Jesus Christ Superstar - Regents Park Open Air / Barbican

Thanks very much for the cast recording recommendations! I will have to do some investigating which keeping my fingers crossed that they decide to record this production.

I suspect there won't be day seats. They don't do these for all productions (I think the policy varies depending on the producer of each show), and this seems to be selling very well, and the back of the stalls are on sale for normal price.



The Lee Krasner exhibition in the gallery at the moment is great so if you see that while you're there that's another £15 saved!

Just seen the production photos on WOS. It looks amazing (shame they've put one of the tableau in there tho as I wanted to see that as a surprise)
Really really excited about this now and can't wait to see it in August

What’s that buzz? It’s JCS at the Barbican.....everrrrybody seems to be raving about this show.So pleased...one of the very greatest musicals of all time!!!

Probably a good thing.

As expected, the reviews published so far are excellent. Hunt them down online. "A must-see" and "definitive" are just a taste of the general view.

The Grauniad gave it 3 stars. Obviously, by their own standards, that's a clear typo.

Never been unblocked.

I'm in two minds, still based on the WEL performance. The reviews here all seem good but I seen a production in Edinburgh during the Fringe last year and the two lead men were outstanding and better than the last two touring productions and Id have put them above what I heard on WEL also. But then people are correct in saying that a small segment on an outdoor stage won't be the same as seeing the full show.
Just to put out there, any JCS fans in Edinburgh for the Fringe this year and can't make the new London production, the company (Captivate Theatre) are bringing their production back. RUG must have liked it to let them have the rights again.

I thought this was just brilliant. It was my second visit to this production. The first one was in Regent’s Park with Declan Bennett and Tyrone Huntley. At the time I remember thinking that JCS couldn’t possibly be bettered, and that I would never see another Jesus and Judas that could compare to them. Maybe I was a bit premature. Robert Tripolino and Ricardo Alfonso were outstanding and had the advantage of a more fine-tuned production. Robert’s vulnerability and sense of uncertainty and loneliness in Gethsemane was truly heart-breaking. You really had a sense of a hesitant son talking to a formidable father. Ricardo’s black despair in Judas's suicide scene was absolutely devastating. The final scenes, from the Jesus Christ Superstar song till the end, had an almost painful level of intensity. I think it was the first time I spontaneously jumped to my feet to give a musical a genuine standing ovation (I usually just tend to follow everybody else, but halfheartedly, especially as I’d rather see the actors on stage than people's backs).

Just been on the backstage tour for this at the Barbican and had to laugh at the number of times we were told that they were being careful not to give any spoilers. I know they meant about the production but I kept thinking that they were suggesting that people might not know how the story ends!

andrew  Feel a bit guilty now for having taken up a space on this tour as I haven't see the show - I just tend to take advantage of these Barbican membership freebies as it is so easy for me to pop in to the Barbican.  I would say, though, that I would guess that the majority of the tour consisted of people who were Open Air Theatre members rather than Barbican ones - the Q&A session revealed there to be plenty of people there who had an in depth knowledge of the production and its history.  And there was a lot of hugging in the foyer with the young woman who was gathering us all together - and she works at the Open Air Theatre.

As you would imagine for such a sound heavy show the backstage area is full of electrical equipment.  As the Assistant Director and the Lighting Designer explained there is a large focus on making sure that everyone has the right microphone at the right time.  It was described as a very technical show with a real discipline needed to get people on and off the stage and through the quick change.  The quick change area is just some black tents with some of the names of the actors/dancers - which were taped up with their costumes - being appropriately biblical.  Answer to your question about the make up demands in spoiler quotes at the bottom.

Obviously there are almost as many crucifixes in various forms as you would see even at the shop next to Westminster Cathedral which sells religious items (I'm Catholic - I know about these things!)  They said that they had talked a lot about Kanye West's Sunday service in rehearsals and were interested in exploring the branding concept around a religious movement.

We saw a bit of the production being rehearsed as there was a swing on last night.  Although they said that the floor space is bigger than they had at Regent's Park it is clearly quite an achievement to get people across it without a pile up.  The set has been designed to fit the constraints of the tour - the Barbican set up should fit wherever the production tours to. 

I didn't take any photos but lots of people did - so there may be some up on social media.