Jesus Christ Superstar (The New Stage Production Soundtrack)

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Free Music Notes for Jesus Christ Superstar (The New Stage Production Soundtrack)

Free Music Review: In defense of Could we start again, plus a few complaints.
Hit: 5 Stars

There is, of course, the matter of the deleted songs, which is the second critical flaw.

Blood money is important to the treachery, and it draws deeply on the psychology of Judas to get its point across. Losing it was a big mistake. The same can be said of the extremely short Peter's denial. There is another song which is used only once, but it's vital to understanding the position of the priests. That song would be, not "Jesus must die," which should have been used, but "Then we are decided." A duet/debate between Ciaphas and his assistant. This song, more clearly than anything, states the precise position of the priests and why Jesus must die. I imagine that it's not used because it's shoehorned between "Strange thing, mystifying" and "Everything's all right." But still, it humanizes the priests to a degree noticably absent from the show.

To clarify: Could we start again, (my personal favorite of the songs in the show) was NOT in the original production, but it was quickly added. This was a good thing, because Mary is noticably absent from the second act of the show, her only inclusion being telling Peter off for his denial. This song resolves that issue. It its most basic point, while you'll first hear it, is to suggest that Mary is a coward. But she is not. All it indicates is that she doesn't yet understand what is happening. She still doesn't know who Christ is, and she is so afraid of losing him that she wants to start over. Basically, it's praying for another chance.

For Christians, or if you wish to see how this turns out, skip this song, but play it immediately after the finale ends, and see what your mind conjures up . . . That is how you sneak a ressurection scene into the show.

While it has its detractors, one of whom I have heard say "It's like Mary breaks up the fighting to sing 'I'd like to buy the world a coke . . .' I do not hold to that. Since I approach these characters from a socio/psychological way, this beautiful song (Could we start again, I mean, not I'd like to buy the world a coke) indicates the effect the stress is having. However, without Peter's denial, this song should have been a solo. Or, more powerfully, if Judas were Mary's assistant on the song instead of Peter. Just think how powerful that would have been, were it Judas who said "I think you've made you're point now . . ." in addition to helping resolve the slightly homoerotic love triangle.

Oh, and one more thing: Bad, bad, bad Ciaphus, and even worse Pilate. Everyone else did well. I rather liked Mary's weeping. Her grief added emotional strength to the songs that Yvonne Elliman did not match in her renditions. (Her take on Could we start again in the movie was so dreadful that the few who still believed in Christ actually joined her singing to keep her on track!)

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