Jesus Christ Superstar - Regents Park Open Air / Barbican

It’s Pepe/ Tyrone/ Anoushka this afternoon folks 🙂

The other leads are in watching their mates. Nice.

OMG if this is the case. I SOOOOOO want to see Declan and Ricardo face off.

They are amazing!

So who’s in tonight and who’s sitting where? I’m in E17. It was lovely to meet dontdreamit last night, I would love to say hello to anyone who’s around.

I’ll be on the lawn- hopefully near the front. It was lovely to meet @happysooz yesterday and would love to say hello to a few more of you- I think there are quite a few of us in tonight!

I’m up in T107 :-)

K38 for me. Black 24601 mask. Enjoy everybody - tonight will be special.

What a ride that was- such a fantastic show to end what has been such a special run. But a big thank you to all of you on here- the chat, the prediction, the banter about this show has been brilliant and has helped lighten things for me when life has got in the way.

I really, really hope there is further life for this show somewhere, it’s too good to just become a memory. I’d love them to use the footage from one of the screenings, whether for streaming or broadcast. It would certainly help with the next 6 months whatever kind of lockdown we now find ourselves headed towards.

That performance tonight just blew me away. Lost for words. I hope everybody who went enjoyed it. I managed to drop/smash the back of my phone in the first applause (in the overture/mask removal). The upside was that the impact seemed to trigger a record app, and I found ⁰the show sounded great in Logic 7 surround on the drive home... £99 for new rear glass, but infinitely richer for it breaking!

Feels like a long time ago, but went to the final two performances of this last Sunday and it really was rather fabulous. Some random thoughts in no particular order:

The 'rona related:

- The Open Air really did leave no stone unturned in making this as safe an environment as they could and all credit to them. They had thought of pretty much everything and followed all the current regulations and advice to the letter. No doubt in terms of actual risk it was overkill (masks once sat down outside socially distanced really won't do anything) but it FELT very safe and if that brings confidence to people then that's wonderful. The serving alcohol and insisting on mask wearing is the only bug bear of mine. Constantly touching face to get mask off then replace every time you have a sip is much higher risk than just taking it off once sat down. But that's a small point on an otherwise great effort.

- The staging was so creative and all credit once again to Drew McOnie, surely one of the most talented choreographers of our time. On the first day I went I noticed the cast socially distancing for about the first 10 mins and after that never found it an issue again. Everything was highly stylised and all looked like an artistic choice. He should totally get the Olivier!

- The part in the Overture when they remove the masks - total goosebumps, especially at the last show.

- The last day was very emotional with a very receptive audience. What they have achieved in these awful times, with no exaggeration, saved 2020 for me, well, certainly the Summer, from a theatrical perspective. Also, it felt great to go out on a high, all be it a bittersweet one. When theatres shut in March it was all rather sudden on the Monday and most things didn't get to do a last show. When JCS shut, we all knew it could be the last thing for a while. And it made for a sense of occasion, no doubt. Cast also looked very emotional at end.

- Please please please can we have an online stream of this over the Winter. Doubt we will, and no doubt there's complex rights issues blah blah blah but it clearly exists, so tidy it up and let the public at it I say.

The non 'rona related:

- What a cast! Each and every one so talented and the leads so good. I clocked up 7 Declan, 7 Tyrone, 6 Anoushka, 2 Maimuna, 1 Riccardo (the last show - epic; though had seen him many times at Barbican) and finally 1 Pepe (at LAST) at the final matinee. Really liked Pepe. Something of a boyband Jesus (reminded me of the unusual way OAT went with last year's cute Peron) but he did have a very strong voice. Assume he comes from the US tour? Anyway, these guys worked their socks off. They should do a Billy Elliot and jointly award them Best Actor In A Musical.

- Said last year but this remains the definitive JCS for me. A lifelong ALW fan, JCS was something of an oddity in that I never really got it or cared for it. When this production was first staged that changed and I am forever thankful for that. It is just so creative and something about it's feel just massively appeals to me.

- Matinees at the Open Air aren't quite the same. It needs to be dark for the lighting design which IMO adds a huge artistic chunk.

- Josh Hawkins is a brilliant dancer (and gorgeous!) and I can't wait to see how he handles a lead role in Footloose.

- Said last year post Barbican that I really hope there is a future life for this iconic production. Personally I prefer it indoor (it peaked at The Barbican for me) and I'd love to see a future tour or West End run. Though I guess slightly sluggish midweek sales last year means there may not be the desire for it generally.

And that's it I think. Other than Rent at Hope Mill, time for my theatrical hibernation until the Spring. Was good to go out on a high!