Human
Not only are the Apostles made
to seem human, but Rice and
Webber make sure that all of the
characters seem plausible. Calaphas,
the high priest admits that 'Jesus
is cool." Judas is afraid of going in
the history books as the one who
killed a great man. And Jesus, too,
becomes sarcastic during the Last
Supper', 'For all you care this wine
could be my blood.'
Because of this the question
will arise as to whether Webber and
Rice are saying that Christ was
human, and not divine. Both Mary
Magdalene and Judas sing: "He's a
man he's just a man." Jesus, in
answer to "Are you the king?" says
"You say that I am." Yet their
build-up to the Crucifixion (a full
orchestra with the sound effect of
the thirty nine lashes) and Jesus'
traditional last words (with a
strangely inhuman synthesized
accompaniment) are indications of
his ascension beyond man.
It is true that 'Superstar" leaves
out a very large part of Christ's life,
the Resurrection. Maybe later the
composers will follow with 'The
Comeback." But what is important
now is that they followed the
Gospel . . . faithfully. And they also
asked question about it. Judas'
voice returns at the end, wanting to
know what everyman wants to
know: "Tell me what you think
about your friends at the top/
Who'd you think besides yourself
the pick of the crop?/ Buddha was
he where it's at? Is he where you
are?/ Could Mahomet move a
mountain or was that just PR?"
