Jesus Christ Superstar is a 1970s rock opera written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. The production focuses on the last week of Jesus’ life, ending with his crucifixion, and places a sympathetic emphasis on Judas’ decision to betray Jesus. It confronts themes of manipulation, betrayal, love, and faith through a political and religious lens. The use of christian and rock music, two wildly contrasting musical styles, allows the audience to gain a different perspective on the happenings of the Bible, perhaps shedding light on Judas’ choices and making them rethink their initial judgments of him. Though this modern-day depiction of the story has been deemed “blasphemous” by some, its contemporary approach to tradition ropes in younger and older listeners alike, offering an accessible pathway into religion and thus creating a larger following with people from all different ways of life. “The motive of Christian music artists [at that time] was to try and get a larger audience made up of nonbelievers as well as born-again Christians”. In this essay, I will examine the consequences of social status and power on the music and text in an attempt to reflect back on societal views of Judas’ journey from friend to enemy of Jesus Christ, and both of their ends in the perspective of the opera.
Right from the beginning of this production, the audience is subjected to foreshadowing of the chaos and turmoil brought about in Jesus’ final days. The overture, starting with a lone electric guitar, strikes the listener with a haunting melody, played in a minor key. As it continues, we hear themes similar to those found in a chase scene, symbolizing panic and the downfall of Jesus Christ. Eventually, we hear Judas’ motif, both alone and underlying more panic-stricken music. The fact that his motif is played before we have even met our characters shows us how deeply important he will be in the rest of the opera. Moreover, the pairing of his motif with anxious music implies his own conflicted thoughts as an ally-turned-foe of Jesus. At last, near the end of the piece, there is a brief section employing Jesus’, the superstar himself, motif.
The overture leads us into ‘Heaven On Their Minds’, a warning sung primarily by Judas. In this piece, Judas expresses his worries that Jesus has begun to put too much weight in what his followers say about him, singing, “Jesus, you’ve started to believe the things they say of you. You really do believe this talk of God is true, and all the good you’ve done will soon get swept away. You’ve begun to matter more than the things you say”. This section of the piece shows us Judas’ concern for Jesus and, as the song progresses, we hear that he is a friend and cares about him. It is clear that, at this point, he has no ulterior motives. He is merely pointing out that Jesus may benefit from taking a step back and appreciating where he is, rather than basking in it and allowing their praise to filter directly into his ego.
As the music continues, it becomes apparent that Judas’ worry has become a reality. ‘What’s The Buzz?’, for example, starts off as an upbeat, optimistic piece where Jesus’ followers inquire for more details from their fearless leader. Quickly, however, Jesus brushes them off and refuses to answer their questions, implying in a condescending manner that they need only trust him and that they would be ridiculous to try and think ahead of or with him. Though he puts on a lackadaisical facade, we are aware of his frustration with their queries from his abrupt entries into their repetitive melodic line and the brief cease of instrumentation as he starts to sing.
Just as Judas had feared, Jesus fell in love with his new social status and became far too quickly adjusted. A power switch, however, is quite often a very intimidating thing, especially for those who are already of high status. This is where we hit our first turning point in the musical, ‘This Jesus Must Die’. In this piece, we are brought back to the minor melodic progressions projecting fear and evil into the ears of the listeners. Caiaphas and Annas, the vocalists of the piece, speak of their disgust with Jesus’ reaction to his newfound fame. The slower tempo and dissonance in the beginning of the music foreshadows their revelation that he will have to die. When they come to this realization, we find ourselves in a playful, christian rock section of the piece, which implies their contentedness to have found this solution to their problem with Jesus.
In addition to his earlier frustration in ‘What’s The Buzz?’, Jesus later sings with the crowd about how wonderful he is in the piece ‘Hosanna’. “…Jesus means it less as a contribution to humanity than as an assertion of his creation of a superhuman idealized self. He joins the crowd in singing his own praises”. Though he claims that he sings with them because it would be pointless to ask them to stop, his willingness to participate in the chant of their admiring hymnal piece is only confirmation that he supports the notion that he is their new Messiah; a true son of God. We can see that this song only furthers the hatred for Jesus from Caiaphas and Annas due to the ‘B’ section. Here, the song briefly turns minor as Caiaphas’ rich, bass voice is brought out and he dismisses the crowd for their blind following of Jesus Christ, claiming they are wrong to believe in him. His minor melody continues into the final sections of the piece, again foreshadowing Jesus’ demise as he celebrates with the crowd.
