The Montclair Operetta Club Returns with ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’

The Montclair Operetta Club's Jesus Christ Superstar scored big with audiences this weekend, as the company brought the classic Andrew Lloyd Weber musical to the stage with a local cast that did it proud.

Operetta Club President Richard O’Connor said Superstar was a last-minute, surprise addition to the fall theater line up.  “Our season was supposed to have been ‘Anything Goes’ and ‘Evita’," he admitted.  "I had a contract for the rights to ‘Anything Goes’ and . . . the next day in my email I had a rescission of those rights. So I lost our fall show."  Because local theatres cannot perform shows during their Broadway runs, Evita was also axed.  "After finding out that there was an “Evita” revival on the horizon, the original season was kaput before it began.”

That’s how Superstar came to be performed at the Westminster Arts Center of Bloomfield College this last weekend, with additional shows scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday.

Based on the Gospel's account of the last week of Christ’s life, Jesus Christ Superstar was an instant Broadway hit in 1971.  Adapted to film 1973, it became the year's highest-grossing movie and firmly established a place for itself in cultural infamy.  A mainstay of local theater companies and touring productions since then, the play has been performed both nationally and internationally.  Two years ago actor Ted Neeley, the original Christ in the 1973 film, reprised the defining role of his career on the NJPAC stage.   

Following in such illustrious footsteps, the Montclair Operetta Club rises to the occasion in the Westminster production.  From the opening notes, Uton Evan's portrayal of Judas poignantly depicts the conflicted traitor as he sings about his friend Jesus, played by Bobby Wolfe.

Wolfe is also a standout, delivering a powerful performance especially in “The Crucifixion.”  Nikki Ashe as Mary Magdalene superbly handles the fan favorite, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.”  Other cast members also turned in impressive vocal performances, from the rumbling, rafter-shaking voice of Danny Egan as Caiaphas, to the sneering rasp of James Houston as the Priest. Every actor is on their mark.

“Gonzo’s [conductor Gonzalo Valencia] made it into a musically superior show to maybe any recording that’s out there," said O’Connor proudly.  "I’ve listened to almost all the recordings out there and they’re okay . . . there’s actually a couple of really bad ones . . . But he’s brought something new to it. And that’s one of the things I like about Bobby [director Bob Cline].”

Theater patrons Jessica and Caitrin Lawlor raved after seeing saw the show this weekend.

“I think it’s fantastic!  We love Jesus Christ Superstar.  We know every word to every song so I think maybe we were a little nervous because we didn’t want a letdown,” said Jessica Lawlor.  “And we were not let down!  Judas is so fantastic.”

O’Connor, not content to rest on the laurels of this production, is already planning his next show.  “We have tentatively picked a spring show, called, ‘On the Twentieth Century'," he said, adding that the Club may encounter frustration again: "Kristin Chenoweth is trying to revive it in the spring so we may or may not be doing that.  But that’s still my hope.”

The Montclair Operetta Club’s production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” will run for two weekends this month (November 5th, 11th, and 12th at 8pm and November 6th and 13th at 2pm).