AD/BC: A Rock Opera

I watched this Rock Opera tonight and laughed the nervous, embarrassed laughter that I think the creators intended. AD/BC is clearly a play on Jesus Crist Superstar, and mimics that original film's clearly hippy 70s feel for maximum crunch power. If you've ever seen Garth Merenghi's Dark Place or IT Crowd (also with Ayoade and Berry), or The Mighty Boosh (with Adrian Barratt, Noel Fielding, and Matt Berry), you will probably like this musical. All of these guys have a certain leaning toward absurdist comedy with an intentional nostalgic, low-budget production quality, and this is probably one of the best representational examples.

If you are a fan of Ayoade, Fielding or Berry this is a must watch. It has all the absurd silliness of Mighty Boosh or Garth Marenghi's Dark Place but in a musical. Matt Berry takes on the lead acting and singing role, and does so very well. Playing it sincerely even as he says, or sings the most ridiculous lines.

Richard Ayoade in addition to writing and directing plays one of the most unhinged over the top roles of his career.

The whole production constantly lampoons Jesus Christ Superstar and 70's cheese in general.

A bit disappointed that Noel Fielding and Rich Fulcher are basically extras. But you get Matt Lucas as god and Julian Barrat as Tony Iscariot (a kind of Herod-like role).

On the downside, it's not very long and the overdubbed voices joke wears thin after ten minutes. But it's still essential for any fan of Boosh, IT Crowd or Snuff Box.

It was only the other day I had nothing to do so I decided to find a video and that is when I came across a 'Mock Rock Opera' which, I had recorded a year ago during Christmas on BBC Four. The Rock Opera was called 'AD/BC: A Rock Opera.' Being a huge fan of rock operas especially the father of all 'Jesus Christ Superstar', Matt Berry's spoof was a delight to watch again. The whole concept is clever because it contains elements of the traditional shows from the 70s like Superstar. I thought the whole film was cleverly laid out and had a real 'cult' sense to it. Of course some parts were direct 'take offs' from songs like 'Gethsemane' from Superstar but this just added to it's comedy texture.

I was ready to believe that all the singers were dubbed by professional singers as they showed some interesting and entertaining vocal ranges yet this was not the case. Also the score was another interesting aspect of the film. There were some real 'groovey' sounds there that sort of made you sit back and think to yourself "man the 70s was so cool...Why was I not alive then!"

Although the nature of this work is almost 'taking the michael!' I feel that it could be a professional stage show. Even though it would only attract a small group of a particular type of audience I would love to see this performed live and perhaps even extended with more songs.

My only bad feeling towards this show was that it felt it was missing that big song which would make it a big success. It needed that 'Let Me Entertain You' song to get the audience or viewers I should say, going wild and dancing in their seats.

In conclusion I would strongly recommend for any other rock opera or musical theatre fans to watch this just because it is so funny and still a great piece of music theatre.

Amazing cast,songs more bigger actors,you must watch