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The 2012 Arena Tour was directed by Laurence Connor and brings a refreshingly modern take on this 'tale as old as time'. (Yes, I am referencing Beauty and The Beast!) Throughout the performance there is a large screen at the back of the set which most of the time projects the show to the vast arena so that all the action is captured but sporadically the screen becomes a live action news feed, with mock twitter posts, newspaper headlines and CCTV footage appearing. All this, plus the addiction of news crews being present on the stage at different points throughout the show creates an eerie 'big brother' feeling. There is a definite surveillance angle to the production with Jesus' actions being critiqued and criticised from left, right and centre. The audience gets the impression of fear that is felt by the never present Caesar and the other political powers that be. Caiaphas being particularly set on getting rid of the 'King of the Jews'.
The cast were incredible! Their power of conviction, their flawless harmonies, clever character changes and characterisation transported the audience straight into the action. Considering the size of the venue, nothing was lost to the audience, the live band produced such incredible sound that filled every nook and cranny and gave the audience no way of shying away from the roller coaster of events unfolding on the stage. The vocals were pretty much flawless! Caiaphas, played by Pete Gallagher, hit bass notes that I didn't even know existed. His power and control to maintain such a low range of notes was fantastic and his rich, vibrant tone was impeccable. Giovanni Spano, who played Simon Zealotes, completely killed his solo number. His rocky, edgy voice perfectly portraying the devotion and dedication he feels towards Jesus. Again, his demonstration of power and control vocally is some of the best I've seen on the stage. The only negative I would have about his performance was that it only lasted about 3 minutes.
For Lloyd Webber to cast Chris Moyles as Herod was priceless and portraying his as a camp game show host was genius. It added some much needed comic relief to the otherwise serious subject matter. Herod's interrogation comes towards the end of the second act when, quite frankly, there is not a lot of hope left to be found anywhere so for Moyles to appear on stage in a red sequined suit with a host of cabaret dancers gives the audience some much needed respite and breathing room to prepare themselves for the inevitable crucifixion of Christ that is just around the corner.
Now, when putting on a rock opera, what more could you ask for than a Spice Girl. Mel C (Melanie Chrisholm) plays Mary Magdalane and boy, did she hit the nail on the head. Her rendition of 'I don't know how to love him' was beautiful. Chrisholm portrays the forbidden love connection to Jesus with compassion and subtle, understated but powerful conviction. It's a very believable love story when watching Mary and Jesus play out their emotions on stage. Mary desperate to support and soothe Jesus vs. Jesus battling against the human comfort he finds in Mary whilst knowing he is unable to truly reciprocate those emotions. I thought that Mel C's performance was mesmerising, a true step away from her pop career towards a musical theatre star.
The wonderful Tim Minchin is one of my favourite comedians, his ability to make hard hitting religious, social and political issues humorous and accessible never fails make me laugh... and then have a jolly good think about what he is actually saying. In my opinion, Minchin completely stole the show. He was incredible! The way he enacted Judas' frustration at Jesus, he misunderstanding of Jesus' teachings, his emotional battle as his faces the destiny that he had no chance of escaping was heartbreakingly honest. By the time Judas was ready to hang himself, I was actually feeling quite sorry for him. It always hits home to me during that song that Judas was always doomed to be the betrayer of Christ. If it was in God's plan, Judas had no hope of getting out of it. I was once listening to an interview on BBC Radio 2 on Sunday morning about Judas and his role in the crucifixion story and the woman being interviewed raised a really interesting point (and here, my Christian upbringing may rear it's head). Judas fulfilled his role in a plan that had been 'written' for an age, he played his part and because of that Jesus would have forgiven him. His suicide although understandable was not his only way out. If Judas had truly understood what Jesus was all about, he would have known that Jesus would have forgiven him once he was risen again (Christian ramblings finished).
Minchin threw himself into the character and was definitely, for me, the strongest person on the stage throughout the show. The suicide was so well done, with Minchin ending up suspended in silhouette, hanging from a tree. The way he clipped himself into the harness to make this possible was completely invisible. That audience know he must have had to do it for the effect but it was impossible to see how he did it - which was perfect. The whole scene was executed brilliantly and, as it should, made me feel rather uncomfortable to watch.
Unfortunately, the weakest link in the production from me was Jesus (Ben Forster). Right from the start, I felt like his vocals were slightly lacking and his characterisation wasn't on point for me. Obviously, to start with, Jesus is portrayed as an angry, slightly arrogant man who is still coming to terms with his higher calling. However, I felt like it took a long time for the character to 'get his Jesus on' and that frustrated me. When the temple was converted into a club and the entire cast started to partake in all manner of 'unholy' activities, including drugs, drink, sex, stripping, cross dressing... the list goes on, Jesus really put me off. He is supposed to storm in absolutely fuming and clear the temple. For me, Forster just didn't hit it - he flounced in fine, obviously upset at the scene but then started to shriek at the 'sinners' to clear the temple. It was all a little hysterical and high pitched for me. There was a total loss of control which I didn't find believable and, to be brutally honest, made me cringe to watch. There was no display of the power and anger that God can hold, it just felt lack luster. However, when Forster sang 'Gethsemane' he eventually won me over. It was breathtaking. A brilliant journey down the road from anger to acceptance of the plan set before him. After that, I liked Forster as Jesus much better. I do think that it may have been the characterisation in the first act that was putting me off, I do think it took too long for Jesus to transform from man to Son of God. On a much less serious note, one last, very minor thing was his fringe!! It was driving me to distraction. Forster kept doing this little head flick to clear the hair from his eyes and it was just SO frustrating. At one point, I just had to close my eyes and listen to him sing because the incessant hair flicking was making me so agitated that I couldn't take it. Ridiculous, I know, and most of the audience wouldn't have seen it in the arena but on the recording it was really quite distracting!
Finally, the most important scene of the story. The crucifixion scene. The flogging was brilliantly done and horrible unbearable to watch. The 39 lashes always drags on to the point where I almost can't watch. Then Jesus is attached to a horizontal light panel and elevated into the air as a vertical light panel in dropped down behind him. It's a very graphic reinvention of the crucifixion with a whole lot of fake blood thrown in. I'm still not sure how the makeup and costume team managed o do it but when Jesus was attached to the 'cross', blood started to run down the sides of his face from the crown of thorns that was placed on his head. By the time that he actually died he had trails of blood all the way down to his waist. It was very impressive but probably too graphic for young kids to see. All the lights were cut apart from a spot on Jesus as he delivered his final lines and as he died the cross was illuminated fully. It was a beautiful touch because Forster was enveloped by the light. All you could see was the huge cross hanging above the stage. It was taken one step too far though, for me, by the falling rose petals that started to flutter in their thousands as Jesus was lifted down from the cross and carried away by his disciples. The moment didn't need to be embellished in any way. The audience know he's dead, the audience understand the importance of the moment and I actually felt that the arty farty addition detracted from the very poignant moment of Jesus being taken to the tomb. For me, it crossed the line between aiding the audience and being fancy for fancy's sake.
Overall, I really enjoyed the production. I thought a lot of the modern twists that were put in were really clever and bought the show into the 21st century, making it really accessible to everyone in the audience. The production was very fast paced and pulled the audience along well, I was kept really engaged, didn't find myself drifting off or playing on my phone throughout the recording. I was very much in the action and of course, was singing along with the bits that I remembered the most. For a Friday night, alone in the the house, this film gave me what I was after. Good music, good actors, lots of sing alongs and a little cry. Would recommend to other musical lovers and maybe to people with a fairly eclectic movie taste, it definitely isn't for everyone. I loved it.
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