Jesus Christ Superstar

Well, Ali, seeing as you are asking..... I saw the Saturday matinée with my wife, on what was a very busy Saturday, as I had to be back in Perth to be onstage myself that evening. All in all, I had a very enjoyable afternoon. I've seen a couple of versions of this fantastic musical, and I guess the problem is, it's difficult to measure up to the well listened to professional version. A agree with a lot of Walter Plunkett's review. As I said, I enjoyed the show overall. My highlights... I thought you were great Ali, though my wife thought your voice to be too strong for the role of Mary. Jason did a commendable job as Judas, and coped well through his illness. It's a tough role that needs a big rock voice which I thought Jason delivered in spades. The third of the lead trio let the team down a bit though. He had a fantastic falsetto and hit those top notes beautifully, but really struggled at the top of his regular register. I guess some of this (or all of it?) can be put down to his illness. There were quite a few bum notes that had me wincing in my seat, and I wish I could have seen the show when the cast were all fit and healthy. Drue (Godwin?) - I'm going from memory here - as Simon also had a very nice voice, but struggled similarly on the high notes. Pilate carried his role off beautifully. Strong voice well suited to the role. That brings me to the use of the video screen. There were times, such as Pilate's dream, where the AV really worked well. But less is more in my opinion. The dripping water during Everything's Alright was downright annoying. It added nothing to the piece, and was just a distraction. It's a peeve of mine in any show - use the video if it adds to the story, otherwise turn it off. I really enjoyed the director's imagining of the high priests - gangsta style :) Caiaphas was great, and the actors seemed to enjoy tackling the role of "bad guy". Disclaimer - my brother played one of the priests. (Hope he's still talking to me) Herod didn't work for me. He seemed to speak-sing his way through the song. This is the comic relief in what is otherwise a very intense show, and I thought it was way over the top. As Plunkett said, most seemed to really enjoy it, so I guess I'm in the minority. Another pet peeve of mine is mics. Most of them worked most of the time, but they all were clipping on the big notes. This is purely a tech issue, and I don't know anything about using mics, or setting them up, just that those big notes distorted horribly, which is most unkind to the actors. Having said that, the mics were a big improvement over my last trip south - "Paris". Congratulations to Karen and her cast and crew for providing and enjoyable afternoon's entertainment. This group does a huge amount of work to present their show at three different venues, and I truly admire the effort that they all put in. I look forward to your next production. Can I make a donation towards a haircut for Jason? www.meltheco.org.au