#forestagain

Hmm, well, when it comes to watching it needs to exist on video, which is the main obstacle! My second favorite professional production I’ve seen was put on in Iceland a few years ago but you can’t actually access that anywhere. One of my favorite soundtracks is the 1996 London one with Steve Balsamo, but I don’t think video exists of that either.

The 2000 movie is not my favorite but is still worth a watch, I think; many of its staging choices influenced some of my favorite bits of staging in the school production that inspired my love of the show, and while I feel like everyone in it overacts by at least 150% (Pilate by at least 500%), when I rewatched it last year I think I remember liking the way it handled Jesus’s arc overall. This one really leans into the interpretation where Judas just wasn’t in control of his actions at all; God makes him betray him and he’s helpless to resist. Then it goes on to do the Judas coming out of Hell to taunt Jesus interpretation of Superstar, which is puzzling, until it goes on to imply that he’s not in control of that either, and basically that being forced to take part in tormenting Jesus is part of Judas’s torture in Hell, for the crime of being a helpless puppet in God’s plan? God’s just straight-up an absolute cruel bastard? Like, man, I prefer the interpretation where Judas is acting on genuine concerns that are tearing him apart and where Superstar is good-natured, but this one is amazingly ballsy in a super dark and twisted way and I can respect that.

...Oh, and be warned that the staging of “The Temple” in the 2000 film is intensely uncomfortable and involves the whole thing being Muslim-coded (???) and one of the extras being a stereotypical Arab caressing a missile (??????). I do not know what possessed them to do this but it’s pretty yikes.

Many people really hated the 2018 live production with John Legend, but I didn’t! The high notes aren’t really my top priority in evaluating JCS production, and while I don’t remember every thought I had I had overall reasonably positive feelings about it particularly in the second half. That’s another helpfully professionally filmed one, so if you can find that (I had real trouble finding a way to watch it that wasn’t region-locked) it’s a solid option in my opinion.

I watched this Austrian production in full today (it’s in English, just with Austrian actors and some German text), which I’d watched clips of before. While the video quality there isn’t amazing, and I have some complaints (in particular Gethsemane is underwhelming), it’s very solid overall and has a somewhat more classic, 1973-movie-like timeless JCS feel than something like the hyper-modernized 2012 Arena Tour. Drew Sarich’s emphases are sometimes a bit funky to me but I like him both as Judas (here) and as Jesus (there are a couple of videos on YouTube but not of the full production where he was Jesus; the soundtrack is there, though).

As I’ve gone into before I do not recommend the much-hyped Swedish production that can be found on YouTube; Judas is good in it but otherwise I think they were clearly more concerned with making it gay than with trying to understand what the show is actually about (and it makes some Choices that feel uncomfortably antisemitic). You can check it out for kicks if you want, it’s conveniently available and professionally filmed, but it’s not good, in my opinion.

I love Princes and Princesses! It's awesome, made by the awesome Michel Ocelot!

yeah, it’s has a really memorable and interesting animating style and the stories are sort of fairytale’ish but strange and and i really love that!

i hope none of them is a beta version of a certain game that may or may not destroy the world

Muriel Lewis here. Telekinesis could be good for me. Not to mention, I’m often told I have a one-track mind, and can therefore put that focus to good use while using that ability.

bonus:

Anselm Blackwhit here. Not that these abilities are anything you’d have to worry about, but my siblings and I do have characteristics you’d consider a little abnormal.

Glenn has sharp teeth, and can run faster than anyone I know. Rosie has great hearing, and can understand other people’s emotions quite keenly; it’s as if she can read emotions. And it’s not impressive, but I have an ability to smell things really well, and sometimes share dreams with my siblings.

I could never dream of taking the actors’ roles, either...

Maxine Conklin here. I’d have to say it’s a tight tie between Dr. Grye and Mr. Lawton for who’s the best cook. They’re both very good cooks, though I think Mr. Adamson would insist that Mr. Lawton is better than Dr. Grye.

As for our worst cook...

Great, TMI Tuesday is in effect.

You want the honest answer? There are things I just don’t want to regret sometimes. I’ve been moving so fast, I just hope things don’t catch up to me. And they don’t most of the time. But there are things that do, like me meeting Maxine again after...what I did with her marriage. I don’t want her to think about it, so I act all cheerful around her. But she doesn’t seem like she’ll forget it any time soon.

I try my best to let the past be the past. If people want to dig up skeletons from the graves, then that’s their problem.