Overview
Three top New Zealand musicians will unleash their inner thespian for Auckland Theatre Company's Kensington Swan season of Jesus Christ Superstar.
Directed by Oliver Driver, the Andrew Lloyd Webber-scored musical will play out at at Q Theatre from October 30 to November 23, with a contemporary, urban, 21st Century re-staging.
Fur Patrol singer/songwriter and The Adults member Julia Deans will take on the role of Mary Magdalene, Laughton Kora of roots band Kora will fill the shoes of Judas and former Midnight Youth frontman Jeremy Redmore will swap out his guitar for the part of Simon - Jesus' tenor-singing twelfth apostle. They will be joined by musical theatre wunderkind Kristian Lavercombe, who has spent the past two years playing Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show throughout the UK and Australia, racking up 1000-odd performances.
While it will be the first time on stage for Redmore and Deans (since a high school rendition of Bugsy Malone), it will be another notch in the belt for Laughton Kora, who performed in Return to the Forbidden Planet in 2000 in Queenstown, and was offered a role in the Melbourne-based production of The Lion King.
Initially produced as a rock opera concept album, the musical was first staged on Broadway in 1971. It has since become the most famous rock opera of all time. Loosely based on the Gospel's account of the last week in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, it begins with his arrival into Jerusalem and ends with the Crucifixion.