Classics at the Browning
Directed by Norman Jewison
With Ted Neeley, Carl Anderson, Yvonne Elliman
Rated G, 108 minutes, Blu-Ray
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wanted to write a rock opera about Jesus Christ from Judas Iscariot's point of view. Just in their twenties at the time, the two recorded the Jesus Christ Superstar cast album.
With proof of principle in place, they launched a Broadway musical which was later adapted by Norman Jewison (fresh off Fiddler on the Roof) for film. The film version is told through a popup musical that springs from a hippie school bus traveling in the desert and, like the musical, recounts the last days of Jesus Christ (Ted Neeley) with an emphasis on the role Judas Iscariot (Carl Anderson), his betrayer, played in his death and the emotions behind it.