Jesus Christ Superstar Live: The 'Fever Dream' of Judas' Big Number Explained
“You know, it’s not the easiest thing to sing,” Jesus Christ Superstar Live‘s Brandon Victor Dixon says of the late-in-the-musical showstopper “Superstar.” He chuckles. “But I do love singing it.”
As viewers of Sunday’s live broadcast saw, the number takes place after Judas has committed suicide, unable to live with his guilt for being an elemental part of Jesus’ death. And when TVLine talked with Dixon on the afternoon of his first rehearsal at Brooklyn’s Marcy Armory, he couldn’t wait to run through the song on the big stage.
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“It’s a really cool number. It’s like a revival,” he said.
Indeed, Dixon returned to the stage in head-to-toe silver, right down to his sneakers, and flanked by a trio of “Soul Sisters” who helped him taunt a broken and beaten Jesus about whether all of his pain and suffering was truly worth it.
Choreographer Camille A. Brown (Broadway’s Once On This Island) told TVLine that “Superstar” was the show’s biggest deal. “It’s the one that moves the most. It’s 35 people on stage. It’s Jesus coming through with his cross — it’s that big moment, and there’s so much going on.”
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She adds that director David Leveaux “says he wants it to be more of a fever dream. So to me, it’s about how can we get this to a point of flight, where it seems the dancers are flying by the end. It’s like, Jesus is going to be ascending up on the cross. How can we match that moment, movement-wise?”
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