#jackiehj

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: RocknRolla (2008) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Chechnyan 1 & Chechnyan 2 Characters: Chechnyan 1, aka The Czar, Chechnyan 2, Victor Additional Tags: Canonical Character Death, War, Backstory, Canon-Typical Violence, and a bit more besides Summary:

I'm partial to stagings that treat it as though the lyrics, in a kind of roundabout way, are the apostles lamenting how fucked up things have gotten (it's the first time the apostles consciously figure this out, after all). Sometimes it's staged with all of them being very shocked and despairing, and that's the best I have seen. But you're right, it's always a bit jarring.

theatrepumkin said:

I've always believed this part to be interpreted as the apostles being completely wasted off of the wine and lysergic acid (LSD) found in the unleavened bread or matzo if you will, completely oblivious to the matter at hand in their own revelry, hence the lyric "What's that in the bread it's gone to my head..." and I would think this would effect the argument between Jesus and Judas. And seeing that the apostles don't seem to care gives Judas' motivation for his last rant to everyone.

It's the one thing that lets people leave the theatre with a smile on their faces. Just imagine how dark the entire thing would feel if Superstar wasn't so upbeat (and generally so ridiculously staged). ...I think they actually changed the order of these songs around in some productions, but don't quote me on that...

oh, definitely. Superstar is fairly lighthearted and also cathartic--it gives you a point to the musical, telling you the message outright so you understand the purpose of the doom and gloom. the other less-depressing moment is King Herod’s Song, which is this eleventh-hour surprise comedy song and the only real moment you can consistently count on for a laugh throughout the play.

cf: Sweeney Todd and Jekyll and Hyde, which don’t have that eleventh-hour comedy song, or twelfth hour, or any hour. re: catharsis, ST has the Ballad of Sweeney Todd that technically explains the musical but doesn’t seem to give it a point other than haha cannibalism and death. J&H has a couple of songs that get close, but it’s always more of Jekyll trying to convince himself that he can still win than him reflecting on why things have gone wrong.

then there’s Les Mis, Spring Awakening, Into the Woods, etc, all of which are tragic, but don’t have the same well that’s depressing feel because each has a song near the end (Beggar at the Feast, The Word of Your Body (reprise), Your Fault) that are pure comic relief, and each has a “here’s the point of this tragedy” song (Finale, Those You’ve Known, and both No One Is Alone and Finale/Children Will Listen). 

actually, my college put on a production of it, and i saw it a week after i listened to JCS for the first time! for someone not christian, that was an absurdly religious week of my life…

anyway, i really enjoyed it! it’s really intense and, as i’ve mentioned before, i’ve never read the bible (though i’m beginning to rectify that situation), which made it slightly more confusing than it was probably intended to be, as i tried to sort out what was real and what wasn’t. actually, i just looked up the play, and found out there’s another level to the unreality of it–our version had Jesus as a trans woman, Judas as a woman, and the other apostles were a mishmash of gender identities (that didn’t always match the actors’). perks of a (hyper)liberal college, i guess! anyway, it was a really cool way to experience the story of Jesus, and i’m always here for things conservatives hate.