Simon the Zealot makes himself comfortable on a makeshift bench, center stage, while Jesus stretches, bending at the waist to touch his toes.
Dressed in shorts and T-shirts for rehearsal beneath modern stage lighting and ceiling fans in The State Theatre, the actors scarcely reveal that the production starting Wednesday in downtown Greenville is based in Roman-occupied Jerusalem. Unless you remember to expect the unexpected in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
“Do you know Jesus?” Director Mitch Butts asks, gesturing toward Zachery Rayburn, the actor portraying him. His long brown hair and sandals give him away. But for anyone raised in the Bible Belt, “No” feels like the wrong answer.
Judas, played by Ryan Bailey, peers down from the balcony, as if taking account of things. Later he’s asked if he feels misunderstood.
“If the historical Judas had given away all the pieces of silver to the needy immediately upon getting them, I think we’d be having a different conversation,” Bailey responds. It’s apparent he’s studied his character carefully. After all, Jesus might have top billing in this production, but a lot of the focus is on Judas, bringing light to the potential complexities of his “bad” character.
“You sing your best song after you kill yourself. So are you looking down from Heaven or up from Hell?” King Herod, played by Harvey Estes, asks him. Herod wears a hybrid cowboy-hat-crown and black leather vest.
“I’m trying to figure that out. Dante says there were only three in the innermost circle of Hell: Brutus, Cassius and Judas, but the way Andrew Lloyd Webber plays it, Judas was redeemed,” Bailey said.
Musical director, Justin Collis gathers the ensemble in a large circle, organized by vocal part.
“Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya,” the singers vocalize up and down the scale.
Then the cast does the same vocalization with raspberry-vibrating lips. En masse, the sound buzzes like a well-bred swarm.
“We have no king but Caesar! Crucify him!”
As excerpts from the musical are used in the warm-up, Rochelle Collis sits near a stroller with her baby playing happily. Collis begins singing along with the chorus in a high soprano. She’s the musical director’s wife and an ensemble member balancing life with the rigors of practice.
Butts understands the challenge. “We have great respect for the actors who give their time and talent to Magnolia Arts Center. Almost everyone in every play we do has a busy life outside of theater. We arrange our rehearsals so that on weekdays we start at 6 p.m. and end at 8 p.m. We realize adults have jobs to go to the next day, and kids have school.
“On weekends, we usually have three-hour rehearsals. All of our directors understand that people will not be able to make some rehearsals. We try to work with everyone’s schedule. In this show, we have actors who have traveled from Goldsboro, Wilson and Vanceboro to be part of this production. One actor works in Durham but was consistently at rehearsals.”
Tim Messina, who plays Simon the Zealot, is known for having perfect pitch, so Collis calls on him often: “Tim, give us a B flat ... a D flat ... a G flat.”
The singers respond in eerie harmony “Well done, Judas. ...”
Collis says, “It’s got to be that big. Otherwise, it’s stupid.”
Butts directs the cast, “Go get ready. You’ve got five minutes.”
Butts says that he, at age 70, and co-director Owen Baxter, a 19-year-old theater major at UNC-CH, have different ideas of how Jesus should be played, so they are constantly butting heads.
This is the first performance the Magnolia Arts Council has staged at The State Theater in downtown Greenville. Butts said the seating is limited at Magnolia to about 60 at present. The State Theater will be outfitted with chairs downstairs and stools in the balcony on performance nights.
When asked how he would describe the musical to someone who had never seen it, Butts replied, “‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ is a rock-opera written by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It debuted on Broadway in 1971. All dialogue in the play is in musical form. This musical centers around Judas Iscariot and his perception of what is going on with Jesus and his followers. Judas has questions and doubts which he expresses. Since the Bible doesn’t give a history or describe the personality of Judas, this is an imagining of what could have happened.”
Speaking about the public reception the musical received when it was initially performed, Butts said, “The musical was indeed controversial when it was first performed. There had virtually been no play specifically about Jesus or any of the disciples written in stage performance. This was groundbreaking in that time. Many people who objected to the play did so thinking the play was disrespectful or did not tell the true story of Jesus. That is not the case.
“Jesus’ role in the play does not differ from the biblical account of Jesus. The character of Jesus is treated with respect and nothing in the play suggests he was anything other than the Son of God in human form. The play focuses on Judas and his concerns about the way people were perceiving Jesus and the people who followed him. He tries to question Jesus’ motives, he argues with Jesus, and he tries to persuade Jesus to reconsider how he presents this message. Judas is a bit of a hothead at times, which results in him ultimately betraying Jesus. The play ends with Jesus being removed from the cross.”
Directors Butts and Baxter decided to remain true to the original production. The music is presented in the same manner, and the characters do not differ in their portrayal of followers.
Was it difficult for people raised in the church to deal with some of the scenes? Butts said, “Yes, some of the cast did find it difficult to yell ‘Crucify him.’ Some of the cast found it difficult to watch the portrayal of Jesus being whipped with 39 lashes. These actors were given the option of stepping out of those moments in the play. We did not want anyone to feel uncomfortable.”
As Alyssa Krasovich, who portrays Mary Magdalene, practices arguably the musical’s most beautiful song, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” a cast member stands to the side, performing along with her in American Sign Language (ASL). Even in rehearsal, spectators find their breath catching in their throats.
What does the director hope the audience feels when leaving the performance of “Jesus Christ Superstar?”
Butts said, “Owen and I hope those attending a performance understand why Judas might have had doubts. We hope they can see the mental battle he has with his own love and respect for Jesus versus his fear that crowds may turn on Jesus and ultimately on his followers. We hope they understand how his fear turns to anger. We hope they see the same Jesus on stage that they have always believed him to be. We hope they leave this production doing some critical thinking about the story they were told. Of course, we hope they appreciate the extraordinarily strong singers who have given their all to make this production happen.”
When Butts uses the phrase “extraordinarily strong singers,” he doesn’t do so lightly. Whatever the average expectations of community theater, this production, very likely benefiting from the proximity of ECU’s School of Music, exceeds them like the Negev Desert in southern Israel exceeds a sandbox.
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