” Michael Becker
RECORD REVIEW

7 —E HAVE no king
but Caesar!

About the time the
children of the Utopian frontier
were sucking in the mud ; at :

: Woodstock in:August of 1969,
Brits Andrew Lloyd Webber and
.Tim Rice had the audacious con- .
"ceit to put to music the last seven’.
days in the corporeal life of Jesus «:
of.Nazareth::

As the 1960s: progressed, rock
music incr asingly: ‘took on preten- |”
sions of meaning beyond the raw
visceral -kick that was once its pure”
reason for existence. |

The love bead-littered ‘road from:, :
Monterey through Haight- Ashbury.

‘o the Altamont speedway, travell-. .

“ed as twas by boomer hippies

“fired with thé sense of freedom ~

and possibility; should have led to
| better tomorrow."

‘All you need:is love: ‘The ke
oncept was inclusiveness an the.
ense.of- being « ‘ommitted to some

“grander notion’ worth pushing to.
change for: +:

While some sought raised cor
ciousness by'exploring Eastern ’.
hilosophical. perspectives, the’ 7

eight of the illusion of communi-'
y.ultimately collapsed as fun-drug
nderpinnings gave way-and The

Man learned to de-nature and ex-’

this‘ day in; hist ry. though tu-

i

Wor anniversary ‘of Elvis Presley's:

re: ‘induction’ army-> medical
‘act .of ‘Willingness to’

country . that: tamed : chis

ebel image forever. y

.multuous, events. surrounded it on

ploit the will for social change.

The Birth Of The Wacdstock
‘Nation was DOA. Dead rock kings
and queens showed the way —
Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis
Joplin, Jim Morrison. Elvis simply
confirmed the tradition, although
he's gone one better: now a cult;
coming. soon ~ The Church Of
Elvis.

Enter Sir Andrew and jesus
Christ Superstar.

In the flailing-about for meaning
in the dying days of the 1960s,
some paths fed to the Christian
story. Christ was seen as sort of a
prototype hippie. was a neat and
controversial trick to imbue Jesus

~ with a pop culture cachet.

Weboe; and Rice could have -

easily gone off on a disparate

tangent: at the time they had con-

. sidered writing a musical based on --
- the Cuban missile. crisis. It would

have been Kennedy warbling on
about Castro rather than Mary :

-‘ Magdalene wistfully fretting for. |
“Jesus ata / Don’t Know How To

“Love Him. ;

It was also rumored at the time.”
that john Lennon was to play, °
Christ with Yoko as Mary for the
“recorded version of Superstar. It:

“would have been a marketing

coup for the Webber-Rice brain-

“teust given that much of the cre-
ative. drive during the 1960s was-
=the competitive lusting to be big-
ger than the Beatles. There was

also the resonance of Lennon's
unfortunate statement about being

‘ bigger than Jesus'to cash in on.

Christ; you know it ain’t easy...”

‘So Superstar-has been resur-.
rected. These are leaner times and...
the current production shows it.
Yet it was a kick to see and hear.

the guys who played Jesus and
“Judas in the Norman Jewison

movie version do it all so convin-

»cingly 20 years after the fact.

since ; -punk-rock : icons the “Sex
Pistols were axed’ from” EMI. Re-
cords — with a 40,000 pound set-..
tlement,no less — ‘for adverse '

«publicity which ° culminated in -a -
“cursing screed on British TV.

One: viewer reportedly: put his
foot through his. telly’ during: the
tirade.

As’ for those célebrating ‘birth-

’ days today, Robert Duvall is 63
cand: ‘Diane Keaton

_is 48,

. Disney Inc.

CARL ANDERSON (left),
Syresta Wright and Ted Neeley
star in the all-new production |
of Jesus Christ Superstar. _

Ted Neeley and Car} Anderson
still have the vocal chops and if:

_ you don’t look too closely Neeley

can cheat the fact that he’s 50

* years old.

In the real world, Neeley i is

“working on a country album with

music partner Pepper Martin.
Anderson is doing well with R&B
albums. :

: Stevie Wonder associate Syreeta
Wright sings the part of Mary once
sung by Yvonne Elliman. Wright

- has a fabulous voice.

' The production witnessed in
Vancouver came with a minimal
set and too few musicians. The...

_ scale of production fundamentally

fails the material..

Look about you in the audience.
_and you can’t see yourself in the -
crowd. You become invisible at the.
price of a Jesus Christ Superstar T-.:

‘~ shirt. Ultimately, then, this is not |:

about communion.ar spectacle.

These days Tim Rice picks up -
academy awards for putting dubi-.
ous words into the mouths of
animated creations.
Back in England, Webber recently
scored a comedic flop with the:
latest run of Eurovision.

- Could We Start Again, Please?

: “is pleased to announce the opening « 2 of his ©
constituency offi ice on fanwary: 1 3th, 1994

When [ am not there, Debby Gamel and Susan. i

Lundell will serve you from = 30 AM to ‘4: ee

Plan to joint us $ for some coffee and cookies at the
official dedication of ithe office, 4:00 PM 6 0 PM on

Whatever you've got on this week,

~ you deserve a day off! Toke a powder

“fo Mount Seymour an day and
i all day and all aitea (9: ne am to .
“10,00 pin} for just $14,00 plus GST. .

- ($11.00 plus GST ages 6-12 and seniors)»

Fee 236 Fe onene

(from the Valley