Progressing forward in the development of the production, we see Jesus continue to grow more powerful. In the eyes of the people, he is saint-like and all-healing. These traits, accurately depicted or not, give Jesus a much higher social status; his cup runneth over with referent and reward power. Despite his boost up onto his pedestal, however, Jesus quickly becomes overwhelmed and scorns the impoverished and disabled as they beg for his help. We can hear the pressure of their requests beginning to weigh down on him as the tempo continues to accelerate until eventually the music and text are moving so fast that he is surrounded by their begging and cannot think for himself. “There’s too many of you, don’t push me…Oh! Heal yourselves!” This is not the first time Jesus turns against the poor in the show, but it is his most public outcry of his prejudice towards them. This section sheds light on his exploitation of the poor in order to benefit himself, and is an example of oppression within the musical. “Prejudice relates both conceptually and empirically to oppression, as oppression tends to be a psychological cause, consequence, or correlate of prejudice.” As we watch Jesus struggle, we criticize his decisions in the same way that others in his community do. The difference, however? We don’t feel the need to resort to murder.
As previously mentioned, Caiaphas and Annas find themselves preparing for the murder of Jesus Christ. In order to set this plan in motion, they confront Judas as he confides in them of his struggle in attempting to help Jesus. Knowing that he is emotionally unstable and close to Jesus, they try to convince Judas to give them details about his future whereabouts so that they may close in on him. Judas finds himself conflicted in this moment. Does he stay loyal to his friend, or betray him in favour of the betterment of the people? “Judas obeys a higher moral law. He is treacherous to the individual, but willing to incur his own terrible guilt and self-destruction for the good of the whole.”
In a moment of defeat, he shares information so that they may commit the deed they came to him for. He is quite similar to Brutus from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar in this moment. He loves Jesus, but he loves his country more, so he does what he feels he must in order to save the people. It is this moment that is sympathized in this musical, but highly disgraced in the church setting. Interesting, however, is the difference in motives. Here, Judas is not focused on attaining a higher social status or more power. In the Bible, he uses his relationship with Jesus as leverage against the men to receive silver pieces. “Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and asked, ‘What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?’” Though this power dynamic is not explicitly used in the musical perspective, it is still important to note that Judas is the one with the power when asked for Jesus’ location, despite his original passivity.
In the next sections of the musical, we see Jesus’ arrest and his transportation to King Herod, who ridicules him. As an onlooker and listener, it is easy to see that he is intimidated by Jesus’ rise to power. What raises the stakes here is that his fear of being demoted not only causes him to mock Jesus, but also takes away any mercy he may have had to offer. He is power hungry and his status is threatened, so he will do whatever necessary to maintain his place. The music accompanying Herod’s song is very upbeat and melodramatic. It pairs well with the laid back and sarcastic theme of Herod’s tone and text. Both of which are ironic, of course. “As is evident, irony and sarcasm are favorite tools for pointing out the contradictions inherent in the common sense understanding of the world.” The last thing he wants is for Jesus to prove himself in these moments, and as his refusal draws on, Herod grows more confident. When Jesus makes it clear that he either cannot or will not submit to Herod’s requests, he sentences his own end.
The climax of the musical lands on two very important deaths; those of Judas and Jesus. When Judas dies, he is heartbroken, for he sees that his good intentions to help Jesus have resulted in his gruesome beating. He is thrown into a deep combination of rage and sorrow, cursing God for making him play the part of his murderer and worried that Jesus will not understand that he had confided his location to Caiaphas and Annas in order to save him from himself. Distraught, Judas commits suicide, believing that he cannot live in the world when he will be regarded as the one with an innocent man’s blood on his hands. The dissonance between Judas’s cries and the gentle farewells from the chorus produces an eerie and sickening feeling. “The basis of the tension, the level of the resolution and the purity of the craft produce a certain effect on the audience”. He is gone.
When Jesus dies, it is because he fails to prove in trial that he is the Messiah, as was originally believed by the court and the people of the town. Feeling betrayed, the crowd insists that he be crucified. Although the members of the court are originally against his death, ruling instead for jailing and then later a flogging, his crucifixion eventually becomes a reality in order to please the townsfolk. During his trial and death, the music grows increasingly more chaotic and seemingly unstructured. The horns become more prominent; a symbol of bravado and anxiety. When he is finally murdered, there is little music, and then his motif comes back into play, celebrating the new martyr in an epilogue-type manner until the curtain falls on the production. Though he is no longer living, his impact is still left, and he once again carries his former high status because of his heroic death.
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