Unfortunately, it has become customary that holiday television programs are, with a few exceptions, a show of endless reruns. They prove the routine with which they are made up of playwrights, who are sometimes not even ashamed to offer an almost identical Christmas or Easter offer as in previous years. They recycle old films and fairy tales indefinitely or cynically serve the audience the same shows as on weekdays, even if they are also losers.
It is so very difficult to discover something that is really worth noting among the old or new ones. But fortunately, the saying still applies that the one who seeks will find. The real pearl among the junk of this year’s Easter program is the premiere of one of the most successful musicals in music history “Jesus Christ Superstar“On ČT art. For more than fifty years, he has been conquering stages all over the world, including the Czech ones, and he has also received two film adaptations.
Third time lucky
It is interesting that at first there was no indication that this rock opera would soon become such a sensation. The author of the music, the British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, was not very successful at the time he wrote it together with the screenwriter Tim Rice. His very first musical, “The Likes Of Us,” was not shown at all. It was only with the second act, a musical on the biblical theme of “Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, that one music agent drew attention to himself, and it was thanks to him that the couple began working on the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar”. However, her path to immortality was far from easy, mainly due to the controversial conception of the figure of Jesus Christ, so no one initially dared to present a work with scandalous potential.
From Broadway to the Fairgrounds
The turning point came when the songs from this opera came out on a gramophone record and became huge hits. It was only because of this that she began performing on the most prestigious musical stages on New York’s Broadway and London’s West End. And from there she triumphantly moved around the world. By the way, “Jesus Chris Superstar” had its premiere in our country only in 1994 at the Spiral Theater at the Prague Exhibition Grounds. Directed by Petr Novotný, Kamil Střihavka, Dan Bárta and Bára Basiková excelled in it. Almost thirteen hundred reruns were seen during the four seasons, which saw hundreds of thousands of spectators, television recordings and gramophone records. After ten years, “Jesus” returned to the Czech stage in the form of a concert version with the original protagonists.
Starring a superstar
One of the latest adaptations of this truly cult musical, which will be presented by ČT art on Good Friday, also has a concert form. It broadcasts a captivating recording of the performance, amplified by the historical setting of the “Marcy Avenue Armory” in Brooklyn, New York, which was created in the unique premises of the former National Guard Armory. The main roles are played by a real superstar, the phenomenal American singer and actor John Legend, who has already won not only nine Grammy Awards, but also an Oscar and a Golden Globe. By the way, thanks to ČT art, his fans could see him singing at this year’s “Grammy Awards”. Along with him, viewers can also look forward to Alice Cooper, Norma Lewis or the beautiful Sara Bareilles.
Sources: author, Czech Television art
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