Jesus Christ Superstar: Live Arena Tour

I never went to see this show at the theatre, didn't get the opportunity, but knew the music and saw snatches on TV over the years.

I watched the Arena Tour on TV - what a truly wonderful experience. I couldn't take my eyes off. It was now a proper rock musical - I haven't been so enthralled or impressed since I went to see Hair in 1969, but this surpassed that by miles. Well done, a wonderful show with excellent performances; Tim Minchin was just superb, as was Mel C, and Ben Forster was so powerful at times it hurt. The ensemble cast were wonderful too.

Changing the time worked very well, there are parallels with today which you cannot ignore and which made it even more dramatic. The set design was superb, the costume quite stunning.

Yes, I enjoyed it! I just wanted to be there soaking it all up!

Good adaptation to the modern time, but without Tim Minchin, it's not worth watching

Firstly, I have to say I would have seen at least 10 versions of the show, plus, of course, the movie. I also went to see the Arena spectacular at the brand-new Perth Arena. It was brilliant. I thought the 3 leads were totally brilliant, in particular Tim Minchin, who is a Perth boy. The DVD didn't disappoint either, and, to my musically educated mind, I felt that Ben Forster was absolutely brilliant, I thought Tim was fabulous, and I felt Mel Chisholm stole the show. This was the best iteration of this show I have ever seen, and I have also performed in the house band on a couple of them as well. I have seen Gillan, thought he over-sang, the best until now was John Farnham, but Forster wins for me. I can't understand one or two of the reviewers here, one said it was too modern????? The story was in set in 33AD, they didn't have tanks, helmets or metal scaffolding then either, but it's always been a part of the charm of this show , the juxtaposition of the times. I loved it. In case you can't tell.

If only I could go see this now with this cast, Tim minchin is the star of the show! I could watch it over and over, fantastic!!

Ok, to be totally frank, NOT ONLY am I a huge Tim Minchin fan, I've watched all of his concerts & shows I could find and some of series AND I've been listening to the original JCSuperstar album since the early 70's. All of my kids, who are full grown adults now, love the album. When I heard about this UK arena tour video, WOW! I was so excited to watch it, but then I saw that Tim had been cast as Judas, that just added to my delight.

Now, I get that not everyone likes Tim's act, he can be fairly caustic to a gentle mind. But I just love his stuff. Swearing & all. You cannot deny the guy is super talented.

This production was placed in a rock arena, as creators ALW & TR had originally planned while writing it. With a huge flatscreen at top of the steps which lets the audience see better close-ups.

The 1973 movie was very good (8/10), but as talented as Ted Neely was, I would've preferred to have seen Ian Gillian in the Jesus role (he does Jesus on the original soundtrack). In this version, Ben Forster is pretty good as Jesus. The way the arena is set up, if you're familiar with the original Norman Jewison film from 1973, you'll know where each scene & character is 'supposed' to be. Tim is excellent as Judas. MelC ,as Mary, is easy to watch. I love her gothy/punk look.

So, maybe I'm not unbiased, I've watched this movie so many times since buying it. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes JCS or Tim Minchin or rock operas or just a good show to spend some time on.

PS: Another Tim Minchin achievement is "Matilda, the Musical", he wrote all the songs and they are brilliant! (Watch Matilda at least once with the captions on so as not to miss any of his sharp lyrics!).