouette, a
22-year-old senior at UMass Amherst, did a superb job of capturing the
complexities of the character of Jesus. While Jesus remains calm and humble
throughout the play, he does have a few emotional outbursts. The wide range of
emotion was one of the attractions for Caouette and he focused on that
challenge.
Acting out the pain of
the crucifixion was relatively easy for Caouette, but capturing the hurt of
Judas' betrayal was much more difficult. He also did a superb job of blending
the appropriate emotions in his voice. He did well with the softer songs,
letting his emotions show, as well in the upbeat and turmoil-filled songs.
After the exhausted
Jesus tries to stop activity at the Temple, Mary comes and comforts Jesus,
singing to him that "Everything's All Right." They kneel next
to each other on stage and the audience, like Jesus, is soothed by Mary's
words.
The darker characters
of the play also succeeded in making the audience feel their evil. Anger
emanates from the stage as the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas (Tom Sullivan), High
Priest Annas (Jennifer Avedian), along with the priests and disciples sing and
shout "Jesus Must Die" in the first portion of the play.
Caiaphas and Annas are
dressed in flashy red and black robes, giving them both a devilish appearance.
They say they must "crush [Jesus] completely."
Throughout the play,
the audience watches as the rift between Jesus and Judas grows, capped off
first by Judas's betrayal of Jesus to Caiaphas and Annas. The height of this
betrayal comes after Jesus contemplates his fate in the garden of Gethsemane,
urging those who want to hurt him to "beat me, kill me now, before I
change my mind."
At the end of the
song, Judas, Caiaphas, Annas and the mob flood the stage. Judas then hugs Jesus
after turning him over. Jesus is arrested and the mob mocks and taunts
him. At the end of the play, Judas realizes he has been tricked and hangs
himself, but not before lamenting that Jesus will be remembered as a
'superstar."
Clinton Community
Director Grady said the end of the play is its real strength. In it, Jesus is
brutally beaten and ,mocked, the crown of thorns placed on his head and he is
strung up to the cross. Mary and the disciples capture the feeling of regret,
as they hold candles in the dark and sing "Could We Start Again
Please?"
With guards leading
him, Jesus trudges down the aisle with the cross weighing on him. It is placed
at the back of the stage and the audience watches as the lights grow dimmer,
with Jesus still on the cross. Mary comes out at one point, but then leaves.
The last image the audience sees is that of Jesus dead on the cross.
"By the end it's
very powerful," Grady said. The Clinton Theatre group first did the play
11 years ago and wanted to revive it once again this year before Easter. Grady
said Gibson's Passion generated a lot of interest in the production.
Clinton
Courier – by Laura Wareck -- April 8th