Andrew Lloyd Webber's most famous (or infamous) musical is frequently performed and put on the road, and yet I have somehow managed to avoid it (not deliberately, I should say) until now.

The storyline to Jesus Christ Superstar is, of course, based on what many people consider "the greatest story ever told" - the last seven days in the life of Jesus of Nazareth seen through the eyes of Judas. The set at the beginning draws the audience in to the cross at the centre, an incredibly obvious reference to the end of the story.

Perhaps predictably, even for someone who hasn't seen it before, the show starts with a big power chord, which sets the scene for the rest of this spectacular rock-opera. The lighting was stunning, the set well thought-out, and the acting as a whole was solid enough. The real problem lay with the management of those power chords - the vocals were almost drowned out in the first Act by the music. The general gist was still put across well enough, but it would have been nice, whilst watching the singing, to have heard some of it as well.
 Mark O'Malley as Judas Iscariot started the show off with Heaven On Their Minds, which was when it became apparent that the sound levels needed a little tweaking. Act One as a whole was a bit slow in starting properly, and the only real highlight in this first Act came with Mary's number I Don't Know How To Love Him.

After the interval things picked up a lot. The voices seemed to be coming over well at last, so we could make out the singing, particularly that of Arvid Larsen in the lead, who made up for an unspectacular performance by hitting some astonishingly high notes at times. The build-up to the Crucifixion and the event itself at the end were cleverly and elaborately done, and by the end the audience were buzzing and the show had hit the mark it threatened to miss at the start.

Mark O'Malley as Judas and Cat Simmons as Mary Magdalene were probably the two strongest actors, with Larsen failing to really deliver as Jesus and some others seeming slightly lost - to my mind, for example, the King Herod scene seemed a little unsure as to whether it was supposed to be sinister and evil, or more comedic, in the role of, say, the Pharoah in Joseph. Summarily, however, the cast were strong, the set and production highly impressive, and the ending tragic, if a tad predictable.
Due to those hitches with the sound, and the central character's not-quite-there portrayal, I don't feel I can give this five out of five, however much Chris would like me to (note- this is Chris' favorite musical!), but what I can say is that it is a very good show, the effects filling the theatre and the storyline being of, well, truly biblical proportions. Go and see it, but don't wear glasses or they might break during Jesus' singing scenes.

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