Courtesy of TeddieNeeleyFour.com (Laura)

Courtesy of Rubicon Theatre Company

There isn't much more I can say about Jesus Christ Superstar that hasn't already been posted on any of the links on my links page.

The best thing I can say about a tour that was supposed to last three months, but was so popular that it lasted nearly FIVE  YEARS, and produced gross incomes approaching $100 MILLION DOLLARS, is that it showed an entirely new generation of people what some of us had already known from the original Broadway production and the film's initial release in 1972.  Which is - that this is one great show, with a super cast of individuals.

The show itself was such a feast for all.  Every time we saw the show, there were different things to marvel at.  From the opening, to the Temple scene (there was NEVER a night that Ted's singing in that scene did not draw cheers from the audience), the candlelight in "Could We Start Again Please", the joyful dancing in "Simon Zealotes", the drama in the "Trial Before Pilate" and the sarcastic humor in "King Herod's Song" -- everything was an amazing piece to see at each performance.  I remember our House Managers at Playhouse Square Center here in Cleveland telling us that we HAD to be back in the theatre for the last eight minutes of the show, because we ABSOLUTELY had to see Ted floating off the crucifix.  One House Manager said it would "knock our socks off". We can attest to that! Another amazing special effect was Judas Iscariot's hanging.  Both in the film and live on stage, when Carl jumped off the platform and hung by his neck, it was eerily real.  One humorous aside to this, I was backstage after one of JCS' performances, and was reading the callboard while I waited to see Carl and Ted.  There in all it's glory was a cast note:
"IN TONIGHT'S PERFORMANCE:  JESUS WILL FLY, JUDAS WILL HANG." 
This really cracked me up.  I laughed so hard I almost fell over.  Apparently, at different times during this tour, performances were done where the hanging and resurrection did not happen for various reasons.  We got lucky that night.

Superstar brought audiences closer to stars: Ted Neeley & Carl Anderson, who began their now-legendary autograph lines after performances in Cleveland, OH in 1994. It enabled us to get the now-famous "Tedhugs", and show Ted and Carl how much we all love and admire them.

Unfortunately for us, Andrew Lloyd-Webber forced the tour's closing in 1997, when he began putting together his revival of JCS, which played on Broadway for one season, and closed in September, 2000.  In Ventura in June, 2000, the question was put to Ted as to what the chances were that he would be playing Jesus again, now that the current production would be closing.  His reply was: "Very good."  (With Carl's passing, the proposed revival Ted and Carl were planning to open at the Vatican in 2004-2005 had not yet come to pass (of course, none of us even knew about the proposed new tour until Carl died).  However, as posted below, Ted has been on the road with the A.D. Tour (nee: JCS - The Farewell Tour") - which commenced in September, 2006 and runs - at least - through early 2010, so, indeed, stranger things can happen after all! :-)

The final "full-production" performances of Ted and Carl's 25th Anniversary Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar were in Philadelphia, PA, where it closed on January 19, 1997, however, there were three concert performances of Superstar on November 15 & 16, 1998 in Ventura, California at the Ventura Theatre, to establish the Rubicon Theatre Company (RTC).  

The pictures in this section - courtesy of Michelle Owens (May121961@windstream.net), Laura Da Costa (dacosta4@sympatico.ca) and Susan Horlick (a.k.a. DaSusan/Da:S) (horlicksue@juno.com) - are from these JCS performances. Click on any jpeg for a larger view of that picture.  I hope you enjoy them.  If you have any pictures you'd like me to post, please e-mail them to me here:

Courtesy of Rubicon Theatre Company