Principal roles and casting history
Character | Concept Album (1970) | Broadway (1971) |
---|---|---|
Jesus Christ | Ian Gillan | Jeff Fenholt |
Judas Iscariot | Murray Head | Ben Vereen |
Mary Magdalene | Yvonne Elliman | |
Caiaphas | Victor Brox | Bob Bingham |
2000 film – A second film adaptation which was more similar to the original London stage version, was filmed in 1999, and released around the world on video in 2000. It starred Glenn Carter as Jesus , Jérôme Pradon as Judas, Reneé Castle as Mary Magdalene , and Rik Mayall as Herod, and was directed by Gale Edwards.
Jesus Christ Superstar has twice been adapted to film: The first movie came out in 1973, and a straight-to-video remake was released in 2000. The former was directed by Academy Award nominee Norman Jewison (who also directed 1987’s Moonstruck).
A: “ Jesus Christ Superstar ” is a musical play loosely based on the Gospels of the New Testament. It is a kind of late 20th-century Passion play with a late point-of-attack — it opens just as Jesus enters Jerusalem the week before his death.
Judas Iscariot is famous for being a disciple of Jesus who betrayed him in exchange for money. Of the 12 disciples of Jesus , “only Peter gets more lines of coverage from the Gospel writers than does Judas ,” wrote William Klassen in his book ” Judas : Betrayer or Friend of Jesus?” (Fortress Press, 1996).
Using these methods, most scholars assume a date of birth between 6 and 4 BC, and that Jesus’ preaching began around AD 27–29 and lasted one to three years . They calculate the death of Jesus as having taken place between AD 30 and 36.