Why Jesus Christ Superstar is the best Lloyd Webber

SussexWorld

Jesus Christ Superstar might not be the first musical you think of when you think of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Just possibly it has been eclipsed by some of the others.

Transcript

00:00 Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers, and I'm

00:05 really lovely this morning to speak to Ian McIntosh, who is on the road with Jesus Christ

00:09 Superstar coming to, in our area, Crawley, Southampton and Eastbourne. Now Ian, you are

00:16 playing Jesus, but first, you were saying that you think this is the best of all the

00:21 Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Wise musicals. Why? What makes it stand out for you as a piece

00:25 of theatre?

00:26 Yeah, I think it's good to be here. Thanks for having me on. And I think the, you know,

00:31 for me personally, what I like about this story is, is I really enjoy the message behind

00:36 this story, you know, and I think audiences around the UK, they really enjoy it too. And

00:40 you know, I've been in a lot of musicals and I've toured around the UK with different,

00:45 the last time I spoke with you was we were Rock You and I did The Commitments and I've

00:48 done all of these musicals, which have, you know, they're great musicals and they give

00:52 people a really fun experience when they come to the theatre. But with this story, you know,

00:56 it ends essentially in a crucifixion and, you know, and it's, and it has all the emotions

01:02 of joy and pain and love and, you know, everything in it. But it doesn't end in a mega mix, that's

01:10 for sure.

01:11 So what is that message then? It's talking about how we deal with suffering, isn't it?

01:16 Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think, you know, that's what the passion story is. So for those

01:20 who haven't seen Jesus Christ Superstar, it's about, it's about the Easter story. It's the

01:23 last seven days of Jesus Christ's life leading up to his crucifixion. And, you know, it is

01:30 about that. It's called the passion, the word passion means the suffering, you know, and

01:35 to me, I mean, I might be wrong on this, but, you know, but to me, you know, it's basically

01:38 saying that life, you have to persevere, you know, through the difficulties in life, you

01:44 know, and in the hope that good is to prevail. And that to me is what the resurrection is,

01:49 you know, so you have to suffer through things at times in order for new life to be reborn.

01:53 Which is also about the sacrifice, isn't it? Yeah, and it's also, yeah, and it's also about

01:59 sacrifice. You know, there's, it's also about, you know, the ultimate, he did the ultimate

02:03 sacrifice essentially, but what it, but that could be, you know, micro down to small sacrifices

02:11 that people have to make on a daily basis. Now the opposite of that is the opposite of

02:15 sacrifice and, you know, which is basically almost a selfish kind of point of view, isn't

02:22 it? And those who I know who don't make sacrifices and live only for themselves never end up

02:28 well, you know, that kind of thing never ends up. So I think the story is a really cool

02:32 story. And I love the music because of that as well, you know.

02:37 But what a part, I mean, it must be staggeringly daunting to be Jesus on stage up and down

02:43 the country.

02:44 Yeah, yeah, it is. It is. It's funny when you say it to people in, you know, say it

02:48 to people around the street, they go, you know, I'll be at the hairdressers or something,

02:50 you know, and I'll be getting my haircut. And I say, I need to get my haircut like this

02:53 because, you know, I'm sort of playing Jesus in this show, basically. And they're like,

02:57 oh, you're playing Jesus. And they're kind of stunned by it because they don't know how

03:00 to react, you know. But I think people have this idea of Jesus as this kind of out there,

03:06 you know, floaty, you know, metaphoric sort of character.

03:10 But your Jesus is very different.

03:12 No, yeah, completely. Completely, yeah. We play on the superstardom rather than the Jesus

03:18 Christ is, you know, my Jesus in this show is a lead singer of an indie band. You know,

03:23 the show itself is with handhelds and handheld microphones. And, you know, I play guitar

03:28 in the show. I play guitar for the big song Gethsemane. I begin with the guitar because

03:33 essentially it is a gig for the audience. They're in a gig that's happening, you know,

03:38 on the stage whilst telling the story, especially in the first half of the show. And then it

03:43 gets a bit more literal in the second half when obviously things happen, like progress

03:49 towards the crucifixion. But it's, yeah, no, I love that. You know, I love it. I really

03:54 do.

03:55 It sounds fabulous. Really, really looking forward to seeing it. And again, in our area,

03:59 it's playing Crawley, Southampton and Eastbourne. Ian, lovely to speak to you again. Thank you

04:03 ever so much for your time.

04:04 Yeah, thanks for having me on. Cheers.

04:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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