Melina Moore can still remember the day she crept into an underground crypt in Harlem in her hometown of New York City to watch a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar.
“It was the most unusual production, and so small that audience members had to enter a lottery to be able to get in,” recalled the now Vernon-based opera singer, vocal instructor and show producer.
“The show was presented in concert, with the full focus on the music itself, by the brilliant Andrew Lloyd Webber.”
What started as a rock opera concept album at the end of the turbulent ’60s, and became a Broadway hit in 1971 and then a 1973 musical film directed by Norman Jewison, is still staged to this day and is about to be presented by Moore’s Big Apple Productions/Valley Arts Vocal studio in Vernon.
And it’s being presented in a fitting venue.
“Immediately my thoughts turned to Trinity United Church as the perfect venue for a Vernon production,” said Moore. “The sprawling backdrop, the cross… And I decided I wanted this to be a huge collaborative effort that would involve as much of our musical community as possible.”
As the show’s description notes, the musical, where all spoken roles are sung, is told by Judas. It follows Jesus’ meteor-like rise to fame and, as the title suggests, shows a parallel to contemporary celebrity worship.
As Jesus’ radical teachings are evermore embraced, Judas increasingly questions the enlightened motives of this new prophet, resulting in betrayal.
“Christ’s final days are dramatized with emotional intensity, thought-provoking edge and explosive theatricality. Propelled by a stirring score, by turns driving and majestic, satirical and tender, Jesus Christ Superstar illuminates the transcendent power of the human spirit with a passion that goes straight to the heart,” reads the notes.
In this version, Judas is played by a woman, jazz-blues singer Judy Rose, while St. James School principal Paul Rossetti embodies the spirit that is Jesus Christ, and W.L. Seaton Secondary student Nina Ogasawara plays Mary Magdalene.
Performing the music and lyrics written by West End-Broadway dream team Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice will be a 70-person mass choir and a 10-piece rock orchestra.
“This is the largest collaborative effort of a musical theatre production ever to premiere in Vernon,” said Moore. “My three cohorts in this project are three of my most talented and beloved colleagues, Jim Leonard as the band director, Lana O’Brien as the choir director, and Judy Rose as my co-producer. Working together with this brilliant team has been a dream.”
Jesus Christ Superstar takes the stage at Trinity United Church, 3300 Alexis Park Dr., March 3 at 4 at 7:30 p.m. and March 4 at 1 p.m. Tickets are on sale at at ticketseller.ca, 250-549-7469.