The Story of Jesus Christ Superstar

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00:00 Intro
00:46 Title Card
00:53 A Radical Story
02:11 Judas
03:51 Mary Magdalene
04:36 Jesus
05:20 Story Action
06:47 Recontextualizing Music
07:51 Damned for All Time/Blood Money
08:29 The Last Supper
09:34 March toward Crucifixion
11:28 Superstar
12:23 Reception and Legacy

[ZOB]

Judas’ reprise of I Don’t Know How To Love Him is the greatest use of reprise in all of music history. So much meaning and depth there, comparable to the greatest opera composers of history, if not better.

[KellinMC]

“Gethsemane” is such a good fucking song. One of my favorites of musical theatre. The “God, thy will is hard/But you hold every card” section gives me chills every time.

[TheAnthraxBiology]

FINALLY someone has given this the credit it deserves. Not into musicals but I love this one. People always forget it was an album first and so it's brushed off in the canon of rock music. I genuinely think it's one of the greatest rock operas I've ever heard.

[ZOB]

No mention of the odd meters throughout surprises me - not only was the subject matter, point of view, and instrumentation revolutionary, the extensive use of five and seven based meters was equally remarkable.

[delin]

I had the pleasure of being in 2 productions of JCSS. In the first one, I played Judas. In the second, 22 years later, I played Pilate. Both roles offered a level of emotion, through music, that I had never experienced before on stage. These are sweet memories for me.

[Xplayer]

Small correction: 4:33 was one of Judas' lines not Jesus'

[quinn]

My mom said that Jesus Christ Superstar was the Hamilton of the 70s.

[TomTobin]

What JSSS did for Christianity was to make the religion more enticing to the youth of the day. Because of JCSS, more young people were discovering the bible and church in a way that wasn't being seen by the youth beforehand. This soundtrack/play/movie has helped spread the gospel more than Billy Graham could ever have. I remember my dad forbade me to see it which made it so attractive to me. Its a theme that has and will continue to stand the test of time, even to non believers.

[Daplin]

Sidenote. What's the buzz at 1.25 x speed is Mario invincibility theme.

[robotic-race]

4:32 that line is sung by Judas, since it's the feet and hair line is directed at Jesus

[jstrandquist]

It's easy for a lot of us who are "cradle Christians" to take Jesus for granted, I think, because we're so familiar with the general story of His life that it fails to shock us. JCS is hardly an orthodox take, but at it's best it forces you to think about how utterly bewildering Jesus was to those around Him, whether you take Him as liar, lunatic, or Lord (to echo CS Lewis). Not to mention you get some pretty sweet rock music. Thanks for making this video, and Happy Good Friday/Easter!

[samgroarke]

I love the film version, Carl Anderson and Ted Neeley have such good voices

[Patch]

The pope at the time even said that he approved of the musical, as I recall reading.

[lisaheisey]

I first heard Jesus Christ Superstar, when I was 6 years old. As a teenager, I used to play the entire album almost every day. I still have a deep love for it.

[TheHManShow]

Jesus Christ superstar was is and will always be my favorite musical of all time! Lloyd Webber and Rice persisted getting it done no matter what people said about it and wanted to tell a great story in a new way

[philiphart]

I've always felt a genius of Jesus Christ Superstar lay in the identification of the audience with Judas by virtue of our modernity. Judas reappears as one of us, a post enlightenment person who finds Jesus' mission and death inscrutable. So, after all, it is we who have betrayed Jesus by our inability to believe in him.

[uyamuya]

A polyphonic video on my favourite musical? Yes please!

[TheStobb]

Lloyd Webber’s home state of Kansas? Kensington England

[jopestv]

In the mid 90s I played guitar in the orchestra pit for 'Superstar' for a local theater group. Quite challenging, especially 'Pilate's Song.' But did have a lot of fun. The last performance the stage hands decked out the table for the Last Supper with empty McDonald boxes and a rubber chicken.

[BillyBob.]

Deep Purple’s In Rock is from 1970, and when comparing when this and JCS were originally released, Webber might have heard Ian Gillan from the live Concerto for Group and Orchestra album from Deep Purple, but not from In Rock. Also, the first lyrics you show in Everything’s Alright as being sung by Jesus are actually sung by Judas.